CNN : HRC making major changes in Campaign Tactics - no longer hosting large rallies

[grantcart]

In a panel on Sat. Lou Dobbs considerable time was spent discussing the apparent change in campaign tactics where HRC will be forgoing large rallies and have more smaller staged events in which she would have detailed discussions on policy with smaller groups.

I have not seen any other evidence of this but they seem to consider it confirmed. Obviously the juxtaposition of Obamas huge enthusiastic rallies being showed in depth had to have a disastrous effect in the local media markets. It would appear that this is the first major change that the new campaign management is bringing in. By changing place and tempo it seeks to change the dynamic of the campaign.

Is it a smart tactical move or is it a move of desperation because they do not have the campaign organization and money to compete?

Is the sudden withdrawal from Wisconsin related to the above or weather related?

[Vincardog]

1. It is a move of desperation because they do not have the campaign organization and money to compete

IF she can not manage a campaign how can she manage our country?

[grantcart]

3. well technichally speaking she will be ready on day one

its not day one yet

[Diane R]

8. Okay. I officially laughed out loud at this.

[Renew Deal]

22. lol

}(

[FogerRox]

26. LOL, OMG, FUNNY . . .. .. " its not day one yet"

[Tatiana]

29. Day zero? Minus one?

:rofl:

[GoldieAZ49]

78. ready one day, just not today

[my3boyz]

2. Probably can't afford to keep renting out the large venues. lol

Okay..that was wrong! She has pissed me off so bad this past week so she deserves it. LOL

[tishaLA]

6. I worry about Sen Obama renting those large venues

they are very expensive and I hope his fundraising can keep up! He only takes in a little over $1 million per day.

[thevoiceofreason]

4. Flailing -- with authority

[CoffeeCat]

5. Yes, Hillary and her supporters...

...will all meet in local phone booths.

Sad.

It's going to be tragic to watch this. For years--most likely decades--the Clintons
counted on Hillary being President.

[loveangelc]

7. I'm sure they think it will make her look more personable and caring about people's issues.

however, if obama wins wisconsin and hawaii, if they continue doing this it will look like their campaign is going downhill imo like no one wants to see them or something...

[thevoiceofreason]

10. Hillary Huckabee? hmmmmmmmm

[blm]

11. Bush campaign did this in 2004with heavily vetted small crowds. Difference for him is that

the RNC machine had spent years gaining control over the election process at every level where the votes are allowed, cast and counted, so he really had no concerns about image or winning - they could steal 5 million, they could steal 10 million, and the corporate media wouldn't flinch - and the DNC under McAuliffe didn't CARE.

[XemaSab]

21. Bush also only had to "win" a couple states.

Appearances in, say, Texas or California were for fundraising only, because it's a given that he'll win or lose the state.

Neither Hillary nor Obama can afford to totally "eat" a state. :shrug:

[Moh96]

13. Exactly, and..

she is trying to achieve 3 goals
1- she is low on funds, hence more affordable
2- she will appear more personal and caring
3- she wont show her large rallies which are inferior to Obama's

[ericgtr]

81. Not a bad tactic

and if she's not spending her time and money attacking I would think this would only benefit her. Either way it's not looking good for her but if she doesn't win at least she'll go out in tact. I say it's a smart move.

[Kahuna]

9. Because she's at her worst when she has to project her voice to

a large crowd???? It's rather harsh to have to listen to.

[grantcart]

33. you may be right it may be a factor in addition to the ones listed above

[Quixote1818]

70. That was my first thought. She is actually losing votes with those big rallies nt

[NJSecularist]

12. I just don't see the practicality in it

Especially in Texas.

She's going to need to hold more and more rallies to reach as many people as possible. Town hall meetings just don't work in a state as big as Texas.

It worked in Iowa. It worked in New Hampshire. I can't see it working in Texas.

[Yael]

17. Exactly. This is a mid-west thing, and will not work in a state the size of Texas

It is like every time she flips the "what to do next" coin it is the opposite of good judgment. Venues, timing, locations -- you name it.

[XemaSab]

23. She needs "Texas sized" rallies.

:D

[thevoiceofreason]

14. The 137 folks who comitted to Midland will be pissed

[Johnny__Motown]

15. Act of desperation, and Wisconsin is an open primary so Obama has the advantage

It is even a same day registration state. The polls have it close but he seems to get better turn out in these types of contests.

As for the small venues over large rallies, well when new people jump into your management positions they need to do something different just to mark their territory. This may be a way of distinguishing themselves from the people who's jobs they have taken.

[XemaSab]

24. "I think the deck chairs should be a little further from that wall...."

:hide:

[MindMatter]

61. New draperies

I demand new draperies.

NOW!

[DUyellow]

16. come on people... this is the real reason...

HRC wants the media to focus on issues. If she can show a contrasting view between Obama and her, then she has an opening. Obama is not going to change the way his campaign runs, and she knows that... yeah he might have some more question sessions, as he did last week, but he is going to continue these large scale events that do not have a lot of substance (in the view of the pundits.)

This will allow Clinton to drive the contrast view in substance.

It will not work, but that is what they are doing.

Also, Wisconsin was a test. They were using that state, they wanted to see how a negative ad would work and what Obama would do. Obama called them on it, and it looks like that test failed.

just my 2 cents...

[KittyWampus]

27. thanks for your thoughtful post.

[intaglio]

59. Very thoughtful

and good reasoning

[TexasObserver]

18. She's playing small venues for the same reason Captain & Tenille play small venues.

Hard to draw a crowd, except for the really, really big fans!!

Similar message to Captain and Tenille, too.

[arewenotdemo]

51. Hillary was clairvoyant about this:

This IS the fun part of the campaign!

[RememberWellstone]

19. It's tactical

Leaving Wisconsin to move into Texas and Ohio is imperative right now.

I still do not believe the hype, eventhough there are larger primary voter numbers, I do not believe the majority of Democrats are voting.

[XemaSab]

20. I don't know how you can campaign in Texas and Ohio without "mass communicatin' "

Smaller groups would have helped in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, but how are you going to win Houston speaking in front of a few hundred people? Especially when Obama could fill the biggest stadium in Texas with enthusiastic supporters? :shrug:

[calmblueocean]

25. Very smart. Let Obama be the rockstar, she'll be the friend.

I say this as an Obama supporter. Hillary cannot compete on his turf. Turnoutwise, she's been doing fantastically, but Obama is simply a more gifted orator than she is, and there's no shame in that. For this new strategy to work, though, she needs to get media time. It's all about juxtaposing Obama's bombastic but distant stump speeches with images of Hillary not just shouting into the air, but listening and talking, as a friend would.

We'll see how it works.

[KittyWampus]

31. drawback: she has a history of planting questions. If these are TOO airbrushed it could become

another media chew-toy

[catgirl]

55. And staged acts

like crying. She actually staged something that really happened at
an Obama event-someone fainting. She took a bottle of water, and
without any emotion or concern in her voice, she asked "Mr. Secret
Service Man" to pass it over to that woman. It was so obviously staged.

She's had the voice lessons, now she needs to take acting lessons.

[quakerboy]

64. Do you have

Any proof of this?

[catgirl]

66. I saw it with my own eyes

It was shown on CNN (a good part of the rally). I looked for a link
yesterday on You Tube, but I didn't find it there. She also kept
screaming "Yes we will, yes we will......."

[quakerboy]

67. No offense to your eyes

And coming from an Obama Hoper, but how do you know it was staged? Maybe she just isnt good at compassion in the direct sense?

[grantcart]

72. it was widely reported after a college student mentioned that she had

been asked to raise a question about the envirionment. After that several other people came forward with several similar stories and the Clinton campaign admitted the practice and tried to give it a spin

[quakerboy]

73. planting questions

sure. I think that we all know the Clinton Campaign has been scripting their questions as much as possible. But a fainting episode? that seems different to me, and that was what my question was about.

[David Zephyr]

28. This is becoming tragic. They need to pull the plug. They can not put a good face on this.

They are looking sillier by the day.

[RBInMaine]

30. Their ship is sinking.

Their ship is sinking.

[grantcart]

74. and they don't care if they sink other democrats with them

[msongs]

32. she is not running for high priest nt

[workinclasszero]

34. Desperation move for sure

Hillary is out of money, plus she can't draw a large crowd anyway.

It's almost over folks.

[TexasObserver]

35. She wants and needs total control of the audience, for tight TV shots.

Since she cannot draw big crowds, she's going to the illusion, by creating events in small venues, stuffed with staffers and hardcore supporters. CNN and Fox will accommodate with tight TV shots that don't show the small size of the crowd.

[ErnestoG]

40. How Bush-ian.

[sueragingroz]

36. Hillary has always been at her best when "working the room"

Bill was the speech maker when he ran for office. She was always more comfortable speaking to people one-on-one and winning them over that way.

This is much more in keeping with her style.

From an article that was published in 1992:

Mrs. Clinton is far more articulate than the two men on the Republican ticket, but she lacks her husband's ability to stir emotions with speeches. She can be an amiable companion, but she has a studious turn of mind. Even when chatting with the television reporter about hair and perceptions, she asked, "Has anybody done a survey or study about that?"

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DA1F3DF93BA25756C0A964958260

If you read the whole article you could see the sexist rumblings about her being a first lady of substance even way back then.

[my3boyz]

37. Perhaps they spent all the money on the fireworks or whatever the hell that was

she had glowing and popping everywhere! Uneccessary! She just did it to make it seem like they were having a grand old time and that she was not worried that she had her azz handed to her due to the big losses that night.

[ErnestoG]

52. Or on that perfectly nauseating music video I caught on YouTube

good god, that can't have been for real....

[grantcart]

71. Bill was the best working a room Hillary still hasn't found her best formula

[TexasObserver]

38. k and r

[ErnestoG]

39. That's because she can't DRAW large rallies....DUH

Not compared to Obama's anyway.

[Major Hogwash]

48. More people from Boise got out of bed at 5 AM to hear Obama than the people in El Paso last week

And they had all day to get to their rally last Tuesday.

[grantcart]

49. new polls in el paso shows that el paso may not count

[arewenotdemo]

50. LOL

:spray:

[ErnestoG]

69. HA!

[anamandujano]

41. Give and take with real people, talking about real issues.

Obama just likes to talk at people, flatter them that it all starts with them. If he just talks and doesn't listen, how is he going to know what's going on?

His pre-masticated speech must be getting awfully stale about now.

[JCMach1]

42. She has to clearly show the differences between her and Obama

She is going for a venue that allows more substance.


Will that work? What sure is you cannot match Obama scream for scream. No matter what she does, she won't be able to match him for 'hotness'. So, why not try something else?

[ErnestoG]

45. Now that she can pull enough people to fill out a small hall.

[Major Hogwash]

43. It's too late to hold tea parties while Obama is drawing crowds bigger than rock concerts.

I'm sure that the tea parties will be nice, but their campaign is on life support as it is.

Even if they invite the Madhatter and the hare to their tea party, I think you'll see what is left of their campaign go down the rabbit hole.

[Iktomiwicasa]

44. She needs the money

to make more music videos.

:rofl:

[TheDonkey]

46. Sounds like a disaster. Unless her plan is to bore the electorate to death

[Political Heretic]

47. No one forgoes large rallies unless they have to.

You can spin it any way you want, but you don't CHOOSE not to have large rallies in a campaign.

God, we could have a 10,000 person event and all the media coverage connected with it, but ....nah.... let's not do that.

Right.

EDIT - in addition, this will be tough - because she'll need to do double the amount of small events to keep pace.

[saltpoint]

53. Can't speak to the Clinton campaign's cash sums, but the weather in

Wisconsin for 02/17/08 is not going to be campaign-friendly.

Snow from high single digits to mid-teens in some places, plus a garnish of ice and sleet.

[corkhead]

54. reminds me of Spinal Tap

[Imagevision]

56. Hillary will soon be going the town hall meetings route...

[Avalux]

57. She's broke and tired. Can't compete on the same level as Obama.

Hillary and her people believe changing campaign tactics will change the pace and tempo of the campaign? Ha. They still think they are in control of the whole thing; someone needs to tell them they can't stop a movement.

[Vinca]

58. Is she trying to tone down the excitement?

This woman should not be paying Penn the big money. She'd better lose his sorry ass if she manages to become the nominee or we'll have President McBush.

[backscatter712]

60. Translation: She's tired of hearing chirping crickets...

when a few hundred show up for a rally in a venue set up for thousands.

[HeraldSquare212]

62. He's still doing small venues, too, though - he's doing town halls, etc.

His speech get the most coverage because of the turnout, but he's also doing smaller meetings with voters.

[Kahuna]

63. After last night's speech I see it as an opportunity for her to try the "feel our pain"..

approach. She can't do that while shouting to a large crowd.

[grantcart]

65. It actually could be a good move - if the people are not hand picked and the

questions planted.

[IndianaGreen]

68. This would have been fine in the early states, but not now in large media markets

I really think they thought the campaign would be over by Super Tuesday.

[CorpGovActivist]

75. Potemkin Villages downsized, eh?

; )

- Dave

[grantcart]

76. easier to find the one with the planted question

Craig

[CorpGovActivist]

79. Yeah, "where's the plant" does get easier, huh?

Nice to meetcha, Craig.

:hi:

- Dave

[GoldieAZ49]

77. She cannot have large rallies, physically impossible

not enough people show up to see Hypocrite Hillary and she cannot have the cameras showing more empty than full seats

"staged" event is right, probably paying them

[CorpGovActivist]

80. But she has a hammerlock on small high schools now. n/t