Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes
May 12, 2008 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win.
By CALVIN WOODWARD and NANCY BENAC
WASHINGTON _ Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win.
Many people believed her victory in the Democratic nomination battle was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing it, too.
Clinton had one big problem out of the gate: 40 percent or more of Americans said they'd never vote for her. She was too polarizing. It's love her or hate her.
Clinton powered through that hurdle in state after state, showing grit that earned her the valuable political currency of being merely admired.
White men, blue-collar workers, socially conservative Democrats — however you slice the electorate, she brought many of those people to her side, over time, and took the edge off the Hillary haters.
Voters, whose No. 1 concern had been ending the Iraq war, started worrying more about the economy. That was a switch from his strength to hers.
Despite all that, her campaign is on the ropes. Clinton is fighting on for a prize few believe she can win anymore, barring some game-changing development.
Clinton's fortunes rose and fell like a fever chart: She was down in Iowa, up in New Hampshire, down in South Carolina. Then, after a roughly even finish with Barack Obama on Super Tuesday, she suffered a string of unanswered losses that, almost before Clinton noticed, put Obama so far ahead in the delegate hunt that all the big-state victories she piled up couldn't close the delegate gap.
Clinton once said she is the most famous person no one knows, meaning Americans don't really get her.
Sixteen months after she opened her campaign sitting on a couch in a cozy online video, it's questionable whether people ever discovered the authentic Clinton.
Is she the whiskey-downing pit bull of Indiana? The near-tears softy of New Hampshire?
The technocrat of health care reform or the populist who dismisses policy wonks as out-of-touch elitists?
"They know that I can make decisions," she said in New Hampshire, "but I also want them to know I'm a real person."
Even many of the New York senator's supporters thought she would say anything to win, or be anyone.
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Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes
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View All Comments »LA at 05/13/2008 10:57:49 AM
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Let's look at this for what it REALLY is! Hillary's goal is to show that Barack cannot capture her support base of white, elderly and less educated supporters. This is her reason for staying in the race because she knows that WV and KY are over 90% of who supports her. What isn't being said is WHY???
I have heard the "pundits" dance around this because they don't want to say it but I will: the reason Barack has not "attracted" her base is because her base is racist!!! They do not want and will not support Barack because he is black. If you listened to what Hillary said in her interview, this was exactly what she was saying and unfortunately, she is right! But she can make this right if she wanted to but I really don't think she will if she doesn't win.
The problem I have with this is that Hillary is also showing her true colors. She is fueling this racial concept by staying in the race and the media is enabling her to continue with this as well by constantly reporting on how her "wins" in these 2 states can redifine her campaign and her argument to the superdelegates. We ALL know that the math is against her but the media still wants us to believe that she could still pull this off! There may be some truth to this. Keep watching...
Let me just reflect on this issue with MI and Fla. I am all for these 2 states having their votes count. After all this is a democracy, right? HOWEVER, whatever happened in these 2 states that caused them to push their primaries up, everyone involved in this decision agreed that this violates DNC rules and that the consequences for doing so will be enforced. Remember, I said EVERYONE invovled in that decision agreed: this had to also include Hillary as well. But now she has become the spokesperson for MI and Fla to have their votes counted. WHY? Because they count in HER equation! And now what she doing? She is making it appear as if Barack is disenfranchising them, which in turn, turns them against him and once again fuels the fire of racisim. See how this works?
Just keep watching. You will see how eventually the media will begin to slowly start to trickle out ways to cut Bararck off at the knees. It's actually starting as we speak. Look at how they are still trying to find ways to show how Hillary can still win the nomination. Then when that doesn't work, they will start subtly fueling the fire of a racial storm. The saga continues ...
rainydaiyz at 05/13/2008 4:22:56 AM
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i'm a woman and i just wanted them to put her in a skirt once in a while--have her use her feminine charm----
ronraye at 05/12/2008 8:10:06 PM
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hillary has polarized this electorate.how can this woman expect to be a leader when she interjects race in the campaign and operates a campaign that has a significant debt.hillary is not acceptble to be the democratic nominee or the second spot on the ticket.you can't have a person on the ticket and not have trust in that person.