Do you think Clinton notices the big elephant in the room?

[CoffeeCat]

And by "elephant" I mean--Bernie Sanders--who has built an unstoppable Iowa campaign that attracts 2000+ at his rallies; and has galvanized a strong ground game that will GOTV and enthusiastically caucus for Bernie and give him a win on Feb 1.

I see it? Do you see it?

I don't think Clinton sees it. She's too busy talking. However, I think she's about to get run over.

(This picture couldn't be more perfect. Was taken last night at her Des Moines event).

[NorthCarolina]

1. Yep, I'm pretty sure she's aware of Bernie.

She's likely also aware that he has a much better chance at becoming POTUS than she does.

[firebrand80]

2. By what measure is his IA campaign "unstoppable?"

[CoffeeCat]

4. Who's going to stop it?

Certainly not Hillary.

[firebrand80]

5. I think I'm wasting my time here nt

[randome]

22. Because it was called 'unstoppable'! What more proof do you need??

[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[firebrand80]

40. LOL

[CoffeeCat]

51. I do think the campaign is unstoppable

He draws crowds of 2000+, and that was back in December. We're not even at the peak yet. The best is yet to come!

He's got a fantastic ground game with the same number of Iowa offices as Hillary. Their volunteer and staffer numbers are similar.

He's got incredible grassroots support and he broke one of Obama's fundraising records.

We're leaning into the peak of the caucus-campaign season. There's momentum. His crowds are only going to grow and his supporter base and enthusiasm will only grow. So will his media exposure. I find that key, because Bernie has been able to amass these great crowds and support with the media ignoring him. The media in Iowa has all ready started reporting on him more often. This will only speed up his progress.

So yeah, "unstoppable." I think that's a good word.

There are no guarantees. But I do think he has a great chance at winning the Iowa caucuses, because of what I'm experiencing firsthand. She's got strong organization and lots of hired field organizers from the east coast. I'm sure they're working hard and will be effective at getting her supporters to the caucuses.

It's most likely going to come down to turnout.

[Katashi_itto]

68. Like Hillary is Inevitable?

[FlatBaroque]

26. Agreed

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. I guess in a couple of weeks, we will see ...

and should he be bested by HRC (or O'Malley), "unstoppable" will be re-defined to mean "came close".

[firebrand80]

10. It going to be the "M$Ms" fault

I can guarantee you that

[Armstead]

17. The mainsteam mesdia has not been treating them equally

They either completely ignore Sanders, or immediately dismiss his chances before any votes have been cast.

I won;t blame it all on the media, but they do contribute to self-perpetuating narratives.

[firebrand80]

20. It's his campaigns job to effectively handle the media

So far, he's been more interested in raising money by complaining about it then actually working on solving the problem.

[Fawke Em]

25. You can't do that when it's in the media's interest to NOT cover

your policy positions.

"Handling them" doesn't work when orders have been sent from high to undermine him.

Hell, I work in PR and once was media. I certainly know how to "handle" media, but if their orders are too ignore, it doesn't matter if your megaphone is 140dB.

That said, what the Sanders team has done with social media and circumventing the M$M has been impressive. The problem is that doesn't reach as many older voters as the M$M does.

[firebrand80]

38. I must have missed that memo from on high nt

[Fawke Em]

74. Are you a reporter?

[CoffeeCat]

24. The media is Iowa has come around

The Des Moines Register has a reporter who attends all of this events now.

The editorial pages are being kinder.

Bernie also has pool reporters following him now, when he's in our state.

They did ignore him for a long time. However, they won't during the last few weeks before the caucus. He's getting positive press from the largest Iowa newspapers and broadcast outlets. And that's when it really counts--when voters are plugged in and paying attention.

So, that's good news for Bernie.

If downplaying Bernie early in the campaign was meant to harm him, I don't think it's going to make much difference in the end.

[Fawke Em]

27. I still contend local media is far more fair to candidates than national media.

Local media folks live in the community and have a vested interested.

The national types are mostly Beltwayers who don't give two shits if Bernie is the best choice for the average Iowan.

[CoffeeCat]

34. And with our state-by-state primaries

Local media is really what it's all about.

People in New Hampshire ready New Hampshire newspapers and watch their local television news. As you said, those local reporters have that "vested interest" in their communities and in reporting the news.

Also, when these campaigns heat up in these individual states, all candidates have pool reporters from numerous outlets covering the campaigns. So many print and broadcast outlets are trying to find interesting stories. It happens in all states and I've seen it up close and personal in Iowa.

Reporters from the networks and cable news are here, as well as print sources (newspapers, magazines, etc.) It's crazy.

All bets are off in the final weeks of these primary/caucus events. The reporters just end up doing their job.

It's going to be wonderful for Bernie, because his rallies are so well attended and high-energy.

I look forward to this happening in every state.

[1StrongBlackMan]

53. I suspect the Des Moines Register has had ...

a reporter who attends all of his events, since he announced.

[CoffeeCat]

60. Absolutely not

In October and November and in the first part of December, Bernie had plenty of rallies that were not covered by the Des Moines Register. I followed the coverage very closely.

I had a friend who attended Bernie's Dubuque rally on December 12. My friend said that there were "thousands" of people there and that accommodations had to be made, to enlarge the space. I Googled and found zilch. I searched the Des Moines Register and found nothing. They did not cover the rally and this was just a few weeks ago.

I finally found an article from a local Dubuque paper. Sure enough, the article reported that 2000 had attended and that a deluge of RSVPs forced staff to move walls to widen the space.

There are dozens of examples of this. Bernie's crowd of 1450 at Waterloo West High School wasn't mentioned. So many examples of the Register ignoring him. They covered some of his events, but most they did not.

Meanwhile, the Register covered nearly all of Clinton's events. They even had a regular reporter covering Hillary, Jennifer Jacobs.

Bernie now has a regular Register reporter covering all of this events. So things have improved. But no, it was a near blackout for a while.

And the Hillary favoritism was over the top. Headlines like, "As debate approaches, Clinton seems inevitable again" were commonplace. And yes, that's a real front-page headline from the 11/08/15 Des Moines Register!

[1StrongBlackMan]

62. This ...

In October and November and in the first part of December, Bernie had plenty of rallies that were not covered by the Des Moines Register.

Simply, is not true. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/search/bernie%20sanders/

Now, if your had said: the coverage was not fawning ... you might have a point.

[NCTraveler]

3. "who has built an unstoppable Iowa campaign" What? nt.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I'm sorry that you don't see the elephant in the room either

It's not just Hillary folks!

It's her supporters too!

Oh, bless your heart.

[OilemFirchen]

9. This one?

[CoffeeCat]

16. Hey, I'm open to

having a cocktail or two after the Iowa caucuses--to celebrate the victory!

[OilemFirchen]

18. Enjoy!

BTW, is there supposed to be an elephant in you OP photo?

[CoffeeCat]

21. It's a mammoth...

but it's damn near close to an elephant. For the purposes of my OP, it's an elephant.

Hillary really needs to move out of the way...

[OilemFirchen]

23. It's an extremely dead mammoth.

So, for the purposes of your OP, it's counter-intuitive - which makes it a perfect illustration.

Well done!

[NCTraveler]

11. Thank you for the kind words with respect to my heart. nt.

[Blue_Adept]

8. Damn women and all their talking

They'd know more if they just shut up once in awhile.

Though for the longest time it was why doesn't Hillary talk with your average people in smaller settings, you know, with real people. now it's she's not attracting large crowds and is at small venues.

Stupid women. They just don't know things.

Or is it just stupid Hillary?

[CoffeeCat]

13. Oh, the sexism card!

As a woman and a feminist, I find your playing the sexism card very offensive.

My OP was about Bernie's strong campaign barreling at Hillary. The enthusiasm in Iowa is amazing.

If you can somehow find sexism in this woman's point of view, then I think you've run out of salient points.

[ismnotwasm]

56. A feminist saying the "sexism card"??

Look. I may disagree with you, but I like your enthusiasm, your posts about the on the ground campaign of Sanders is superior to anyone else's, because you are one of a handful of posters that talks about actual work it takes to elect a candidate.

I will say only this; I have never, in all my years as a feminist, heard that term used seriously from a feminist.

Sad.

[beltanefauve]

64. Don't take the bait!

[CoffeeCat]

65. It's just so ridiculous. That's obvious.

I responded and said what I needed to say.

I'll leave her alone with her faux outrage.

[artislife]

28. It's the last sentence. nt

[BlueMTexpat]

29. And the thing is that she actually listens

to what people have to say. But whatever, she's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't.

Btw, (this does not apply to you or your response, Blue_Adept), anyone who remarks on any of my OPs/responses anywhere on DU simply in order to put me, other Hillary supporters, or Hillary herself down need not wait for a response. You will simply be added to my "Ignore" list or you may already be there. So please blast away by all means or add me to your own "Ignore" list.

I'm on the downslope of life and prefer that the time left be sweet rather than bitter. While I fervently hope that the outright wingnuttery among Dems will cease once we have a GE nominee, I don't have to put up with it here in the meantime.

I love DU for its many years of providing me a rock of comparative sanity among the swirling chaos of insanity in the world and refuse to leave this site simply because some here are trying their best to destroy party unity under other guises.

[CoffeeCat]

36. Hillary is not my friend. This is not personal.

Hillary is a political candidate. I don't know her. She seems like a nice enough person.

This is about her policies. They are wrong for our country. A solid portion of our party thinks so, and this is the part of the campaign where we fight for who we believe is best for the Democratic party.

It's not personal. It's business.

And I have to say, I think all of this, "Hillary is listening" may be overstated. I was there last night in Des Moines and she gave a speech. This was a political rally. She also gave a speech in Davenport and Cedar Rapids that day and she didn't take questions.

I'm not saying that she hasn't had Q&As in Iowa and other places. I'm sure she has. Her events that I've seen are typical speeches.

And to suggest that low attendance is because she's "listening" is a bit disingenuous. Her attendances is what it is. It's very low. It's lower than her 2008 rallies.

What that means, and what that translates into on caucus night--is anybody's guess.

[BlueMTexpat]

52. Thanks CC, for the

courteous reply. It doesn't meet my "Ignore" list threshold, LOL.

We can agree to disagree. If Hillary's campaigning in Iowa does translate into a caucus night victory there, it will mean that more Iowans apparently saw things in the same light as I.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

37. It is the raison d'etre of some to cow us into silence.

When the Good Lord decides to call DSB home is when he will be silenced.

[CoffeeCat]

41. No one wants you silent

This is a message board. You can post as much as you like.

I appreciate the back and forth.

You guys seem so angry all of the time. I bet you're not like that in real life. I met quite a few Hillary field organizers from the east coast last night. They were very interesting, smart and they were great ambassadors for her campaign.

This is all in fun.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. "You guys seem so angry all of the time."

Please cite all the threads I start to bash Bernie.

Thank you in advance.

Have a great New Year.

[CoffeeCat]

45. I didn't say that you bashed Bernie

but some of you seem like a gaggle of Grumpy cats sometimes.

Come on, this is a lighthearted thread. For Pete's sake, she's standing in front of a mammoth that looks like it's about ready to plow into her.

I'm not the most clever person in the world, but hey, the image is mildly amusing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. I will just let you enjoy your thread without further interruption.

Have a great day!

[BlueMTexpat]

49. Love ya, DSB!

You will never make it to my "Ignore" list.

[CharlotteVale]

12. And waving her arms around, like she criticized Bernie for doing.

[Nyan]

14. I think she does. And her entire campaign, too.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. Yesterday she was saying "I need you" to Iowa voters.

I think that means that the campaign's internal polling shows that she may lose both Iowa and New Hampshire.


If so, then she sees it. She may not believe what she sees but I do think she must see it.

[CoffeeCat]

19. I was at this Des Moines event last night

It's not even worth an OP.

It was very low energy. Hillary seemed off her game. Bummed.

I don't know what in the world her supporters on DU have been talking about--all of this "listening" she's supposedly doing. She spoke for 40 minutes and then it ended.

I went to her rally in the same building in 2008. Four xs the crowd in 2008. I asked security how big the crowd was and two of them said, "About 400 maybe."

Interesting, because she had at least 100 campaign staffers and people affiliated with her campaign there.

I think she's in real trouble in Iowa. She's lost interest and support since 2008.

[brooklynite]

32. Gee when I went to a Bernie event, there were complaints that I was "taking up space"...

[CoffeeCat]

43. I appreciated your first-hand reports

I think it's good to see what "the other side" is doing. I was very curious about what she had to say, how she spoke and what her crowds were like.

I attend some Republican events as well. I usually need a glass of wine after hearing Ted Cruz though.

[INdemo]

33. The problem with her campaign she

Is running on her"Clinton" name.
She never gives details on issues and just says "I have a plan for this or that" and her fans go yeahhhh applaud applaud.
On the other hand Bernie Sanders gives the details about what he will do and in fact has sponsored legislation to back up what he is saying.

[brooklynite]

30. So you're saying Clinton is ignoring Sanders, or not assuming she has to campaign to win?

Apparently you're not watching the same campaign the rest of us are.

[CoffeeCat]

47. No, I'm saying that she may be oblivious as to how

effective Bernie's campaign is.

There are many indications that his campaign is very strong in Iowa. He brings 2000+ people to his political events. He's got an impressive ground game with just as many offices, volunteers and campaign workers as Hillary.

And he's broken Obama's single contribution record.

Bernie began Iowa at .8 percent and Clinton started out at 60 percent. Clearly, he's the underdog who is doing very well.

I see incredible momentum and energy with his campaign. I'm sorry, but I am not seeing the same with the Clinton camp.

[brooklynite]

50. Well, I've met with the Campaign Manager...

...and I've been briefed on the Clinton strategy, the rollout of staff and volunteers and the organization at the precinct level. I've also been briefed about what they learned from their 2008 loss and how they propose to deal with it.

Suffice to say, whatever you think of her campaign strategy, it's not "oblivious" to the competition.

nb - It's impossible to convince you that large crowds don't always translate to actual voters waiting for three hours to participate in the caucus, so I won't try.

[CoffeeCat]

55. What you have written about the caucuses is UNTRUE

I've participated in several cycles of the Iowa caucuses. I was a precinct captain for Obama and that year we had record caucus attendance.

No one had to wait more than 5 minutes to register and get in the door. This is a very well-run machine with incredible organization.

From start to finish in 2008--the caucus took 90 minutes. It was exciting, fun and the room was full of energy. Everyone who was there wanted to be there and was excited to be there. Caucusing is not some dreaded chore. The Democrats who were there, were happy to be there and stand for their candidate.

This year, with only three candidates, most Democratic caucuses will take 60 minutes. I'm in a very large precinct. We'll be in and out in an hour. Half of all Iowa precincts are in rural areas with small precincts. They could wrap things up in 20-30 minutes.

Please don't misinform!

And I'm sure that Clinton does have a great strategy. No doubt about that. She has hired a lot of out-of-state field organizers to GOTV. No doubt they're doing a great job. I met many of them at the event last night and they were high-energy, personable and doing a great job for Hillary. I'm sure they did learn quite a bit from their 2008 loss, which will help them. Bernie doesn't have the advantage of doing this before.

My contention is that you can have great organization, tons of hired organizers--but do you have the Iowans who are supporting you? I've made phone calls and canvassed. I know what it's like. You can be an incredible organizer, but at the end of the day--does Hillary have the numbers in Iowa? Does she have those enthusiastic supporters who will caucus for her, more than Bernie does?

The answer is...I don't know. And really, neither do you.

I see indicators, such as the crowds, that aren't good signs for her. I don't think large crowds alone secures a win. However, it's a good sign. And when I see that she's not attracting half the crowds that she did in 2008--in the same building in Des Moines--it throws up some red flags. But what it truly means, as far as caucus night--is unclear.

It would be nice to engage in rational analysis with someone. When I have brought up these points, I usually get this guy ----> and a whole lot of snark.

[in_cog_ni_to]

31. Internal polling

has probably brought that elephant in the room into VERY clear focus.

She knows what's going on and is just counting on the corrupt machine to get her the win.

Unfortunately, 99% > 1%!

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[Le Taz Hot]

35. The other elephant in the room

is a 51% disapproval rating. NO politician gets elected to anything with those types of numbers. The DNC and the .01%ers might shoehorn her into the nomination but she's a guaranteed loser in the GE.

[Renew Deal]

48. Not if they dislike the other person more

And numbers change. Hillary's dislike number will go down when the primary ends.

[Betty Karlson]

39. "The elephant is only this big, right? Nothing Debbie can't handle!" eom

[JoePhilly]

44. So Bernie is actually an extinct Woolly Mammoth??

Ok, if you say so!!

[randome]

59. He has tusks of freedom to impale...something...

Yeah, the metaphor doesn't really hold up, does it?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[JoePhilly]

61. Well ...

... his got the Woolly part down!!

[Agschmid]

54. Just FYI... That clearly is not an elephant.

So...

[CoffeeCat]

58. I instructed the Iowa Historical Society to

...place an elephant behind her. The best they could do on short notice was a woolly mammoth.

[NCTraveler]

57. Calling that an elephant won't make the earth six thousand years old.

Please take this as a joke.

[Warren DeMontague]

69. 6K year old Earth? Maybe Hillary can ask her buddies in "The Family" about that.

What do you think?


http://liberalvaluesblog.com/2015/10/24/bernie-sanders-views-on-secularism-the-drug-war-present-an-important-alternative-to-hillary-clintons-conservative-views/

[NCTraveler]

70. I think I loled. Nt

[Warren DeMontague]

71. yeah, conservative culture warriors are funny.

Aren't they?

[NCTraveler]

73. Very. Nt

[winter is coming]

66. I love the picture... "I killed a Republican, and it was *this* big!" n/t

[yuiyoshida]

67. *snort*

[PowerToThePeople]

72. She is just trying to keep her composure.

They will keep the "inevitability" theme going until she loses.