Hillary: Beware the Ides of March

April is the cruelest month, wrote the poet T. S. Eliot. But Hillary Clinton must think it's February that deserves that title after her campaign struggled to survive in the waste land of winter while mixing memory of her days in the White House and her desire to return as the first woman president. But her future looks even crueler as the Ides of March approach.

Hillary had a worse February than Roger Clemens, sub-prime mortgage lenders or Kenya. After her dismal third place showing in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, she seemed poised to inherit her husband's title as the Comeback Kid when she defied the pollsters and defeated the golden-tongued political phenomenon, Barack Obama, in the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary.

But after proclaiming that she had found her own voice, she stumbled badly in South Carolina on Jan. 26 -- thanks in part to her husband's heavy-handed anti-Obama rhetoric -- before losing her aura of inevitability by essentially splitting the Feb. 5 mega-round of Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. And even though she won the Massachusetts primary, she was stunned when Ted Kennedy and JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy declared their support of Obama.

She soon was stripped of her frontrunner status and delegate advantage by Obama, who took control of the race for the nomination by winning eleven straight contests in February, all by lopsided margins, while drawing massive crowds everywhere, leaving her in a fight for survival in the delegate-rich March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries -- which her husband unhelpfully said she must win or give up her candidacy.

At almost every turn in February, the news got worse for Hillary. Reports of her political demise were common as she fired her campaign manager; loaned $5 million to keep her campaign afloat; argued that Michigan and Florida's delegates should be seated despite violating party rules for holding too-early primaries; lost the support of two key unions -- the Service Employees International and the United Food and Commercial Workers; canceled a Fort Worth rally when a Dallas police officer was killed in a motorcycle accident as he escorted her motorcade on Feb. 21; watched helplessly as Georgia Rep. John Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement, switched his support to Obama; and became embroiled in a controversy over a photograph of Obama wearing a turban and native garb in Kenya that her aides allegedly leaked to the Drudge Report.

Even her conciliatory gesture toward Obama when she shook hands with him after their debate in Austin, Texas and declared, "Whatever happens, we're going to be fine," forced her to deny it was a signal of surrender.

As a result, Clinton saw the double digit leads she enjoyed in Texas and Ohio just a few weeks ago vanish. Frustrated, she went on the offensive, accusing Obama of lifting part of a speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, his friend and campaign adviser; of accepting the support of the controversial pastor of his church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and of the Nation of Islam's incendiary Louis Farrakhan; and of distorting her record on healthcare reform. In a 20th and probably final debate on Feb. 26, she attacked Obama for his stands on healthcare, Nafta, Iraq and his lack of foreign policy experience.

She and her aides also bitterly complained that Obama is getting a free ride from an adoring press, She reiterated her complaint in last week's MSNBC debate in Cleveland, a point partially proven by Tim Russert's Torquemada-type inquisition.

Then on February's leap year extra day, Clinton unleashed her harshest attack yet on Obama by releasing a breathtakingly cynical TV ad in Texas that echoed the infamous "Daisy" ad that President Johnson used to great effect against Barry Goldwater in 1964, which showed a little girl picking petals off a flower just before a nuclear mushroom erupted. A similar ad was used by former Vice President Walter Mondale to successfully undercut his challenger, Sen. Gary Hart, in 1984; Roy Spence, who made that spot, is an advertising adviser to Clinton.

The 30-second spot shows sleeping children and asks voters who they would want answering the White House red phone at 3 a.m. "when something's happening in the world?" It was designed to invoke fears that Obama couldn't handle a world crisis, unlike "someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military -- someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world." Just in case the massage doesn't make its point, the ad ends with Clinton, wearing reading glasses and holding a phone. Obama's camp denounced the ad as "fear mongering."

And although her campaign was essentially broke in early February, Clinton had collected $35 million by month's end. Still, she failed to match Obama's huge numbers from his Internet donor base -- his campaign just signed up its one-millionth donor and is expected to set a one-month record by raising more than $50 million. However, Clinton demonstrated a remarkable ability to keep raising money as she attracted some 200,000 new contributors, even as her campaign suffered repeated setbacks, allowing her to saturate the airwaves with campaign ads in Ohio and Texas.

But whether that will be enough to enable her to continue after March 4 is problematical, despite supporters who anonymously declare that "she has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she's out" (Rhode Island and Vermont are voting the same day). As the Washington Post's Dan Balz, who has emerged as one of the ablest chroniclers of the 2008 campaign, reported on March 1, Clinton's last-minute efforts may not be enough, at least in Ohio.

"It's not that our [ad] buy isn't strong, it's very strong," a Clinton campaign official told Balz.. "It's that their buy is gargantuan and amplified with two big independent buys." Balz also reported that the Obama campaign, helped by independent expenditure ads by the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers, has almost a four-to-one advantage over Clinton in Ohio TV ads.

The stark reality that Clinton faces on March 4 is that she not only needs to win in Ohio and Texas, but she needs to win big. As Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, told Balz, Clinton "... needs a real boost in Ohio and -- not or -- Texas going into the next six weeks, if in fact she stays for the next six weeks. ... In the starkest of terms, this is pretty simple. She's got to win by a margin which gets her a boost in delegates."

The Ides of March don't occur until the 15th, but Clinton must be painfully aware that it was, after all, a fellow senator who plunged the dagger into Caesar's chest.

Comments

[moevaughn]

OBAMA BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH

The Rezko trial began today;

BHO's nafta lie is coming to light.

(just political rehtoric; pay no attention)

[OhioPoBoy]

My only hope is that we can get over this once the convention comes around. If all we do is keep fighting (and HRC has promised to keep fighting until at least June,) especially if the SuperDelegates give her the nomination, we could turn off a new voters Obama has brought to the table. Wouldn't it be ironic if McCain won and managed to split the party between women and African Americans?

[eddiestardust]

It's not Hillary that needs to beware, it's Obama....
Right now, It's Obama who seems to be winning...

It was Caesar who was winning too...

And we all know what happened to him....

[happytrails]

And Caesar crowned himself, remember?
And so did Napoleon and ended up exiled at Elba.
Maybe it's not so smart to declare yourself the winner BEFORE the contest gets started.

[Tankan]

Et tu, Brute?

[CommanderWhitehead]

Someone said recently, I believe on the Huffington Post ...words to this effect: When there is so little difference in substance (between the two Democratic candidates) style matters.

Bye, bye, Hillary.

[Democrab]

I'd rather look at Hillary every day on the news. She's very pretty.

This is my deepest, most researched and profound two cents worth.

And I can't wait for the bots to slam this baby!

[Macready]

Great blog . . . thank you for posting .. . I suspect you are right the Ides of March are early this year . . . hillary continues to show bad judgement and a total lack of any ability to lead . .. her recycled ad is contemptible . . . doesn't she even realise that the chimp has destroyed the US military . . . so what is she going to do . . .bomb??? . . her whole campaign has been about holding onto and pushing bill's presidency . . . she somehow still believes that we the American public owe her the presidency . .. why because she is bill's wife and a woman . . . her voting record speaks volumes about how wrong she is for the job . . .

[badgirlinchicago]

For the ignorant and misinformed: Sen. Clinton accepts donations from troubled firm.

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718285.aspx

[KDH]

Obama: Beware the Ides of Rezco

[moevaughn]

and the Ides of NAFTA!!

[loveliberty123]

Any Obama wrongdoing or involvement has been totally debunked. Its pretty pathetic when Hill supporters have to cling to a non-story like this.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Yes, Mr. E, but she says she IS ready to destroy a country at 3:00 a.m. on 'day one'.

That SHOULD count for something, shouldn't it?

[grailskr]

Brigadier General John Watkins, Jr. stated,
"As I think about the challenges facing the nation and having been in uniform for almost thirty years, worked with a number of presidents to include the last four, I can"t think of a single person " those generals included " who is better qualified to walk into the Oval Office than Hillary Clinton. I don"t make that statement very lightly. She is more qualified, in my view, than her husband Bill was when he entered the office. It is no surprise to me that you would have as many flag officers who serve this country and Secretaries of the Army and Navy who have served this country who would come out and support Hillary."

It is a series of powerful testimonials from eighteen former admirals, generals, and senior defense officials who support Hillary. They are among nearly 30 general and flag officers who have endorsed Hillary.

Whether or not Hillary is your candidate of choice, consider for a moment what these distinguished men and women are saying and why they are saying it. They are aware of the choices, decisions, votes and experience that Hillary brings to the table. And they have come to the same conclusion, a conclusion reached by millions of voters: that Hillary is the Democrat ready to take back the White House and clean up the mess that George W. Bush has left behind.

Peter Daou

The above is from her website, www.hillaryclinton.com if you have the courage to listen to the phone call and or read some of the other remarks from other Flag Officers then go to her website.
By the way I don't think men and women feel the same as you folks and they'd be the ones protecting you!

namaste

[MPeter]

That is funny. She is a fighter and just keep on picking fights with anyone who cares to listen. May be she needs to listen to Bill for a change. Here is his advise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZW0m2nWB_M

[TIMLHOWE]

God how I love Al Eisele!

But my God, Al, you are always very C with your W (wisdom) when the subject is the coming and final destruction of the Clintons.

How many times have you and yours been wrong on that particular subject ?
And once again, like 10 years ago (and 16, and 14, and 8 years ago), you guys will be wrong once more.

First, you forget that neither camp will have enough delegates. no way, no how.

Not without

MI - FL..

I suggest you go back and look on the reporting about WHY obama took his name off of MI and understand they were trying to hurt hillary with that move, and well, such actions have consequences.

MI - FL

Voters voted for her and the will eventually be heard.

Wails from Obamacrats and banshee screams from the media village wont change this.

And 15 million Hillary supporters will demand it!

Al, how didnt you learn 10 years ago that the Clintons, especially Hillary , arent to be bullied by a angry and falsely righteous punditocracy?

Also, were you mad at Mondale when Spence did that ad before? Personally, Im very impressed by both him and the ad. And let me tell you for real, Mrs. Clinton believes in the reasoning behind it to the very bottoms of the souls of her feet. Its the antithesis of cynicism. Whether you view this as right or wrong, it doesn't change her sincere beliefs about this.

58 days to PA. I'll be there, come visit!

We'll go to the 'Pen and Pencil' then you and other MSM visitors to the club can tell us how she is surely going to lose and how surely she will have to withdraw

- once again.

That will be the 5h time in this short campaign, but hey, who's counting?!

Hope you're doing very, very well!

Tim

Hillary / Obama 08

(what other answer is there ?)

[hillarysupporter]

Obama has a very "weak" Senate record. .. Why aren't we hearing more about that???? I guess he
was too busy preparing for his run for the presidency. Lets see...he has a very short record in the
Senate, and the record indicates he didn't do much,... so let's make him president!

[Notapathetic]

Let's see.......Mrs. Clinton traveled around and shook some hands 15 years ago.....hands of people that are long gone from whatever office they held in the 90's. This is spun to mean that she has solid relationships with leaders all around the world. Oh.

She didn't have a security clearance? Oh.

She was never elected to ANYTHING, EVER, before she became a Senator.....by riding Bill's coattails.

A very large part of her resume is she held the exact position that Laura Bush currently holds. Does Laura Bush have Presidential level experience? Hmmmm.

She has demonstrated stunning incompetence in her management of the campaign.

She has poor control of her emotions. Angry on Monday, sad on Tuesday, exhilirated on Wednesday, resentful on Thursday, happy on Friday, quiet on Saturday.....sheesh!

I recently saw a list of every bill that Hillary originated in the Senate. It was ridiculous. Not one single meaningful bill.

I think that we have been sold a bill of goods about how smart and capable Hillary is. I am afraid that, if she wins, we will discover that she is just a little above average....not much, just a little. Then, as we have with Bush, we will spend four or eight years regretting the marketing job we were sucked into.

[Countess]

Let us pray that march will finish off the reactionary warmonger once and for all.

[Macready]

well said Countess . . . . and good riddance to hillary is only a day away . .. . tomorrow tormorrow . . . I love you tomorrow . . . .

[mexamerican]

amen.

[trevor01]

Thanks for the recap. Hillary is either in need of a miracle or a well informed electorate. I wish for the second but can't help praying for the first.

[alexcharner]

A well informed electorate has been her downfall. Can't you recognize when your prayers have been answered?

[PioneerKing]

Too, bad Sen. Clinton's campaign staff forgot to remind her that Congress has officially declared March to be "No running with sharp objects month." Oh, yes, by the way Sen. Clinton voted yea for the resolution. ;_)