Posted on 01/21/2007 4:26:35 PM PST by John Cena
Pressured by former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' bold foray into her own backyard -- when he challenged her silence over the war during a speech at Riverside Church, the shrine of liberalism -- and by Sen. Barack Obama's formation of an exploratory committee, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has rushed to signal her intention to run for president.
She has told friends that she hadn't seen why she should wait until the fall of the year before the election, as her husband had done, to announce.
But she was so panicked by the Edwards and Obama initiatives that she announced her candidacy on a Saturday! That's the worst news day of the week, and the Clintons usually reserve it for announcements concerning their scandals.
And the latest Rasmussen Poll shows her plummeting down to 22 percent, with Obama at 21 percent and Edwards, a former and vice presidential nominee, up to 15 percent. Her campaign staff has been flatfooted, and her reaction to the Edwards offensive over the war has been slow.
When she should have been in the United States protesting President Bush's speech, she was in Iraq posing for photo ops.
Edwards is winning the race to the left -- the key place to be in the Democratic primaries.
Hillary's assertion that she would vote for a troop cap only begs the question of what she would do if Bush, as commander-in-chief, sends in the troops anyway.
Would she then vote to cut off funds -- to make him respect the congressional intrusion into the powers of the president? Hillary says she would not.
So Hillary will be reduced to what are essentially symbolic actions against the war. Meanwhile, Edwards, who is comfortably out of the Senate, can go as far to the left as he needs to go to win the primaries. (The latest Fox News Poll shows Democrats support a total cutoff of war funding by 59 percent to 33 percent).
Will the role of Ned Lamont in the upcoming primaries be played by Edwards while the role of Sen. Joeseph Lieberman is shared by Hillary and -- depending on how he votes -- Obama? We all know how the Connecticut primary turned out last August!
Bear in mind, however, that Hillary was similarly awkward in the opening months of her New York state race for the Senate in 2000, committing blunder after blunder until she got her act down pat.
But the fact is that Hillary has not run in a real election in her life. She was almost unopposed for the Senate last year, and she drew wet-behind-the-ears former Congressman Rick Lazio as her 2000 opponent, rather than heavyweight Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor.
And Hillary has never run in a Democratic primary in her life (unless you count her nominal race in 2006).
Her inexperience and the age of her staff is showing. She and they appear at a loss to adjust to the fast-moving pace of modern politics.
Dick is always saying, as he approaches 60 years of age, that 60 is the new 50. By the same token, 2007 is the new 2008. And Hillary seems not to have grasped this fact. By the time the Iowa caucuses are held, the race for the nomination will be over, just as it was in 2004.
Remember how Howard Dean surged out to a lead in September 2003, months before the first votes were cast, and then lost his lead to Sen. John Kerry in December 2003 amid a barrage of negative publicity?
By the time Iowa voted, it merely mirrored the results of the American-media primary, which had already been held the autumn before.
Will she win? Probably yes.
Still -- Hillary has the capacity to draw out a large number of voters who have not previously cast ballots. In 1996, 49 percent of Americans of voting age participated in the presidential contest. In 2000, 51 percent did. In 2004, the percentage was up to 55 percent.
Increasing turnout is the central fact of presidential elections these days. Karl Rove's ability to maximize the turnout of white married couples and single white men was the key to Bush's 2004 victory. The president got 12 million more votes in 2004 than he got in 2000.
But Kerry was also able to attract almost 6 million new single women to the polls who did not participate in 2000. They formed a large part of the 9 million extra votes Kerry got that former Vice President Al Gore did not.
Hillary, to a great extent, and Obama to a lesser degree, can impel large numbers of new voters to flock to the polls in the primaries and the election itself, which gives them a huge advantage.
But, to win, Hillary better get used to the pace of politics in 2007!
I prediect Morris will flip-flop his predictions around 500 times in the next two years.
Frankly, I don't think Hillary can win, but then I don't think Osama...err Obama, and John Edwards can either.
Toe sucker tabloid at it again....
I agree. Al Gore will be nominated.
Guess she wants Laura to post alongside herself on DUmmieland.
I hope she is on her way to jail rather than the Presidency.
LOL! Dick is delusional.
Hillary is in BIG trouble.
Please bear in mind that the average American voter is as dumb as a turkey dropping.
Amazing how this guy, with no apparent talent, has made a living off of the Clintons. A textbook parasite.
Obama will suck all the oxygen out of any Hillary alternative, then will withdraw seemingly gracefully because his resume is about as thin as his experience. He will then accept some post in here administration, probably Veep, to beef up his resume and the media will carry water for both of them.
Did Edwards ever snag a Play Station ?
He pretty much flip-flopped his prediction in this one article.
"Please bear in mind that the average American voter is as dumb as a turkey dropping."
Sadly, I couldn't agree more.
Dick Morris who? Oh! Now I remember. He is the guy who sucks womens toes. < /sarcasm off>
First things first.
Let's get in there, and get that first round of botox shots going, then.....
I wish Dick Morris would just fade away. He's like a cold that just wont go away. How many times have I heard him say "Oh.. Hillary is GOING to run.." in the last 5 years?
How about that book he wrote "Condi vs. Hillary".. Why does FOX still employ him?
Wow! Political speeches being openly given in a church!!
I'm sure the IRS will get after this blatant abuse of a tax-exempt church organisation by a candidate preaching politics from the pulpit and deny their... oh, wait a ninute... Riverside is a Liberal church! Never mind.
The only BIG trouble Hillary will ever face is...we the people.
Run Hillary Run!
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