When the Focus of the Campaign Becomes Campaigning

Looking over the coverage of Hillary Clinton's pitch this week, I can't help but think she's off message. Today in Philadelphia, for example, Clinton is emphasizing the need to keep the presidential campaign going.

In excerpt of a speech she's set to give to the AFL-CIO in the City of Brotherly Love, Senator Clinton says "just as it's getting time to vote here in Pennsylvania, Senator Obama says he's getting tired of it. His supporters say they want it to end."

"Well, could you imagine if Rocky Balboa had gotten half way up those Art Museum steps and said, "Well, I guess that's about far enough?"

And in talking to local TV stations this morning and yesterday, Clinton pushed back against those who want the nominating fight to end.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack Obama and his allies of trying to stop people from voting as some of his backers have called on her to drop out of the presidential race. [...]

In a series of television interviews in states holding upcoming contests, Clinton vowed to press on with her campaign and suggested Obama and his supporters wanted to keep those states from playing a role in selecting the party's presidential nominee.

And consider this lede to the LA Times' campaign coverage this morning.

In one of their sharpest exchanges of the presidential campaign, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama clashed over the Iraq war on Monday, with each challenging the other's credentials on national security.

Meanwhile, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the party's nomination, went after Obama's supporters for urging her to exit the race.

There's obviously a common thread here. It seems as if the Clinton strategy is to focus the campaign on campaigning. Given the microphone, Clinton is using it to talk about how important it is that she keep getting the microphone. This is the wrong message at the wrong time.

Put aside, for a moment, whether it helps or hurts the Democratic Party to have the race continue. Reasonable people can draw different conclusions about this, and Clinton is making a perfectly good case that she deserves to keep on fighting, regardless of the hurdles.

That's not what this is about. What, exactly, is the point of a prolonged process? In theory, for Clinton and her supporters, it's about giving voters more time to see and hear what the candidates have to offer, and giving voters in eight states and two territories more time to weigh in with their preferences.

Clinton has made it clear she's not going anywhere anytime soon, which Democrats can interpret as either good news or bad. But the point here is what Clinton chooses to do on the campaign trail now that she's vowed to stay on it. So far, the emphasis the past several days has been on the importance of keeping the nomination fight going, and criticizing Obama supporters for wanting to wrap things up.

But that's not a compelling campaign pitch. There's no reason to keep talking about why the race should continue; the race is continuing by virtue of Clinton's ongoing efforts.

So, Clinton campaign, make the best of it. Get the spotlight and use it make your case. Don't talk about the need to keep talking; tell voters who they should vote for and why.

Reporters and campaign junkies enjoy the inside-pool and horserace analysis, but on the list of voters' top concerns, the debate over whether the Democrats' nomination fight should in April, June, or August is probably near the bottom.

Clinton has a compelling policy message, but if all we hear is a campaign based on the need to continue campaigning, the race might as well end. It will have passed the point of vapidity.

Comments

[Aaror]

I'm going to suggest a theory my wife had months ago, I am starting to wonder if it is true...
Is Clinton trying to lose?
She has run a pitiful campaign and squandered every advantage, perhaps there is a reason for that. With her high negatives she probably realized that she not only couldn't win the presidency, but that she would hurt the party is she was the nominee.
Still, by running, she keeps Republican attention, and delays their attacks on Obama. She has been attacking Obama, but even that seems to be helping him, especially because of when she is doing it. After all, McCain's lobbyistgate was released when it would have the least effect on him by the NY times to help him, not hurt him. Perhaps Hillary is attacking Obama early and weakly so that the repub attacks will be "old news," by the time they launch them.
Looked at this way, Hillary is the self-sacrificing hero of the party. But you can only look at it this way if you accept that she won't win.

[AnninCA]

Hillary had no choice, since Obama surrogates have continuously used this ploy before every major vote to discourage her supporters. They did before NH. They repeated it before SuperTuesday. Before Ohio and Texas, it was "rumored" that the superdelegates would join together and boot her out. And now again.

It's obvious that this is an attack pattern used repeatedly in this election. Just plain old-fashioned, nothing new here, politics.

She has no choice but to address it. Luckily, she's found a good antidote. Her supporters are now used to Obama writing her obituary.

[hrayovac]

AnninCA. Is it your premise that Hillary actions have been dictated by events outside her control? I would think twice about a candidate who can't direct a positive response to typical attacks which come the opposing candidates supporters..and incidentally not from her opposing candidate who has been polite and respectful to a fault. If issues are not her motive for running then what is it?

[TommyMcCarthy]

Obama's campaign has been.... "polite and respectful to a fault".....

You mean like in South Carolina?

Just when that "delusional" business was starting to go away................................tm

[eaglecapri]

I'm a woman and I understand feminism speak!

Mzzzz. Clinton keeps talking about Obama (a boy) and his supporters (boys) trying to 'push' her out of the race because she wants to get her base - WOMEN - and the Maxi-Fems all riled up! The past has taught her that she is rewarded when she is down and/or looks like the victim. Crying will no longer work! We're on to that. So, she's mixing it up and trying something new!

She is such a disgrace to feminism. This is not what feminism is about! And, unfortunately, she has become the female model of breaking through the ultimate glass ceiling - the presidency. How unfortunate. If it could be any other woman...

[Boadicea]

It's Hillary she has left. Attacking Obama, attacking Obama's supporters, and more attacking Obama. It's beyond pitiful. Obama looks more and more presidential by comparison. I've changed my mind about wanting Hillary to drop out - she's making the best candidate look even better just by giving us something to compare him to.

For Obama, I'm sure Hillary is like one of those houseflies that disturbs one's summer reading in the screen porch. It would be nice if you could catch the damned thing and put it out, but it's an irritant, not a threat, and if you have to wait until it buzzes itself out and lands upside down on a window sill, well, that's just part of summer, isn't it?

[busybeez]

Playing the victim has become Hillary's signature card. It's the same thing she's been doing the entire election--talks big about being a fighter and at the same time she portrays herself as the victim. Yawn!

[Gasparilla]

Once again we get a link and a quote from an article that does not say what it claims. The claim is that she said Obama did not want people to vote. She said it was a lot of his "supporters". Print her quote instead of your interpretation of it.

[lafrance]

I keep saying the press needs to drastically cut their coverage of Hillary. Once the lights and cameras go away and deprive the Clintons of their very addiction - to be in the spotlight and center of attention, they will get the message and go away. Realize that they and their era is over.

[ItsAlessandro]

Sure, they and 8 of the 10 largest states that want her as the democratic nominee.

[Gumpster]

It seems Hillary is biding her time and waiting to find the silver bullet to dismiss Obama, rather than convince the public she is the better candidate. For her, it is a strategy of trying hang on long enough (and hopefully pay enough bills) until her lackeys and operatives can come up with a story of why Obama is not fit to be president (a la 3am, NAFTA, Rev Wright, Muslim religion, etc.).

Clinton's advisors are the highly paid Democratic equivalent of Karl Rove, destroying anyone in the path to a selfish objective regardless the cost. And Hillary is part of the Hillary party, not the Democratic Party. Exactly how many candidates did she help while First Lady or Senator. Very short coattails with room only for those that owe her something.

A dangerous combination for those hoping for real change this election.

[JudgeCrater]

"It will have passed the point of vapidity."

Vapidity: "the quality or state of being vapid"
Vapid: : "lacking liveliness, tang, briskness, or force : flat, dull

[EdnaEpstein]

NO she doesn't have a compelling message. The message is always about Hillary. And yet once again she is proving it in spades. Go girl! Go! All you do is shoot yourself in the foot. So let's all the rest of us sit back, watch and enjoy her utter egotistical vacuity... that's a fancy word for running on empty.

[ItsAlessandro]

How about the media quit stirring the pot and instead just report the news. MSNBC goes pretty much the whole day reporting every angle they can come up with on why HIllary should quit, all of it nonsense because it's completely unbalanced.

[Gasparilla]

The Today Show also. They had conservative columnist David Brooks on, telling everyone why Hillary should quit. Then he was on Meet The Press saying the same thing. And Andrea MItchell is on NBC Nightly News doing it too.

[Thankyouforsayingthat]

A. Part of it is also what the media decided to focus on.

B. Don't forget that she is always the victim. She thrives on fighting people that are pushing her out of this race. Seriously, you don't expect her to pass this huge chance to whine about how it has been so unfair to her, do you?

[EdnaEpstein]

No it's not just the media. It is all of us. Look at the number of posts on the soap opera aspects of this campaign on these pages and how few posts there are on more substantive issues. WE are the ones who just love this stuff. The media just feeds us what we lap up. Yum Yum

[ItsAlessandro]

lol, two weeks after bosniagate and the media brings it up as if it just happened. They literally are reporting the story like it happened today, meanwhile, Obama's camp has taken down all of their stuff from the internet.

Do you not see the hypocrisy in that?

[mlaiuppa]

The more I listen to her the more I get the impression (ME ME ME) that this campaign is about Hillary being the first woman president, not about Hillary the public servant serving the people of the United States and working WITH us to improve, well, everything. I don't hear issues, I hear her being the historic first woman president. Perhaps she's looking at the big picture....all of those lucrative speaking engagements she'll have after her term is over. Isn't that when Bill starting making all of his money. Oh, that's right.....no tax returns.....yet......still.

[EdnaEpstein]

Isn't that what she said before NH when she teared up at the prospect of loosing it..." This is very personal..." You bet it is... but why do the rest of us have to be subjected to it and why are we willing to be? No she shouldn't drop out. It should be clear to her supporters, every single one of the self pitying, angry, sour, dour, frightened ones (and let me tell you after working in NW Indiana that is what they are) that she was beat fair and square. So stop the calls to have her pull out. Let her go on and on and on, until she has finally turned even her supporters OFF.

[dontshootme]

HuffPost's Pick

Unfortunately, this wacky primary schedule has more or less sentenced us to six weeks of process stories.

Ideas have gone the way of the buffalo and now we're stuck with what Hillary and Barack had for breakfast and why this makes them a good/bad person and hence and good/bad candidate for president.

Both campaigns are stuck in this process dynamo where they are more interested in catching the other candidate in a gotcha moment.

You said what Obama/Clinton! Gotcha!

Part of the problem unfortunately is that the press and yes, even the bloggers, are more interested in process than ideas. To get press, each candidate feels like they have to feed the beast. The beast being the press and the feed being more process stories. (ie. Should Hillary Drop Out? What are those superdelagates doing/thinking? What are the national polls saying and is it any different than what they said two days ago? Is this campaign too soft/too hard or just right?) Enough already.

I think that some of us, just want this primary to end, not because we hate Hillary, but rather we just want to return to debating actual ideas, such as who has the better plan for the economy and who actually has a realistic plan to get us out of Iraq?

[ItsAlessandro]

awesome reply, well balanced, logical, and thoughtful, except for the hate part.

[Umungus]

Senator Clinton isn't campaigning to win, she is campaigning to stay in the race.

I wish someone would explain what they like about her and why she'd make a better President, instead it's always what they don't like about Senator Obama. Someone please explain why Senator Clinton inspires you.

[ddlrid]

Yes...that's it!!! It is really that simple...

[veteran1964]

I love liars, I love cheaters, I love power hungry people, I love bullet dodging women, I love racists, I love back stabbers and most of all, I love people that bob their head every time they say a word. My main love is seeing this woman with all of these traits absolutely make a further ass out of herself the rest of the way. Read what Harold Ickes said today and what he is about to do. sickening. I think that Hillary, Bill and this team is more racist than the KKK.

[ljsfolly]

In PA her speech running says that Barack doesn't want her to continue and doesn't want every vote counted. His ad says she can run as long as she wants (no matter how distructive she gets), he will not be the one telling America he didn't give her every chance to hang it out there. It's a shame considering ow much time it will take for him to potentially recoup from all of her sound bites and video showing her support for old man Mac. I hope she gives it to him.

[ItsAlessandro]

But the its the media that has gone on and on, Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews have done a verbal hatchet job on Hillary.

[divaatty]

If the media were really biased against Clinton and doing a "verbal hatchet job" on her as you state, then they would be reporting on this very factual and CREDIBLE account written by her former boss at the House Judiciary Committee.

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/hillarys-crocodile-tears-in-connecticut

If this had been Obama conducting himself this way, it would have been reported by the MSM and spell the end of her campaign, as it should Clinton's. If Obama and his wife were the subjects of a federal trial for violations of campaign laws, as are Hillary and Bill in the Paul trial, the MSM would be reporting in daily.

The MSM are Hillary's best friends and the ONLY reason that she is still a viable candidate.