Why Hillary is in a fight

[RDANGELO]

The Clintons have been running an old fashion kingpin, bandwagon campaign, where the candidate runs down the middle, everyone jumps on and any supposed opposition is drowned out with lack of support and resources. The problem. That doesn't work anymore. Activists like us are able to communicate through the internet with one another and come to the conclusion that she is not the one who best represents us. The opposition is able to tap into this and obtain resources which are used to reach the Democratic base primary voters, who then come to the same conclusion. Fifteen years ago, Hillary would be running away with this. If she had been running with the base all along instead of triangulating, she would be running away with it. As smart as the Clintons are, I am surprised they never saw it coming.

[AtomicKitten]

1. Her supporters are starting to argue the boogieman threat of Iran.

The misguided acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Dhalgren]

2. I don't understand why all of these "endorsers" don't realize that

for the Democratic Party Clinton is a "deal breaker". She has zero chance of uniting this Party - and this Party needs uniting like it needs nothing else. I am not sure if Obama or Edwards can do it - either one might be able to. But Clinton will never be able to and it could very well rip the Party apart. Why isn't this understood better?

[AtomicKitten]

3. deliberate blindness

The evolution of what Hillary is all about is being echoed here at DU. I can hardly believe her supporters here arguing that Iran is a threat in spite of the NIE. Jeezycrispycrist, that's the same meme John Bolton is out hammering now. These scare tactics must be summarily rejected by Democrats. In the GE, Hillary will argue fighting a better war. Enough.

[Andy823]

18. Could be

They are trying to gather "indpendants" with the Iran threat, hoping they can make it work like Bush did, but that isn't going to happen.

The republicans are doing the same thing using Iran, but for Hillary and her supporters to do it, well that's just nothing more than desperation, unless she plans on jumping on the republican band wagon!

[cali]

6. because that's an opinion, not a fact.

Frankly, I don't think this party is nearly as split as you do, and that it will get behind whoever gets the nomination.

[karynnj]

7. Two reasons I can think of:

Many of those endorsers are long time Clinton people, for whom the legacy of the Clinton administration and the dream of a HRC Presidency has been there for over a decade.

So,
1) HRC is STILL the frontrunner, so it is strange to think they would drop her.
2) If it became clear that she would not get the nomination, they would enter a very strange, uncomfortable time. Many may see that in there eagerness to get to HRC, they by dragging their feet or complaining about a lack of interest, made the 2000 and 2004 elections harder. (Imagine a Begala or Carville who actually read Kerry's positions - easily available on his web site!) Without HRC as a glittering prospect in the distance, where does it leave them? (This does not apply to all the endorsers, some did a great job for Gore and Kerry.)

[cali]

4. I think that's a pretty shrewd assessment

and one I agree with.

[karynnj]

8. I agree

Now I question who the 15 years ago HRC was - then I thought I knew.

[AuntPatsy]

5. Interesting, it seems her campaign is not the only ones unable to realize this fact.

[Marbury]

9. They are still living in the 90s

I think the answer to this question is that the Clintons are still living in the 90s where so few voters were plugged in. In THIS century, where potential voters are almost instantly (and possibly even overly) informed on inside campaign tactics, the whisper campaigning style, the ridiculous practice of focus groups, etc., the Clinton scorched-earth attack machine (which seems these days to borrow from the Rove playbook) really turns people off. Yet they have lived for so long in campaign mode that they, like many of the celebrities in Hollywood, have completely shut themselves off from reality. They do things like giddily admit that they "polled" whether or not a Barbara Striesand endorsement would help or hurt the campaign without realizing how utterly silly that comes off to today's voters. It's almost painful to watch. And I doubt they can learn from such mistakes and switch gears anymore than Britney Spears can learn to put on underpants and stay home with her kids. It's in their DNA. Thank God for that, though; I just cannot think of another four to eight years of a Clinton in the Whitehouse (what is it, 25 years of either a Clinton or a Bush on Pennysylvania Ave.?) without throwing up a little bit in my mouth.

[AtomicKitten]

11. Welcome to DU!

[BeyondGeography]

17. Strong debut

[mtnsnake]

10. What she never saw coming is how far ahead she'd still be at this point

despite the gap narrowing.

If she had been running with the base all along instead of triangulating, she would be running away with it.

She IS running away with it. Look at the size of her lead. It's only natural that anyone who once held a huge lead, like she did, would eventually see the gap closed somewhat.

I love how you never posted how her "triangulation" was killing her when her lead was huge.

[ronnykmarshall]

12. If you think "they never saw it coming" ...

I'd like to offer you this lovely bridge .......





and another thing ..... All this bullshit that being thrown around here about Hillary being "done" is just that BULLSHIT.

Just as the whole screeching and moaning about Hillary and her supporters acting like it (the nomination) was in the bag.

[RDANGELO]

13. Look at the trends.

All of the Iowa polls show Obama even or running ahead. He is closing the gap in New Hampshire. You must remember what happened four years ago after Kerry won Iowa. If you are not honestly seeing that, then you are not in touch with reality.

[ronnykmarshall]

14. Reality??

In DU?

[Progress And Change]

15. What happened four years ago was the frontrunner at this time finished 4th in Iowa

[Perry Logan]

16. Oo! Another "Why Hillary..." thread.