Hillary gets ready to run

[onehandle]

Love her or hate her? Poll shows most voters have already decided

If you ask anyone around Hillary Clinton the question that everyone is asking, the answer comes back in a shot: The freshman Senator from New York is far too busy concentrating on her re-election in November to be giving even a passing thought to 2008. Thank you very much.

But politics is ultimately a game of logistics, and the junior Senator is putting the machinery in place for a campaign that looks far grander than a re-election cakewalk in New York. All it will need is for someone to throw the switch.

Against virtually nonexistent opposition for her Senate seat, she is raising money as though she were in the fight of her life, bringing in more than $33 million. What's left over -- which might easily be $10 million or more -- could be the seed money for a presidential campaign.

And as her husband did the year before launching his 1992 bid for the presidency, she has been putting together the intellectual pieces of a campaign agenda in a series of centrist, high-fiber speeches around energy policy, the economy, privacy and even rural issues.

snip...

Clinton does best against McCain

Her negative ratings (44%) were lower than either Kerry's or Gore's. In hypothetical matchups with the preseason GOP favorite, John McCain, Hillary is the only big-name Democrat to make a real race of it, with McCain edging her by just 2 points among registered voters. By comparison, McCain would trounce Kerry by 10 points and Gore by 9.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/20/coverstory.tm/index.ht...

[blm]

1. Democrats will make their assessments when they always do, during debates

and the actual campaign. I am sure Hillary can add to that mix.

And I highly DOUBT the American people will stick with McCain when he is pressed during debates.

If McCain has to debate Kerry or Gore, he will end up having to rely on rigged machines and suppressed voter tactics just like Bush did.

[bahrbearian]

3. I've heard that before, LOL really its a little early.

[AtomicKitten]

2. This the just the Media Heathers

cackling to fill space. They have plenty of material on HRC to exploit. It doesn't mean anything at this point except lazy pack journalism.

[The Sower]

4. It's name recognition, nothing more.

She's never ran, and she's never going to run for the Presidency.

That's always been right wing spin to paint her as power mad, make her husband look weak, and detract from her accomplishments.

[ruggerson]

7. Gore and Kerry have just as much name recognition as she does

so the fact that they have higher negatives should actually speak volumes.

[The Sower]

10. The right wing media whores haven't been repeating their names...

...over and over again for the last 15 years, saying they're running for President.

It's just yet another con.

[blm]

11. Why? All the media attacks have been focused on Gore then Kerry for 6yrs.

The GOP has not even BEGUN in on Hillary, as they wouldn't want to miss the chance to do so should she be the nominee.

Remember when that stupid book came out about Hillary in 2005 and even FOX panned it as drivel? That wouldn't have happened if the book came out in the spring of 2008, would it?

[ruggerson]

12. Are you kidding me?

You are maintaining that Hillary has been less demonized in the press and by the rightwingers than Gore or Kerry?

That's not an argument I would want to have to make in a debate.

Fact is, all three have been demonized by the GOP. If Hillary's negatives are better than Gore or Kerry that tells me that she would make a better candidate than they would in '08, something I've suspected all along.

Having said that, I think we can do far better than Hillary and I hope we nominate a genuinely charismatic populist who, on a gut level, understands and processes political warfare.

[blm]

16. In the last 6 yrs, yes. You telling me that FOX and the RW media

left that dumb Hillary book on the curb because it had too many lies in it and they refused to promote the lies against her? Did the swidtliars' book not contain enough lies in it for them?

Get real - If the book had come out in spring of 2008, the RW would have been pushing it 24/7. Instead, we get how stand up Hillary has been supporting Bush's war on terror, and how so many GOP senators really like her.

Let her debate her way into the nominee position - if she deserves to win she will - I just doubt that she could best Gore or Kerry in an actual campaign and through the debate process. But certainly welcome her trying.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi The Sower!!

Welcome to DU!!

[The Sower]

29. Thank you!

It's good to be here.

[bluestateguy]

5. I need an aspirin

nt

[peacebird]

6. DU Poll posted on this article this morning has "Hate Her" winning by 84%

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


I admit I was a bit suprised by that.....

[Captain Hilts]

34. DU is not representative of Democrats. nt

[Webster Green]

8. Time magazine will also pick the winner of the primary, I presume...

Nice that we don't even have to think about it. The corporate media will decide who our candidate will be.

Thank you, corporate chimp-licking media whore traitors from hell!

[BlueStater]

9. The bullshit just keeps on flowing

"Her negative ratings (44%) were lower than either Kerry's or Gore's. In hypothetical matchups with the preseason GOP favorite, John McCain, Hillary is the only big-name Democrat to make a real race of it, with McCain edging her by just 2 points among registered voters. By comparison, McCain would trounce Kerry by 10 points and Gore by 9."

What a bunch of crap. Does anyone believe this tripe? I certainly don't.

[nancyr]

13. crap

It's already sounding like she's got it all sewed up...regardless if we want her or not! I've never heard any great groundswell of support for her except by the right-wing. They're salivating at the chance to get at her. I'd like to hope the
Democrat party is smarter than this...but I'm not feeling too confident. This woman would be pure suicide.

[juajen]

28. It's the Democratic Party, BTW

No, no huge groundswell, just a steady and growing throng. Some here on DU love her. I'm one of those and there are many more.

[Critters2]

31. What's to love

and why give the DLC yet another chance to lose the White House?

[951-Riverside]

14. Women these days

...If we let em become President they might nuke Japan or god forbid start some massive meaningless war in the middle east.

[Malva Zebrina]

15. I will never vote for Hillary Clinton--never

I froze my ass off protesting the invasion of Iraq and will never vote for a candidate who is propelled via huge amounts of money, who has proven herself to be a Lieberman in disguise, and who HAS NOT ADDRESSED HER VOTE and her continued support of the slaughter house in Iraq. NEVER. It is not a democracy when voters are forced to vote for one or the other in order to gain seats. Fogedda bout it. I will never vote for Hillary or any other candidate that handed over to an idiot, the full go ahead to invade a country on LIES.

She has not come clean. She is hedging and feinting and playing the same old game that forced us to vote for another candidate who gave this idiot the full go ahead to invade a country n LIES.

No siree. I remember my passion, my freezing so much to protest this war, so cold, so much so that I did not even recognize my neighbor standing nearby, who was covered from head to toe with protective clothing from the freezing cold.

Go away Hillary. Give your 20 millions to people who are suffering due to the policies of Bush. Leave something good behind you-besides your unapologetic vote to give a stupid man the right to run roughshod over a country on LIES-you are nothing but a scheming political animal stuck in the "old ways" that are out of date already and do you still think that we must "reach out" to religious reconstructionists or the religious right? Do you support their views when you support the atrocities Israel has dumped upon the people of Lebanon? They lost you know.

I will never vote for Hillary Clinton.

[BooScout]

21. Soooo.... if it comes down to McCain v Clinton....

You'll vote for McCain or an independent candidate? Or will you sit out voting all together?

[mike_c]

30. third party any day of the week....

I will not vote for ANY pro-war candidate, no matter what letter they have after their name.

[acmejack]

17. This is LBN?

You gotta be kidding me, it wasn't when this article came out & it certainly isn't now.

[MzNov]

19. I don't hate Hillary, I just don't want her as President. Yet.

She really hasn't been in the Senate long enough to have proven herself and what she really believes in. One day she's a power hungry pandering centrist, the next day she's attacking good old Rummy. We need to know more and watch her voting record.

but not now. Not this woman.

and furrrchrrisssssakes, not McCain!!!

[customerserviceguy]

38. "and furrrchrrisssssakes, not McCain!!!"

Funny, that's exactly what they say over on Free Republic (I monitor it often). Unless somebody else catches fire in the year and a half until early primary season, it will indeed be Hillary Clinton vs. John McCain. The winner will be the person with more of the base of their party willing to hold their nose and vote for that party's standard bearer.

[BooScout]

20. DU should be interesting if she runs...

We'll see then if everyone who has sworn to vote Democratic Party no matter what will hold steady and support her.

Like it or not, Hillary appeals to many Democrats, which DU does not represent. DU represents the left side of the party. Any polls on DU are not likely to represent what the majority of the Democrats in the US are thinking. What's interesting to me, is Hillary has a pretty Liberal voting record yet many here on DU think she's a righty. She's not even a centralist if you look at her record...she in fact does lean left.

The one issue she has got to come to grips with IMHO is that she needs to own up to the fact that her vote for invading Iraq was a mistake.

For the record, Hillary probably isn't my first choice for the Democratic nominee. BUT, should she win the nomination, I'll stand behind her, come hell or high water.

[Critters2]

32. If she won the nomination

(please, God, NOOO!), I'd hold my nose and vote for her. But I wouldn't volunteer to work on the campaign, as I would for other candidates. And when she demonstrates that she's a corporate shill, I'll proudly scream "I told you so!!!!" from the rooftops.

[Placebo]

22. She can win.

Don't buy the GOP talking points that she's unelectable and too many people hate her.

[The Wielding Truth]

23. RW has been campaigning for her since Dec 2004. All their sh*t is ready.

All the reptilian buttons are pin pointed and ready to be punched. They want her, like the canned quail Cheney likes to miss when he's hunting drunk.

[high density]

24. # of red states turned blue under Hillary 08 is a negative value.

No thanks, Hillary.

[ribbit]

25. I'm sure it will happen

She's got the DNC, the DLC and all the right Beltway Democrats to push her nomination through. She's got money and the machine. She will almost certainly get the nomination.

And she will lose by a fucking landslide putting the Democrats so far into the minority that they'll never get out.

You really don't understand how much she is hated by the entire Republican Party, most undecideds and every single gun owner in the country. Remember that it is the gun owners who took the House away from the Dems in 1994. Even Foley and Bill Clinton say so. A Hillary Clinton candidacy would be an unmitigated disaster for the Democratic Party and the nation.

[saigon68]

27. Around here she will be vilified by gun owning Union Democrats

They simply won't vote for her

[AX10]

26. A Hillary vs. McCain race is sure to cost us the White House in 2008.

Wes Clark for President!

[OhioChick]

35. You're absolutely right. n/t

[DiverDave]

33. Who has been singing her praises?

the rethugs, thats who.
She is NOT READY for this, she may be later, but not now.

There is a reason that all the right wingers want her to get the nomination, because she will LOSE, BADLY.

Don't fall for it, Hillary, don't let the neocons and the DLC use you to give the rethugs the White House.

[MasonJar]

36. I do not see why Hilary cannot beat McCain. He has turned into

a massive hypocrite. He was also partying while New Orleans drowned. He has been sidling up to the Neo-cons for two or three years now. What a phony piece of do do! We need to stop worrying about Hilary and support the majority vote, just like we are in Ct. I hope we are not going to beat up on each other in 08. This is too important for us and the world and the earth. McCain is as big a warmonger as the Bushies.

[OKthatsIT]

37. bluhhhhhh..1st female Prez and it has to be a Globalist

great.

[LanternWaste]

39. If the time ever comes...

If the time ever comes when she herself says that she'll make a bid for the White House, then (and only then) will I give credibility to "Run, Hill. Run!" defacto statements.

Up to this point, while I've heard plenty of analysis of a Sen. Clinton bid, I've not heard heard anyone outside of the GOP and talk-radio emphatically state that she will.

Thus, I'm simply not going to give any credibility to a "Hillary in 2008" campaign until and unless she's the one who says it.

[noonwitch]

40. I'll vote for her, in the primary and in the election

The people who hate her, really hate her. But the mushy middle, who are swing voters, can be won over.

A die hard anti-war candidate will not win over swing voters.