NYTimes Analysis: Clinton's Success in Presidential Race is No Sure Thing

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/politics/21dems.html?hp&ex=1169442000&en=3a58675662e8aec3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

January 21, 2007
News Analysis
Clinton’s Success in Presidential Race Is No Sure Thing
By PATRICK HEALY

Compared with the other Democrats who plan to run for president in 2008, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most battle-tested, has the biggest fund-raising network and can walk into the job with a unique set of skills and perspectives gleaned from eight years in the White House as first lady.

Yet none of that guarantees Mrs. Clinton will steamroll her opponents, or manage and master the issues that have long vexed her, like the war in Iraq and universal health insurance. Far from it: she has told friends that she is more worried about winning the Democratic nomination than winning a general election against a Republican.

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“People consider her to be capable and smart, even those who hate her, but have taken issue over the years with her hardness and lack of warmth,” said Ruth Sherman, a political communications specialist who spent time yesterday watching Mrs. Clinton’s video announcement on the campaign Web site. “If she can keep it up and persuade people it is authentic, they will have a hard time remembering the Hillary they loved to hate.”

Mrs. Clinton will also have to persuade enough people to trust a woman as commander in chief at a time of war, and to view her as a steady, forward-thinking critic of the Iraq war and not as indecisive. Her years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and her ties to military leaders on New York bases and in Washington, should help, advisers say.

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Indeed, one reason Mrs. Clinton chose to make her announcement on a Saturday morning, when the political world is usually in slumber, was to dominate the news cycle, her advisers said, and contrast herself vividly as a leader with President Bush before his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. They waved off the appearance that she was announcing to catch up with Mr. Obama, who declared his plans to run on Tuesday. They said they had determined in mid-December that, if Mrs. Clinton decided to run, they would announce the decision on the Saturday before the State of the Union address.

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