Sen. Hillary Clinton is lucky she has over $6 million to lend to her campaign. Clinton seems to think her campaign needs the cash after a double-digit primary loss to her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, in North Carolina on Tuesday and an underwhelming victory over Obama in Indiana the same day. Clinton, the New York Times reports, is fixated on her goal of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
“[Advisers] to Mrs. Clinton early Wednesday portrayed her as still confident that she can win the nomination through a combination of victories in the handful of remaining primaries and persuading uncommitted superdelegates that she can perform better against Republicans than Mr. Obama,” the Times reported on Wednesday.
There are six primaries left, beginning with West Virginia next Tuesday. Prospects look dim at best and humiliating at worst, but maybe we should have expected that for a politician who’s weathered Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky and impeachment, mounting a struggling political campaign is a cinch.
May 7, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate, has lost the Pennsylvania primary to his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, after Obama called certain red-state voters “bitter” to a San Francisco audience. What can Obama do to mend relations with this demographic group? As he explains to Susannah, Bob has some ideas — which include visiting a certain blue-state nemesis — in the latest episode of “Running Gags”!
April 25, 2008
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not quitting the presidential election, and has one more primary victory to add to her total: Pennsylvania, which she won on Tuesday.
Once the star of the almost 800 superdelegates, Clinton’s hold over them may be diminishing as she can’t win convincingly enough to erase the lead of her rival, Sen. Barack Obama (Note: She still leads Obama in superdelegates who have declared their support, 259 to 236). But as calls mount for her departure, she doesn’t seem to be listening.
It was once said of Vladimir Lenin that he won debates by refusing to stop speaking until everyone, exhausted, conceded the argument. “Lenin scarcely noticed his defeat,” Robert K. Massie wrote in Nicholas and Alexandra. “A brilliant dialectician, prepared to argue all night, he gained ascendancy over his Bolshevik colleagues by sheer force of intellect and physical stamina.” Will Clinton’s similar steadfastness outlast Obama’s audacity?
April 24, 2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton, increasingly desperate Democratic presidential candidate, is trying to tailor a redneck image to attract red-state members of her party upset by remarks from her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, that they like guns and religion and anti-illegal immigration stances because they may be bitter.
Clinton has been downing Crown Royal and talking about her hunting past to woo these voters. (Which is more shameless, denouncing rednecks or pandering to them?) I wonder, however, if this is continuing a losing strategy. As the US keeps hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs, outsourcing American factories to the Third World, the red-staters rhapsodized by Bruce Springsteen and Toby Keith may become a rare, if not extinct, species in this country.
Perhaps Obama is right by focusing on the future instead of a vanishing past. Clinton should pass up the Crown Royal and Smith & Wesson for a latte and a BlackBerry.
April 17, 2008
Thoughts about one of the sought-after presidential primary states, Ohio, from a visitor and lover of the Buckeye State (Adriatico’s and Larry’s, long life to you both!):
Hard to believe Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton even has a lead there to defend when she’s associated with an administration that passed NAFTA.
Economic platforms could decide the Buckeye battles on the Democratic side. Ohio’s economy is hurting.
Faith might be less of a factor than never-seen-Columbus East Coasters could expect. Ohio voters rejected fundamentalist favorite Ken Blackwell in the governor’s race in 2006. On the Republican side, Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee might not want to stress his faith as much as his populism against Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Will racial prejudice affect Ohioans’ decision to vote for Sen. Barack Obama? I don’t think it will be to a greater or lesser degree than most other states. Yes, there were race riots in Cincinnati in 2001. But Ohio Republicans also ran an African-American candidate, Blackwell, for governor two years ago. I think most state voters will consider Obama fairly.
February 27, 2008
Think positive, the self-help gurus say, and good things will happen. Who has the most positive vibes out there in the Democrat and Republican races on Super Tuesday? Here are my thoughts on the four front-runners …
The ones with good vibrations are Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama wowed voters at the Meadowlands and at Boston’s World Trade Center the last few days, and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Jesse “Son of Bob” Dylan crafted a video of the Illinois senator that’s drawn thousands of YouTube views. McCain, meanwhile, comes across as a happy warrior in contrast to his grating, angry rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. As for Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her new anti-Iraq War position after her 2002 vote for the Bush Iraq resolution — and her use of RFK Jr. in a campaign ad to counterbalance Caroline Kennedy’s support for Obama — give her an image of opportunism that taints her campaign.
It would be different if the negative-minded Mitt and Hillary would embrace who they really are. Mitt could simply tell conservatives he was wrong on his 1994 opinions on abortion (in the style of John Edwards, who, to his credit, recanted his 2002 vote for the Iraq War) and be the heir to the social policies of George W. Bush. Hillary could shrug off MoveOn.org and Daily Kos and defend her 2002 Iraq War vote, giving confused Democrats a clearer option between a pro-war candidate (Hillary) and an anti-war one (Obama). The negativity of Mitt and Hillary seems to be a way for them to hide their own unclear stances.
Obama and McCain have had their own unclear moments. Ann Coulter highlighted McCain’s haziness on the Iraq surge in a recent column, while the American Spectator showed that Obama needs work in formulating his health-care policy. But in trying to get things done, a positive attitude is better than a negative one, and at least Obama and McCain have that.
February 5, 2008
