With a 20-point lead in national polls and strong leads in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida, is there any way Hillary Clinton can lose the Democratic nomination? Steven Thomma opines for McClatchy Newspapers:
Yet in Iowa, the state that will kick off the voting in precinct caucuses one night in January, she's still in a three-person race with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.And history suggests that anything can happen there in the final weeks as more voters tune in. At this stage four years ago, Howard Dean led in the Iowa polls, only to collapse as voting neared, and John Kerry trailed in a distant third place, only to go on to win Iowa and the nomination.
Read the entire column at the link above. Dean was a different situation - he sunk himself, first by arguing the capture of Saddam "didn't make us safer," then by rebuking an Iowa questioner with "George Bush is not my neighbor," then he fought a negative ad campaign against Dick Gephardt, and came off as nasty and arrogant in the debate just before the caucuses. It was far more political suicide on Dean's part than a comeback by Kerry; the Senator just happened to be there with a war record when Democrats had lost their presumptive nominee.
Hillary isn't going to self-destruct by her own statements. The fundraising may or may not catch up with her, but she isn't going to be out there exclaiming controversial things when it counts.
It does all boil down to Iowa (barring some devastating scandal news), because that is where Edwards and Obama appear to be competing equally with her. If one of them manages to beat her there, he will probably become The Alternative. But don't bank on it: Hillary has barely begun to fight in Iowa, and can call upon Bill (the most popular living Democrat among Iowa caucus-goers) to help. She doesn't have to win there, but her rivals must.
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary, Primaries
Tags: Democrat, Hillary Clinton, Iowa, presidential campaign, primaries
Comments (4)
Hillary could self destruct... (Below threshold)1. Posted by DoubleU | September 22, 2007 6:27 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Hillary could self destruct on her own statements, but it depends on how the media covers for her.
1. Posted by DoubleU | September 22, 2007 6:27 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on September 22, 2007 18:27
2. Posted by kim | September 22, 2007 7:36 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hsu fly, don't bother me.
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2. Posted by kim | September 22, 2007 7:36 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 22, 2007 19:36
3. Posted by Glenn Koons | September 23, 2007 9:43 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Even Bush has coronated her for the nomination. If the GOP doesn't look out, they will have eaten their own best candidates by destroying fellow Pubs instead of firing at the pacifist socialists in the Dem Party and rallying against the no-accomplishments of Her Highness.
3. Posted by Glenn Koons | September 23, 2007 9:43 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on September 23, 2007 21:43
4. Posted by bryanD | September 23, 2007 10:54 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Glenn, haven't you heard of the Mena Compact between GHW Bush and WC Jefferson Clinton? A handshake and a line apiece?
Don't you recall Bill's cotillion at the 1988 Democratic (Dukakis) Convention?
Or George P Bush's at the 2000 Republican convention?
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/03/bush.young/
It's called "foreshadowing".
The deal is to take turns (HW, Bill, W, Hil, Geo P...), but since Chelsea is probably a Hubbell, a Bush will succeed a Bush to the establishment of a dynasty along royal lines in 2020-2024 at the end of George the Mexican's term. George the Mexican, formerly George III Republicus, will become George I Rex.
Think: Plantagenets of England: The Lancasters are Bushes, the Yorks are Clintons. But instead of seizures and executions, boards and endowed sinecures. Swords for Soma. A bloodless denoument.
Thus our first de jure King-Administrator (George II Rex) is only now a joke on youtube, but Don't Laugh! The posters today will be hunted by SMERSH throughout the nursing homes of the world tomorrow. And don't send him tennis balls even if you think he likes to play tennis!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWidr0Uwj8E
4. Posted by bryanD | September 23, 2007 10:54 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on September 23, 2007 22:54