The Comeback Kid: Hillary Clinton Does a McCain
Everyone is trying to scramble to explain Hillary Clinton's turnaround tonight. Negative campaigning. Aggressivness. Elbow grease. NAFTA. Rezko. Saturday Night Live. Lots of stuff.
But the bottom line is that Barack Obama's campaign had some air let out of the balloon this week by a media that began to feel guilty for imbalanced coverage of the two. And Obama's folks lost control of the agenda-setting function that a frontrunner usually has.
After the Wisconsin debate, I thought that Clinton had begun to acquiesce to Obama's surge. Many on her campaign -- at high levels -- thought this was the case as well. And what I thought was taking place after was a "negotiation" for what the role of the Clinton franchise would be.
That is now a dead narrative. Clinton is back and wants to win. Obama still has a magic aura, but it is a bit more tarnished this week than last.
And the bottom line tonight -- despite the fact that Obama won Vermont and that Texas is so close and the caucus process so mismanaged that it's hard not to believe that a recount won't be demanded -- is that Hillary Clinton "did a McCain" tonight -- and she's back in the race. . .big time.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note
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"Negativity doesn 't just show up in ads, it can be done by saying McCain is more qualified to be president than Obama, saying the whole campaign is based on one speech in 2002, reluctance to put rumors about his religion to rest, having your surrogates make repeated racially charged comments, and creating fake newscasts like her republican idols." **********
No she wasn't clear about his religion in her original statements. And I didn't make up comments by Shaheen, Cuomo, Kerry or Bubba. They made those comments in front of cameras and microphones and nothing you say is going to change that. It's not made up and what counts is black people's perceptions of those comments not what the media says. I've been black for over 30 years and I know the code words and the subtle racial digs when I hear them. Why do you only think extremely hateful comments and images are negative?
I was thinking along similar lines. My friends, relatives and coworkers are saying they are willing to withold their votes. I disagree with this because I think it's important that McCain lose. We really do need a democrat in the WH.
That being said, I understand their frustration. I just hope that cooler heads prevail by November or we will almost certainly have at least 4 more years of Bush/Cheney policies courtesy of John McCain.
Oh, for heaven's sakes. She was asked three times if he was Muslim. She wasn't with him all his life. She said as far as she knew...it wasn't up to her to answer it anyway! What nonsense this thread is. If he had any stones, he would say, "That's my name, don't wear it out." And he would add, "I am A Christian and have attended the Whatever Church for 20 years, but if I were a Muslim, what is wrong with that, it's one of the world's three great religions.
The country has spoken loud and clear. Despite the non-stop onslaught of attacks from the Republicans, the Democratic Left, the MSM, and the heavily Republican influenced Obama campaign, Hillary is still standing.
Last night the true Hillary has been unveiled and she is awesome.
Not one more inch of ground can be conceded to Obama. It is time to sweep the rest of these contests. Hillary should put in an appearance everywhere, fight for every delegate, no matter how remote the chance of winning him or her might appear. On to Wyoming and Mississippi. The people want to meet the next President!
How could any decent person be proud of this woman and her disgusting tactics? Are you really proud to be part of race baiting, religious smears and fearmongering? Are you proud to be working side by side with Rush Limbaugh and the racists that voted for her in Texas?
Once again, please explain where and when was this "race-baiting" you keep rabbiting on about? And what are the "religious smears" that have come from HRC? And what has Clinton got to do with Rush Limbaugh? Limbaugh *hates* Clinton.
Yes, indeed - the truly negative, divisive, fear-mongering, and SNL-depending Hillary has been unveiled.
I'm quite glad Obama took some punches over the last couple of days - he needed it. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that throwing 'kitchen sinks' means 'the country has spoken loud and clear'. As shown within her own 'experience', such a quick-fix strategy will haunt her in the contests to come.
I agree, RichLiberal. She needs to get some feet on the ground in Wyoming. I know it doesn't sound like much, but she needs to keep the wind at her back. She should also run a series of ads showing all of Obama's foreign policy answers in the debate when he consistently, said, "Hillary is right on this", "Hillary's answer is correct," I have nothing to add to what Hillary outlined", etc. etc. etc. It would also be great if they flashed his deer-in-th
If Hillary wins the nomination we will quickly see the 2nd Clinton apology tour, the first on was the "I'm sorry I let Monica do me tour". She, Bill, Maggie Williams, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Andrew Young, and other prominent black supporters will spend time with black church congregations, black media people, black social, political and civic groups, and black "leaders" making nice, making deals and talking sweet in an attempt to win back the black vote because she can't reach the WH without it. I'm a pragamist who hates what the republicans have done to this country and I'll vote for Hillary if she's the nominee, but a huge majority of my family and friends say they will never vote for her even if that means McCain is elected. The democratic party is in trouble and I think McCain will be sitting in the Oval Office in January.
You know Det19, I am a Hillary supporter, and I would vote for Obama if he becomes the nominee, but I have friends and family members who would not cast their vote for Obama -- they have decided to write in Hillary's name if she should lose. That is why I believe the two need to come together and run as a team - no matter what. If Obama receives more delegates than he should be at the top of the ticket, but by the same token, if Clinton wins more delegates, she should be at the top of the ticket. I will say that she can make a better case -- so far -- to the superdelegates, as she is winning in KEY battleground states - those states, by the way, that are absolutely necessary in November.
Hillary is not a come back kid.She barely won Texas and won Ohio by only 10 points.Thi
A win is a win.
She's leading the popular vote, and she's shown the ability to fight back.
I trust her to take on McCain and kick his saggy old warmongering ass.
Obama showed us his glass jaw last night.
And that was just after one week of hardball politics.
He may be too green to cross the finish line first.
The majority of American voters will not want to see the Clintons back in the White House again -- been there, got the T-shirt already!
The Dems in Pennsylvania had better wake up and see November staring everyone in the face -- sad, but true, that McCain will stomp Hillary's ass in November because he can steal away all of the independent voters away from Hillary... and the Dems will once again be stuck with a Repug administration for the next 4 years!
If Hillary cheats and whines and politicks her way to the nomination, she will be handing McCain the the Republicans the presidency on a silver platter. I cannot believe that she was on CNN this morning saying--"I have years of experience, McCain has years of experience, Obama has none." At this point she'd backstab her own mother to get the nomination and for what? A ghastly, embarassing failure. There is no way that she can beat McCain, no way. She can't outhawk him on the war and she's already demonstrated her she's a failure as a peacenik candidate. All she can do is look weak and mealy-mouthed. Her nomination would change the equation from same-old vs. something new to same-old Dem vs, same-old Repug. and there is no way that she can draw the same kind of cross-over and Independent votes that McCain can.
Um, Clinton is not leading in the popular vote.
And yes, a win is indeed a win, but for the Democrats the scale of victory matters (and hers wasn't as great as her own team projected).
And of course she has shown her ability to fight with kitchen sinks and all - that's not anything new to us. Whether or not Obama will finally take the gloves off - that's something to watch for ...
Thank you KZdrive! Obama looked dazed and confused giving one of the worst speeches in history after the primary losses last night. He really is an empty suit. His "crowd" could barely muster a few huzzahs as Ofaka recited his tired litany of empty "Hallmark" greetings in a cadence that started putting his "hopefuls" to sleep.
He is clearly red meat for the Republicans. It couldn't have been more obvious watching his eyes dart back and forth looking for "hope" in the crowd. Obama is outspending Clinton 3/1 and "hopes" that will clinch the deal. Guess what? He hasn't uttered a new sentence or had an original thought in 5 weeks and money is no substitute for ideas and a sharp mind. Throw away the teleprompter, charlatan, and give us some idea of what you might "DO" if you win the job, not how you "HOPE" it turns out.
The mantra, "Hillary went negative." Could someone actually pint out a negative Hillary Ad? The 3 A.M. ad isn't even close to being negative. Please someone. without making stuff-up, tell me where the negative is? This is the cleaniest campaign I think I( have ever seen. If you Obama supporters think this is a negative campaign and your guy should win the nomination- watch out!
Negativity doesn 't just show up in ads, it can be done by saying McCain is more qualified to be president than Obama, saying the whole campaign is based on one speech in 2002, reluctance to put rumors about his religion to rest, having your surrogates make repeated racially charged comments, and creating fake newscasts like her republican idols.
Amen.
The problem for us Dems is not that she ran a negative ad or had a negative week it is that she is running a republican campaign that not even mccain would run. Even he has more class than that. the other problem is that she has no way to democratically win the nomination.
Probably where you are from this is nothing compared to the suicide bombers that you are used to. In this civilized country this ad is considered negative. This is what Bin Laden's aim was with 911, not just to kill people but to have us live in fear for the rest of our lives. Crippling fear. Everyday, we think about him and who else may want to hurt us.
Listen, I am willing to let Hillary have her victory lap. She deserves it. But to respond to your question I would point out that her assertion that Obama said one thing on NAFTA in the debate and had his staffers say another in a meeting with Canadian officials was negative, especially in a place like OH. She knew the circumstances surrounding this meeting (that really wasn't a meeting) and she knew that the Canadian government (on the floor of Parliment no less) apologized for implying that Obama or his people said anything different privately than the campaign said publicly. But she continued to push the lie...
The Consulate General of Canada said "there was no intention to convey" - is diplomatic parsing for "Yes, its true but I'll cover your a$$".
An apology would have stated unequivocally that the discussion never happened.
The staffer in question is a jolly neocon operative. Obama should shed himself of these parasites on his staff (and there are more). But, bad things might happen if he did. Remember, he's pretty green.. (my take on it anyway-could be way off).
What you Obama people (laughingly referred to as "younger more savvy voters" by some daydreamer here) have to come to terms with is that the president of this country is only a tool used by behind the scenes forces to gain access. Again, my cynical take on the situation.
I think the rocket's about to fail. Might want to check the voter "counters" and "recorders". Randi Rhodes was talking about some information surfacing that the clinton camp was advising to make sure these were clinton supporters. Not good. Why should it matter?
Funny. Some are so used to HRC's tactics that they can't even tell what negative is anymore.
Why don't you explain what "negative" is, anyway?
Because it looks like *anything* that's averse to Obama's candidacy has been labeled "negative" and "Rovian."
She can run with the message for a while. And given the maleability of the 'message', that'd be a big positive for Hillary. Especially as the Economy will graciously remain distressed for her for the foreseeable future. Health care can be trotted out from time to time as part of the expenses which are being most adversely impacted by burgeoning inflation.
Still the Economy.
- Two months ago Hillary was 20 points ahead in TX and OH.
- For the last two weeks, righ up to yesterday, weve recognized, and been told ad nausium, that Hillary needed 20 point wins in both states to "come back" .
- Yesterday she was behind in delegates, the only thing that matters to getting elected.
- 109 delegates.
- She won Ohio by 10 points.
+ 14
- She won the Texas primary, 2/3 of it's delegates, by 3 points. Last time I saw the numbers she was behind in TX caucus by 10 points with 35% counted, 1/3 of the delegates.
? - probably -
- She won Rhode Island
+ 5
- She lost Vermont
- 3
Even though TX will probably be a few delegates for Obama, if you assume TX will be a wash she has a net gain of 16 delegates.
The only way this is a "comeback" is from the expectations placed on the campaign by the MSM to hype the story. She has ever right to "fight" on but she cannot win.
It was a GREAT night for Obama and he is going to win. I just wish he could focus on McCain for the whole campaign instead of Hillary for the first half.
And that net gain is counteracted by the delegates Obama picked up. She will only narrow his lead by 5 - 6 delegates at the most and that's not enough.
Hillary is not "back" by any stretch. Her stalemate/squeaker wins last night did not do anything to close the delegate gap. She is still a mathematical longshot without Michigan and Florida counting. And if she manages to get those delegates seated without a legitimate re-vote, I believe there will be a mutiny in the Democratic party.
Hopefully now you know why Limbaugh and the others want people to vote for Hillary. Not because she can win the nomination, but rather so she can have an argument to steal it and fracture the Dems.
well said Kyuzo . . . the Gops know they can beat hillary . . . . they can't beat Obama!
If she can beat him, they can beat him.
He's got to practice going on the attack, while staying positive and uplifting (and, of course, unlike Hillary, HONEST).
Her dirty campaign now is good practice for him for the General Election.
The facts are Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq War Resolution and the Patriot Act: As an anti-war liberty loving guy, I'd never voted for anyone who voted that way.
Crowing about Hillary's win in Ohio and the squeaker in Texas will sadly be very cold comfort as the Democratic Party goes about throwing kitchen sinks and thus eating itself alive over the next 7 weeks. In the end the delegate count is clear; Hillary will not become the party's nominee or the next President and all she is doing is from here on out is sacrificing the Party's best interest and future on the alter of her ambition.
Sorry, people. Hillary is not back. She is still way behind. Get used to it and get behind Obama.
Hillary Clinton has won the biggest prizes so far.
New Hampshire
New York
California
Massachusetts
Texas
Ohio
Barack Obama has won some big prizes, but he has lost the states a President should win. Hillary Clinton won more votes than John McCain in the big states so far.
NY and MA and likely CA will also go to Obama. NH (? - I don't know why this is any bigger than any of the other small states). Ohio gave us George Bush, so it's probably a toss up in Nov. Obama also has more votes in the large states than McCain, so I am not sure what this proves. I don't know if you noticed that the large population centers in all of the races went to Obama, many by significant margins. So, if we're talking about who really votes Dem in the general election, it is usually the cities versus the rural areas. Bottom line, Obama has more pledged delegates and will continue to have more. Hillary made little gain on him last night despite the wins. If the tables were turned I think Obama would have left the race. Now we have seven weeks until PA (with a few states in between where Obama will likely pick up delegates). If the kitchen sick strategy is the plan there will be no Dem strong enough to run against McCain. Again, we Democrats are making this a much easier race than it every should have been.
It is more accurate to state that Obama has won some big prizes but he has lost the states a president MUST win.
And I suppose you are leading us to believe that those states will go to McCain in the general?
I'm sure that her big spread in Ohio is giving a lot of of the politicians food for thought here.
She trounced him.
Ummm, Brently--Hillary won: Ohio, Texas, RI. Your guy won, uh...Vt. Your guy has again shown that he Cannot win: older white voters, blue collar, and latinos. Look, like it or not-Obama HAS to show he can win these people AND these big states. Obama was Finally treated to some Normal standard media coverage instead of this 'Voice of God' crap that's been going around for months.
Get used to it. If he's the nominee-which YEAH he could very well wind up being-this little 3 AM ad or the Tony Rezko questions-that ain't NADA compared to what he's gonna get from the GOP and the 527s this summer/ fall. C'mon.
As Noted_Sage Charles_Bronson said-and I quothe-This ain't ovah.
I know you all love to talk about Rezko. Will Hillary ever release her income tax records? Once she does, what will we see? Hillary has plenty of issues with her own donars. Don't think the Republicans will back away from that.
The logic that winning big states in the Democratic primaries is somehow analogous to general election prospects is ludicrous - everyone knows that (well, with the exception of those who find 'truth' in the Clinton campaign's version of 'logic'). While Clinton may have won majorities in many large states, they were far from being landslide victories (with the exception of her so-called home state of NY). If the 'big state' logic mattered now, she'd be way ahead in the delegate count. But, as Penn himself put it, it's all about 'votes and delegates' - a race she may not be able to win (since only some states matter to her, no?)
Wrong. McCain made a comeback when there was still room to make a comeback, and he was able to catch up and pass Romney fast because of their winner-take-all system. Hillary's "comeback" isn't even a comeback, these were firewalls and they were supposed to be safe, and they weren't. She also doesn't have anything in the future to rely on for big wins. Simply put, she can't catch him, even with these wins she barely moved the delegate numbers at all. This is far from a comeback, and the future looks dark for Hillary, regardless what the pathetic excuse for media says.
Actually didn't McCain make a comeback before the voting ever got started. That's a lot different than 3/4's of the way into this. You are right about the winner take all vs proportional systems. Even significant wins don't result in huge changes. The only thing that results in a huge change is stringing together win after win by large margins which is what throughout Feb. Hillary overlooked those states and is far behind because of it.
As an Obama supporter,I say that if Clinton steals the nomination from Obama at the end of the day if he ends up with more pledge delegates,more states won and more popular votes won,he should not accept the VP slot if she offers it to him,he should run as an independent because he has a following,he has money and he should sink her bid at the White House for stealing the nomination from him...I m so angry at the dirty politics played by the Clinton Machine.
Yeah, that's what we need, a 50-50 split of the Democratic voters so that McCain can waltz into the White House on the strength of the insane 29 percenters alone.
I'm a big Obama supporter, but no thanks.
Don't you for one single minute think that if Obama had been the underdog going into last night's primaries that he wouldn't have thrown his own "kitchen sink" at Hillary. And if you think this is "dirty politics," you've completely forgotten the criminal politics of the ruling regime.
Grow up.
What rubbish. Back from what? 3 wins out of 15? Even though she won the state she still lost EVERY large Ohio city (good luck spinning that), and TX is a virtual tie where it should have been a blowout for her given the huge hispanic voting block. The delegates are a wash and she could still likely lose the net delegate count of the four states. It is not possible for Hillary to democratically win the nomination.
She does not have the delegates, she does not have the popular vote, and she does not have any integrity to fall back on. Her donors are tapped out, her superdelegates are jumping ship in favor of the SS Obama and she will bankrupt her campaign if the race continues to Pennsylvania. All of this at the expense of the Democratic party.
Spin it this way: if the urban vote in the largest Ohio cities is primarily African Americans, are those necessarily people who would NOT vote for the her as the Democratic nominee in the fall? Hillary would lose the "youth" vote (a demographic who tends not to vote in high numbers anyway), but I tend to think that traditional rank-and-file Democratic voters, including African-Americans, would come home to the Party.
I don't think you can bet on that. It depends on how the race is won. If it is the kitchen sink strategy of the last week, you won't see the turnout in November for Clinton (in the event she is the nominee). Obama will lead in pledged delegates. If the nomination is won by SD's the youth and African Americans will stay home. I have no idea what I will do. I don't want to see this party torn down. At the same time, I don't want to see another president give us much the same as we have endured in the last seven years. If Hillary is the nominee, I will probably vote for her because of the consequences of another four years with a Rep. However, I will not campaign for her and I won't donate a dime to her campaign. That's just me, but I am sure many feel the same.
Don't bet on black people going to the polls or voting dem with the same numbers we usually do. I don't think the Clintons have any idea of how much ill will they they have sown in the black community. I've never seen anything like it myself, my grandparents and other people of their generation have told me that they are tired of being taken for granted by people that they've been fiercely loyal to and that they will not vote for Hillary under any circumstances. These are people who were in their 20s and 30s during the civil rights movement, they and their parents were often prevented from voting and they take their voting rights very seriously. It's unbelievable.
Funny, everyone was saying just a week ago or so, that unless she won Texas and Ohio by large margins, she'd be all but finished. And that if she continued on she'd be tearing the Dem party apart.
And here we are. 10 points in Ohio. Only 3 in Texas. No realisitic shot at surpassing Obama in delegate totals. (Many conservatives having voted for her in Texas to prolong the nominating process, which Steve neglects to mention.) But suddenly she's the "comeback kid" and in this "big time".
Unless Obama stumbles badly (unlikely), Clinton is likely to drag this out to a brokered convention and try to thwart both the delegate and popular vote by swinging superdelegates to her.
To justify staying in until the convention, Clinton is going to have to beat the Rezko drum like the Repubs beat the Whitewater drum (both having equal legitimacy i.e. none). It's going to be interesting watching her use the very same tactic on someone else that crippled her and her husband for so long.
True, Hilary's victory, although significant, is her Battle of the Bulge (she would be the Germans) too litle too late. Obama still has a 130 delagate lead over her and I tend to think in the course of the next few weeks there's going to be a major counteroffensive against her. Her scorched earth policy is bound to come back and haunt her...Some
I will say the media did a wonderful job slanting back in her favor, though (you know they're loving dragging this thing out). She went from being Tonya Harding crying, using dirty tricks and complaining about getting the first question in every debate to Nancy Kerrigan almost over night.
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Posted March 4, 2008 | 11:49 PM (EST)