Surber on the Clinton campaign that could have been
by WonkoKevin
Don Surber features an excellent post today on what things might have looked like if Hillary Clinton had entered the race today:
Maybe she should have let Obama fever run its course. Timing is everything in politics and all the other forms of comedy. Imagine if this were the lead story in today’s Washington Post:
“New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday launched a long-anticipated 2008 presidential campaign that could make her the first female president in the nation’s history and the only former first lady to follow her husband in the White House.
” ‘I’m in and I’m in to win,’ Clinton said on her campaign Web site early in the morning, and then spent the day at her Washington home making calls to supporters, donors and friends.” That was the actual lead of the Dan Balz story in the Post on Jan. 21, 2007.
Mrs. Clinton entered the fray with a 33-19-10 lead over Obama and John Edwards, respectively, according to the Rasmussen. 10+ months later, what does she have to show for her efforts? The latest Rasmussen has it 36-25-15. The first post-announcement Fox poll had her up 28 points over Obama. The latest Fox has her up 21 points. Other polls show that she’s hung in there and even scored a few points. Here are can the numbers.
But she looks old, haggard and quaint. She’s the 1990s CD player. He’s the iPod. I’ll grant you, old voters are the ones who count. But voters are asked every 4 years if they want change. He’s progress. She’s not. He’s the challenger. She’s the incumbent. I don’t see a lot of upside in this. This weekend, she trotted out her mom and her daughter. Obama trotted out Oprah. Most politicians would have been dwarfed by Oprah’s presence. Not him…
An entry in the fall of 2007 — even as late as today — would position her as the savior of the party from a charming but inexperienced young man who wants to bomb Pakistan. Third-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire would be unimportant. Even if Obama won both states, people would look at the margin of those victories and tut-tut at how little he had to show for his yearlong campaign. Instead, she’s the one with so little to show…
Hillary seems to have made a big blunder by allowing Obama to make the race a marathon. Instead of having to grow under the harsh glare of the media spotlight, he seems to have flourished in the shadows.
