Posted on 11/03/2007 7:08:28 AM PDT by MindBender26
The presidential race is now entering its most dangerous period for the front-runners in each party Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. With each boasting consistent and formidable leads in most na tional polling, the leading candidate in each party must now prove his and her mettle by winning in a small state among a relative handful of voters.
And Iowa can be a funny place. When a presidential campaign, funded and staffed on a national scale, crams itself into a tiny state, the resulting overkill makes the outcome hard to predict. Even candidates whose resources could not yet begin to cover the entire country Huckabee for example can effectively blanket Iowa.
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts November 1, 2007. Wellesley College is Senator Clinton's alma mater. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES) So far, the trends in Iowa are not good for either front-runner. Hillary holds only the narrowest of leads over Obama less than two points in the recent Iowa Straw Poll a survey which also found Rudy running a disastrous fourth on the Republican side of the ledger.
Hillarys vulnerability is especially interesting now that the Democrats running against her seem determined to take off their gloves and go after the front runner. The Marquis of Queensbury rules that have restrained them seem to have fallen by the wayside and a tag team of Obama, Edwards, and Dodd appears ready to deconstruct her bit by bit.
By himself, it is clear that Obama lacks the starch to go after Hillary. In Tuesday nights debate, Tim Russert set up an opportunity for the Illinois Senator with his first question, probing why he felt she was lacking in candor. Instead of charging into the fray, as Russerts question invited, he began by denigrating the media hype about his remarks.
If Obama played T-ball, hed bunt!
But John Edwards seems to have a bracing effect on the reluctant dragon from Illinois. His trial lawyer style, eviscerating Hillary while smiling all the time, appears to be making headway. Between them, with a bit of Chris Dodd thrown in, Hillary was team-tackled on Tuesday night.
However, it is Hillary herself who creates her own vulnerability. With linguistic obfuscation reminiscent of Bills more famous remarks I didnt inhale and It depends on what the definition of is, is Senator Clinton is determined not to tell us where she stands on anything.
Instead, she has come to believe, probably correctly, that if we knew what she really wants to do as president, we would never vote for her. So on Social Security (where she plans to raise taxes), Iran (where she will take military action if need be), Iraq (where she will keep the troops), the Alternative Minimum Tax (which she will only repeal if it can be used to hide massive tax increases) and drivers licenses (which she will give to illegals as soon as she can), Hillary resists telling the truth. And, under the scrutiny of opponents like Edwards and Dodd, and the questioning of Tim Russert, it is becoming obvious even to demented Democrats.
So can Hillary be beaten in Iowa? It all depends on whether, in this era of daily polling, her opponents can coalesce around whoever is in second place. Hillary wont win a majority in Iowa, but, if Edwards and Obama continue to split the anti-Hillary vote, she will win a plurality. Such a victory will let her get out of Des Moines alive and will pave the way for truly dominating victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan then Florida and the rest of the nation will fall in line.
But if Edwards defers to Obama or, more likely, his voters realize that they must back Bar ack in order to stop Hillary a viable alternative to the New York senator could emerge. If Obama beats Hillary, even by the narrowest of margins, her entire sense of inevitability will vaporize and she could be defeated as the primary cycle continues.
The key is that Edwards, Obama and Dodd must devote their resources to relentless negative advertising and media attacks against Hillary and need to band together in the remaining debates to expose her falsifications of her positions. (Richardson, auditioning for vice president, and Biden, indulging his mid-life crisis, wont do it.) But if the trio of her vigorous opponents, do their work, maybe, just maybe, she can be stopped.
The gloves are coming off.
Of course. Dick figured that out, did he?
A win by somebody else in Iowa would not be enough to derail Hillary’s campaign, however.
Preferably by eight or ten Iowans, all at once. ;)
LOL-——she’s got the boxing gloves and said she’s ready to go 10 rounds.
“maybe, just maybe, she can be stopped.”
never happen. she will be president and her presidency is inevitable. (more than fifty percent of the “american electorate” will carry her to victory.)
hey “ripley”......I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!
He still works for her I’ll bet.
No, 50% of Americans will NEVER vote for her. Republicans have an excellent shot of keeping the White House if there is no “Ross Perot” this election.
I still don’t understand why the Democrats didn’t try to run Mark Warner, Evan Byah or some other electable democrat. This would have been their most favorable time to take back the White House and they will blow it with Hillary. Their stupidity is our gain.
believe it.
she’s not down and out. she is going to pull it out of the hat; it will seem like a miracle and that little more than fifty percent will dance in the streets when the smoke clears.
That is true NOW, but one year of endless democrat party controlled media indoctrination could change that.
“beaten?” literaly?
Only in my dreams.....
Did she go out without her burqa?
Yes, hillary is almost completely lacking in experience. Her only qualification is that she was married to a president. But when you look at the rest of the current Democrat field, it actually makes her look like a heavyweight. It's amazing that they could have assembled such a remarkable gang of losers. Even worse then the famous "seven dwarfs" of yore.
I have to disagree. Bill Clinton never got 50% of the popular vote even when he was running against Bob Dole, and all conservatives had was Rush Limbaugh.
Hillary is not as charming or as likable as her husband. As long as the Republicans nominate a conservative, she’s not going to win.
“No, 50% of Americans will NEVER vote for her.”
no, 50% of Americans will NEVER vote for her. It will be more like 53 to 55% of Americans who will put her in office with great glee.
no more smoky potty for you
(me speaking Chinese!)
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