November 15, 2007
WH '08: They're After You For A Reason. No... Not That Reason.
Within the first 15 minutes of tonight's Democratic presidential candidates debate in Las Vegas, expect Hillary Rodham Clinton to make a self-deprecating joke about her last debate performance and then try to move on. Will her rivals let her? Fat chance.
Two weeks ago, Clinton's uncomfortable equivocations on drivers licenses for illegal immigrants and on her husband Bill's White House records reminded Democrats of what they like least about her: that she sometimes appears to be a politically savvy cyborg. Clinton's nearest rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, aren't very near at all, according to polls. As expected, Obama and Edwards went after Clinton pointedly in Philadelphia. They are expected to go after her even harder tonight.
While Clinton's numbers slipped a bit by some measures since the MSNBC forum in Philly, she still appears to be Democratic primary voters' candidate of choice to go against a Republican next year. That last part is key. Recent history indicates that voters no longer believe they have the luxury of being swept off their feet by a candidate. Funny that the last time this appears to have happened for Democrats was when Bill Clinton was the nominee...
If all this is somehow hurting Hillary Clinton's feelings, she isn't showing it. Mark Penn, her top strategist, had this message for Democrats today: Suck it up, and keep your eye on the ball.
The memo to "interested parties" -- guess you have to be a campaign reporter to get how hilarious that is -- is a lengthy reminder that strength, leadership and experience are the qualities Democrats most want in their next general-election candidate. No one needs reminding here of how Republicans were able to convince the electorate that Democrats get Jell-O knees in matters of war and terrorism. As we've noted before, the Democratic party cannot afford to lose another national election, particularly in an environment that so heavily favors them.
After the last debate, Clinton laughed that her rivals were "piling on" because they had little left to lose. For reasons we're still fuzzy on, that got interpreted as Clinton crying sexism along with some crocodile tears. Not to be contrarian, but that's debatable. The "all-boys club" description of U.S. politics still holds true, as far as we can tell. And the remark was made at Wellesley, an appropriate forum for that sort of thing if ever there was one.
And who's to say that by calling attention to the pile-on, Clinton wasn't actually just highlighting the strength of her candidacy in the Democratic field? Obama, Edwards and the rest are lasering in on Clinton because the only way for them to inch forward is to knock her back a few pegs. She's their biggest threat, which feeds the impression that she's the biggest threat, which, etc, etc.
Immigration is expected to dominate tonight's debate because of Nevada's burgeoning Latino population and because of Clinton's waffling. She's been thinking ahead to the general for a while, which means she might be tougher on this issue than the audience might like. Then again, Democrats appear to be forgiving her for all sorts of things, as they, too, look ahead to the general.
Showtime's at 8 EST on CNN and CNN.com. Check back tomorrow morning for our take on the slapfight.
Posted at 5:45 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, WH 2008
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