Posted on 01/04/2008 10:41:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - It wasn't long ago that Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign scoffed at the notion that young voters would deliver an election. How quickly things can change.
Just seconds into her speech Friday morning, Clinton was declaring herself the candidate for America's youth — stealing a page from the new Democratic presidential front-runner, Barack Obama. The night before, the under-30 crowd came out in larger numbers than ever in Iowa caucuses normally dominated by the AARP-card set, delivering victory for the Illinois senator who promised to bring change to Washington.
That's why after her third-place finish in Iowa, Clinton got off her plane in New Hampshire and declared: "This is especially about all of the young people in New Hampshire who need a president who won't just call for change, or a president who won't just demand change, but a president who will produce change, just like I've been doing for 35 years."
"I'm running for president to reclaim the future — the future for all of us, of all ages, but particularly for young Americans," she said a few seconds later.
Obama has campaigned on his ability to change politics in America, and he's proven he can do it in at least one state. Fifty-seven percent of Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who were surveyed were participating for the first time, contributing to the record-breaking turnout. Obama got 41 percent of them, to 29 percent for Clinton.
Obama also showed he could appeal across racial lines in his bid to becomes the first black president, winning in one of the whitest states in the country.
Clinton has just a few days to turn the race around before New Hampshire voters go to the polls.
John Edwards, who edged Clinton for second place in Iowa, also will be trying to combat the perception that New Hampshire is a two-person race between one-time leader Clinton and Obama. Edwards' campaign has not been as strong in New Hampshire, where he finished in fourth place in 2004, and his advisers acknowledged he must come in at least second. Long-shot candidate Bill Richardson is looking to edge Edwards out of third place by arguing he would end the war in Iraq the fastest.
In Iowa, the size of the turnout of young voters was just one item in a long list of flawed calculations from the Clinton camp in Iowa. Her advisers assumed voters would be looking for experience in a time of instability. But only 20 percent of Democratic caucus-goers polled on the way in said that was the most important factor, compared to 51 percent who wanted change.
The Clinton camp counted on women voters flocking to her, but Obama edged her among women, 35 percent to 30 percent, according to the surveys taken by The Associated Press and the television networks.
And the Clinton campaign made the election about her — one approach she doesn't seem to be changing.
"This has been very much a referendum on her," Clinton's top strategist, Mark Penn, told reporters on the flight out of Iowa. "And people will take a harder look at the choice and the kind of president who will be needed in these times."
Obama had made the election about himself as well, but there was a shift when he delivered a victory speech Thursday night that envisioned a new future for America. He used the word "I" just 17 times in the speech, compared with 43 times in his closing argument speech in Iowa just one week before.
Changes for Clinton were evident immediately upon her arrival in New Hampshire. She combined the appeal for younger voters with suggestions that Obama should be more thoroughly vetted. And she showed an openness to answer any questions instead of producing a tightly controlled message. She took questions from her audience and then held a news conference during which she acknowledged she would be adjusting her approach.
"I did very well with people over 45, and I didn't do as well with people under 30. I take responsibility for that," she said. "I'm going to talk over the next five days as much as I can about creating opportunities for young people."
Obama, meanwhile, continued his pitch to independents as well as Democrats — a fifth of those surveyed on the way into the Democratic contest in Iowa identified themselves as independents, and that group could be even more important in a primary state where registered independents can vote in either partisan contest.
Obama also took a page from a rival's playbook on the first day of New Hampshire campaigning. "We need someone who exercises straight talk instead of spin," he said, lifting the "straight talk" catch phrase of Republican John McCain, a favorite of New Hampshire's independent voters eight years ago.
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This is about Hillary, not Bill, but that headline served its purpose as a teaser
Hillary is about change: changing her campaign strategy every day.
Change? The whiney baby needs to change her diaper.
I knew it would happen, there’s like this critical boiling point for naughty teacher stories, and someone posted one today.. Knew Clinton would start going after the young the moment it was posted.
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., points to someone in the audience as she takes the podium for her speech at the New Hampshire Democratic Party 100 Club Dinner in Milford, N.H. Friday, Jan. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
I don't think he's had his hands on Hillary
this much since they got hitched.
I hope Hillary"s private dicks have found some of Obama's old customers in Chicago and at Harvard, so she can go nuclear on him ASAP.
Otherwise we might not have her thighness to kick around anymore.
Pics please....wait....whattya mean it’s about Hillary?
What’s a ute?
Wow, have you noticed that Hillary has now defined herself as the “less hopeful” candidate? What an incompetent campaign!
dejavu!
Come on Hill, name that record of change with examples....
This is Hillary's achilles heel. I don't think women like her very well.
Naw. Check my tagline.
"I'll bet she does, I'll bet she does! Say no more, Say no more! A nudge is as good as a wink to a blind bat..."
Forgive me, Normsrevenge. Eventually I'll finish reading the article. I just can't resist augmenting these posts with my purile "Hillary Art"... ; )
If it had been about Bill, it would've said Clinton goes for plump young voters.
But seriously, this is just another example of the pandering Clintons treating voters like herds of cattle. Chris Matthews last night was saying the Clinton campaign has been handing out surveys where they ask people if they're handicapped or what race they are, gender, etc. Then they can mail those people the campaign materials that might bribe them into supporting Hillary.
Hillary reminds me of the guys selling their soul to the devil....in the movie Ghost Rider.
Don't insult over-the-hill prostitutes that way. But if they did need to expand their client base, all they'd have to do is lower their prices, go to the nearest McDonald's and wait for fat Bubba to show up with a wallet full of money fresh from China.
I apologize for comparing the profession of Prostitution to a Politician such as Hillary.
I am not saying Hillary could not get some,,,err,,,a few,,,err a couple of clients but gee she would have to play the mans part with Madamline Notsobright and Hellen Thomas.
Democratic candidates only have to keep using the sound bytes of Hillary’s raised screeching voice of taking from people for the common good and the one she tries to imitate Southerners, “We’ve come too far”.
"I'm running for president to reclaim the future — the future for all of us, of all ages, but particularly for young Americans," she said a few seconds laterI know it's not an exact match, but I can't help thinking of this:
INSIDE THE PRIVATE ROOMMaybe Hillary should take a page from Pappy and try making a point.Pappy O'Daniel sits smoking a cigar, nursing a glass of whiskey, and soliciting the counsel of his overweight retinue.
PAPPY
Languishing! Goddamn campaign is languishing! We need a shot inna arm! Hear me, boys? Inna goddamn ARM! Election held tomorra, that sonofabitch Stokes would win it in a walk!JUNIOR
Well he's the reform candidate, Daddy.Pappy narrows his eyes at him, wondering what he's getting at.
PAPPY
...Yeah?JUNIOR
Well people like that reform. Maybe we should get us some.Pappy whips off his hat and slaps at Junior with it.
PAPPY
I'll reform you, you soft-headed sonofabitch! How we gonna run reform when we're the damn incumbent!He glares around the table.
PAPPY
Zat the best idea any you boys can come up with? REEform?! Weepin' Jesus on the cross! Eckard, you may as well start draftin' my concession speech right now.Eckard grunts as he starts to rise.
ECKARD
Okay, Pappy.Pappy whips him back down with his hat.
PAPPY
I'm just makin' a point, you stupid sonofabitch!ECKARD
Okay, Pappy.As he settles back Eckard looks around the table and helpfully relays:
ECKARD
Pappy just makin' a point here, boys.
"Screw you ... kid."
"Maybe we aoughta get us a midget - even smaller"
Where is the BS meter, oh "Noble Free Press"?
35 years? She has been a Senator for just under 7 years now. Before that she was a WIFE of a politician, not the politician. First Lady is not an elected office.
If Bill Clinton had been a Republican, the press would have been ever so eager to point this out.
BTW, Chelsea could have been an influence with the "younger" voter if she wasn't so stuck up and wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of jeans and sneakers.
sw
sw
; )
Why they only show the top half:
Forgive me, Normsrevenge. Eventually I’ll finish reading the article. I just can’t resist augmenting these posts with my purile “Hillary Art”... ; )
—
No problemo. I don’t read as many of them as I should either.. ;-) Carry on.
Love your tagline! So true.
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