Clinton Faces Steady Erosion Of Support

With the Pennsylvania primary only days away, the New York Times delivers a look at the challenges the Clinton campaign faces with regards to maintaining support among past supporters and increasing its fund-raising capabilities.

Former Supporters:

After nearly two decades building relationships with a generation of Democrats, Mrs. Clinton has recently suffered a steady erosion of support for her presidential campaign from the party stalwarts that once formed the basis of her perceived juggernaut of "inevitability."

Some of it is just business, practical politicians putting aside ties to the Clintons to follow the will of the voters in their states or making a calculation about who seems best positioned to win.[...]

But there is something more wrenching at work as well, a reckoning of whether the Clintons, on balance, have been good or bad for the party. It has the feel of a very personal testing of loyalties to a former president who once always seemed to be adding to the "Friends of Bill" list, and to a sitting senator who, if not so driven as her husband to win over everyone, used her fame to help elect other Democrats.

Fund-raising:

Senator Barack Obama is swamping Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton with television advertising in their prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination, putting fresh pressure on Mrs. Clinton's fund-raising machine to find new sources of money to help her keep pace.

But her big-dollar fund-raising apparatus that was once the envy of the political world is encountering obstacles as many of those in its regular networks of donors have reached the maximum on their personal contributions or grown tired of the relentless press for donations.

The campaign is actively hunting for new wellsprings of cash, while tapped-out donors who want to give more are contemplating financing independent efforts on her behalf that are not bound by contribution limits. So far, however, the independent efforts have been halting at best.

Comments

[kanyingi]

All she has to do is "lend" herself $50 million.

[lefilmnoir]

I don't think having their daughter calling people and pestering them and asking stupid questions, i.e., why, why, why ... , is the way to win friends and influence people. "Building relationships" for the Clintons means intimidation, guilt-peddling and harassment. I remember John Kerry once saying the Clintons "cared only about power and themselves­."

That says it all.

[maxy]

Bill Clinton always has his buddy George Bush I to resort to.

[Vern58]

Hillary did this to herself. She is to blame for trusting the wrong people with her image, then changing the bar every time there is a primary. Clinton's campaign is frought with egocentrists.

[Beninn]

By all accounts, this campaign was run by Hillary. Nobody did anything against her wishes, and there is absolutely no suggestion at all by anyone that she just went along with underlings.

Anyone who has paid attention to the events of each day at the time they have unfolded, and not at the end of a day all at once, can plainly see that Hillary Clinton has an extremely casual relationship with the truth. I've heard Republicans make those charges against her for years, but never did I really believe it was true, or that she do it all in front of television cameras. There's real crazy pathology there. For her to say the things she did in the ABC debate, there is no other explanation other than she's an accomplished, skilled liar.

There is no precedent for picking someone like this for President. We presume that for someone to have advanced as far as the race for President, that person will have been vetted on several criteria and an eagle scout of a candidate. Smart, sharp, good character, the kind of person who embodies "Truth, Justice and the American Way." That's not Hillary Clinton. It's not Bush either, or Bill Clinton. But we didn't know that then. We do know about Hillary now. She is not President in chief material.

[Vern58]

Iy has been the assertion that each of the "heavyweights" had a different opinion. I am sure HRC would have taken no advice before thinking it out ahead of time.
Like i said, the dissaray in her campaign is caused by her, and she bears the weight of it.

[thirteen13]

She is less Senator material as well.

[dawlishgal]

I just finished the Bernstein bio of her. It was supposed to be "sympathetic," so I thought I ought to read it because I am not feeling very sympathetic about the kind of campaign she has run, but was hoping to like her better just in case......­..

Her "image" problems, it turns out, are not the kind that can be easily changed, no matter how skillful the PR person (although it might have helped somewhat if she had hired one that didn't sabotage her behind her back. She has a record of being rude and dismissive of people with little power who worked for her or Bill. She has a cadre of people who remain loyal to her, but none of them were "little people."

The account of her marriage that permeates the book is that he is incorrigiable in his womanizing and that she keeps him in line as much as she can with her relatively constant rejection of him. Of course, this doesn't work well for either of them, but they hang in there anyhow.

Her inability to delegate is staggering. She actually did assemble a bunch of informed people for her healthcare debacle, then she refused to take their advice. And, of course, when she fails, she blames the "little people."

I think she would be an absolute disaster as president.

[WHusseinLA]

Wow. Thanks for a very well reasoned post. I might have to read that book.

[justobserve]

I am reading it too. I observed the Clinton during their years in the White House and never like them. People commended her for her years in the Senate but I can see clearly that she acts humbly now because she is just a junior senator but once she is the number one again, she will return to her own persona: her ideas are the best and no delegating to anyone. It was amazing that Americans accepted an unelected person to influence policies the way she did. Nevertheless, after the video of Bosnia sniper fires, I thought people could see how smoothly she told tall tales so people couldn't have trusted her anymore but still, there are people who trusted her! When they released their tax returns and it showed that they earns hundreds of millions directly from their being in the WH and she joked about his "speaking to people" and made money (from the very things that she said she opposed), with good acting she fooled voters easily as if she is a compassionate person. I thought this surely did them in but did it? We have to wait and see. Their greed should come back and haunt them for the rest of their political life. They are pathological liars, spinsmaster, egocentric, selfserving, bully,.... What does it say to our youngsters? Being bad has its reward and our ideals of democracy is not unlike the banana republic.

[sniperfire]

The Bernstein book on Hillary should be required reading for anyone willing to cast thier vote for Clinton.

[campgranata]

I guess it's the 'birds of a feather' syndrome. do you actually believe that the micro managing MRS Clinton doesn't know what is going on in her campaign? SHE is to blame for her arrogance and incompetence and and though I usually am aware of absolutes, NEVER having a backup plan instead she blames everyone but herself.

[stavros]

Manipulation or frustration, they all end in ion.

[CheeseNow]

1. Overall, Clinton leads Obama by a margin of 48-43 percent, with 8 percent still undecided. The telephone survey of 625 likely Pennsylvania voters was taken April 17-18 and had an error margin of plus or minus four percentage points.

"Clinton leads in Pennsylvania," said Brad Coker, the managing partner for Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the poll. "However, the lead doesn't indicate she's going to win by a large enough margin to make a serious impact on Obama's overall delegate lead."

2. Rasmussen Markets give Barack Obama an 84% chance of securing the Democratic Nomination.

3. Someone broke into Senator Obama's Allentown Campaign Office and ripped off a couple of laptops and cellphones.

Which leads me to the possibility of the laptops being connected to:

4. The Saturday night hacking of Barack Obama's website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKjomr1Afq0

[tipiglen3]

With reference to No.4, I reckon it's hard to blame HRC (in person or even in highly-placed staff). More likely somebody's idea of a clever joke. Relatively harmless andeasily fixed. BHO is virtually certain to be the nominee, and, barring Democratic collapse, the next president.

Salaam/Sha­lom/Shanth­i/Dorood/P­eace
Namaste -ed

[ObamaOhio08]

At 8.0a am EDT it's still hijacked.

Of course we can't blame HRC, right? Nooooooooo­o...it was just one of her whacky supporters just being silly! Those silly HRC supporters! What a gag!

BULLSH*T. This is exactly the kind of tactics HRC employs, that America expects from Billary, and therefore gets away with.

But guess what? She's messed with the wrong people. We The People have financed Barack's campaign. I'll bet there's a lawyer in one of the MILLIONS that own this campaign that could figure out a lawsuit here.

Not only is HRC trying to hijack OUR campaign, but she has waged war on The People.

I really hope that the good people of PA will say NOT THIS TIME to the longstanding Clinton tradition of deceit and lies.

PLEASE PA, DON'T WRITE ANOTHER BLANK CHECK!!!!

[Beowoof]

I've got fatigue as well. Goodnight.

[AnnieinOR]

night all... signing out

[BlackmaninAmerica]

Despite all of the negatives on HRC, she is fully equipped to be President. I like Obama better, but Clinton has her pros too. Like I've said, they both have pros and cons. That's reality. They both will have a uphill battle against the GOP because Rove and his neocons will attack the candidate harshly despite what McSame said. I'm through Hillary bashing because it solves nothing. This election will be close either way. The problem I have with both sides (Obama and Clinton) is that people are letting silly things like Bosnia and Wright cause them to vote McCain. That is ludicrous. You're going to vote for McCain because of a few misstatements and guilt by association tricks. We Dems are better than that. Come on now.

[AnnieinOR]

I supported the Clintons in the 90's but, with Hillary, there's a hardness to her that I don't find endearing like you find in Bill. I probably would have supported her for President if she hadn't taken on the presumptive role of "incumbent" and saying things like "I will be the nominee". I didn't know much about Obama and studied every candidate, and I did waver between Edwards, Richardson and Obama. Hillary just turned me off with her sense of entitlement. I think she could've been a good presdient - bt I am a "gut" voter... if I don't like you, I won't vote for you.

Obama has a charisma about him that makes you believe that he can unite the country. Besides, I really believe people are just tired of corrupt politicians and the stalemate in DC - years go by and nothing gets done. Roger Clemens??? what a waste of money and time.

[KINOKO]

Sorry to disagree, but my bemchmark of Presidential readiness is basically "the company you keep" theory. On the one hand, I see George W. Bush (who I voted for in 04) surround himself with people I respect, such as Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, and a short-bus full of others...a­nd that's cool. Then I see Obama ( who I will vote for in 2008/2012), who surrounds himself with high calibre advisors and compatriots, ie: Susan Rice, David Plouf, Mike Bloomberg, Senators like Dodd and Edwards and Kennedy, and a whole boatload of other people I highly respect. And then, we have Hillary. Jesus...wh­at can I say? Mark Penn? Howard Wolfson? Meeks? Ferraro? And my personal worst of all....Bob Johnson, creator of BET ( Black Exploitation Televison ) , the ultimate house Negro. HRC's list is an apalling look at the type of oportunists, profiteers, and truth adverse sycophants who will circle 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue like carrion birds, looking to strip the bones of the average American. Sorry, but NO WAY. Just as, biologically speaking, you really are what you eat....in politics, you are who you CHOOSE to associate with. But accordingly, I have taken what you've said under advisement, and will try to be more objective towards HRC...I'll try, at least. But I can't promise, because when I see her I get really nervous, really fast...thi­nking that someone wants to sell the White House around feb., 2009, to the highest bidder.

[thirteen13]

It's proxy president Bill - THIRD CLINTON ADMINISTRATION - that worries me the most.

[AnnieinOR]

here's another 10k in Harrisburg

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/20/02327/4598/34/499307

[AnnieinOR]

did anyone ever find out what the largest capacity crowd was at any Clinton event? Just curious... especially in light of Obama always drawing crowds in excess of 10K. When he came to OR, tickets were gone in a matter of hours, and every site was to capacity with overflow.

[KINOKO]

I think I saw about 100 people with NASCAR and Larry The Cable Guy shirts on, at her rally, and another 1000 SAG employees, as extras (but only because she was giving out free pizza and meisterbrau). Looking kinda bad for HRC these days...Hop­efully we can finally put this puppy to bed and get a real President in the White House, not an oportunist.

OBAMA 2008

[kevenseven]

G'night.

[AnnieinOR]

night kev... I'm going down too.

[BlackmaninAmerica]

I'm starting to believe that a 3rd candidate will end up coming into the fold. I see Hillary winning a few states and Barack winning some. To settle this, the DNC will have to appoint a 3rd candidate to head the ticket. Now at that point, the VP will be whoever is closest to 2025. It will allow us to have a better chance of winning in the fall, because right now, no one can really predict how this will go. That statement sounds pessimistic but its also pretty factual.

[Annette]

I hope not, if the party decides that the voters input, for either side should be ignored. That will deliver the Whitehouse to McCain in my opinion. Lots of voters who worked hard for their candidate will be so turned off that they won't even bother to vote on November. The other problem would be WHO? If the party pulls up one of the candidates who got fewer votes and dropped out that would be a mess and if they tried to draft someone like Gore who didn't run in the primaries that would even be a bigger mess. I don't know hoy it will come out but it should depend upon who has the most votes and who has the most delagates.

[ObamaSeeChange]

Go to bed you are dreaming!

[drzoon]

why do you ... any one of you.... think Hilary is having trouble keeping up with Barack in fundraising?

she can do the very same thing he does. and well over half of his donors average 100 dollars in donations.

why can't she do that too?

[linquistic]

Because she doesn't have over 1.3 million donors. Her big money donors maxed out.

[kevenseven]

Not enough people want her to be president.

[AnnieinOR]

I agree with both of you - Obama has people from every walk of life supporting him. She has people who know her from the Clinton years and have the bucks, but now the well has dried up. It doesn't help that she has turned off a lot of "potential" support with her 'scorched earth' tactics - no foresight, not even towards the general if you ask me.

If by some miracle she made it to the general, how does she think she could beat Mcsame with her endorsement of him, her padding the resume and baggage that they've already dug up. People just aren't willing to throw away their money for that kind of a gamble.

[BlackmaninAmerica]

HRC is very capable of doing what he is doing, however, she has caused an avalanche of people to get behind Obama because of her negative campaigning. She has alienated so many in the party (moreso Obama supporters). I think it will be very hard for her to rally some of his supporters if she ends up being the nom.

[drzoon]

so what you are saying is...

she doesn't have enough people who believe in her? believe enough in her to give her 25 dollars?

wow.... why not?

i thought she had all these people who loved her and would do anything for her...

what happened?

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

maybe it is because hillary's once overwhelming aura of inevitability has evaporated thanks to a very poorly managed campaign and her willingness to be as disingenuous and selfserving as she needs to be in order to win at any cost -

people are sick and tired of dirty, underhanded politics which result in dirty politicians and hillary is a prime example of what needs to change in washington dc if "we the people" are ever to have a hope in hell of taking back our government from corrupt special interests and an out-of-control war machine

[BlackmaninAmerica]

I see Hillary winning by 5-7 points. I think Rendell was accurate in his analysis. I will be shocked if Obama carries PA. The Gallup poll changes from day to day. You never know what may happen. I still think he will carry NC and OR and IN will be close. At the end of the day, they both have unfavorables now and both have baggage. It is an uphill battle for both because race and gender are polarizing in America and people will look to any little thing like flag pins and Bosnia as an excuse to vote McCain.

[JonStewart4President]

And Obama people? keep to reality. Obama loses PA by 12-15. Okay. Still better than 22-19 points, so there ya go.

And eh, still doesn't matter. But please, be realistic here. Hillary has regained the Gallup lead and that was a HUGE swing down for Obama of 11 points and undecideds are breaking for Hillary, atop her already impressive built-in lead in PA. So that means a victory of 11 at the least. And depending on how the delegates break (this is not just based on overall percentage of the final vote) Obama will probably be down by 15 whole delegates.­..out of like 150. And NC and IN are next, which probably will wipe out that.

But Obama people, please stop with this talk about how Obama can win PAtucky. He can't and he won't. Prepare yourselves, it's going to be a double digit loss. Which will signify nothing, beyond more revenue for the MSM on their way to coronating McSame.

[kevenseven]

It is within the realm of possibility that Obama can hold her to single digits. Not the most likely, but I would be a bit surprised if she wins by more than 12%.

The Gallup poll concerns me less. It is one poll, six others say otherwise.

Me, I'm just trying to hold it together until the Balloon drop.

[Monkeytime]

Valid, very important point. He never was gonna win PA and he doesn't need to.

[Beowoof]

Good points if your numbers are correct, but if Hillary gets the nomination, our country will need Jesse Ventura or a third party candidate.

[SenorBob]

I would be all over a Jesse Ventura/Kinky Friedman ticket! Talk about awesome...­.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Say, maybe you should try and convince a few of those Super Delegates and campaign donators that just don't agree with you.

Good luck though with those ...prognos­tications.

[BillyT]

Even if Hillary does win PA by 15, she gets 10 delegates more than Obama.

You will need 15 Pennsylvanias to make up the difference.

Good luck!