Posted on 04/16/2008 4:09:14 PM PDT by blam
Chelsea Clinton is Hillary's new weapon
By Toby Harnden in Summerdale, Pennsylvania
Last Updated: 9:35pm BST 16/04/2008
Hillary Clinton, struggling to contain a tidal wave of youth support for Barack Obama is dispatching the most trusted person in her life to implore university students to give her a chance - her daughter Chelsea.
Miss Clinton 28, has taken leave from her New York job with a hedge fund to campaign relentlessly for her mother.
Chelsea Clinton faces an uphill task among young voters, who strongly support Barack Obama
Shielded by her parents' minders, she tries to keep out of the national spotlight but has held more than 100 events at university campuses across the country.
Dressed in jeans and a fitted jacket, Miss Clinton is confident, poised and, like her mother, a font of arcane policy detail. A more disciplined but less passionate campaigner than her father Bill, she gives almost identical answers at each stop.
Whether speaking about "my mom's strong record of supporting Israel", "my mom's plan on the green energy bill" or how healthcare has been "an abiding passion of my mom's life", she is never stuck for an answer, even to the occasional question about the sexual scandals involving her father.
Despite the recent controversy over Mr Obama's remark that people in mid-western small towns "cling" to religion and guns because they are "bitter", Mrs Clinton is slipping further behind in national polls.
The polls in Pennsylvania, which votes on Tuesday, are too close for comfort. Defeat in the state would almost certainly doom her White House campaign while a narrow win might well be judged a de facto victory for Mr Obama.
Record numbers of new, young voters give Mr Obama some hope of an unlikely upset, even though Mrs Clinton spent part of her childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania and the predominance of white, working class voters makes it ideal turf for her.
advertisement Although she is now the same age as when her father first ran for political office, Miss Clinton has declined to speak to any journalist, even a nine-year-old "kid reporter" who approached her in Iowa.
Aides quiz people in the crowd who are clearly beyond university age to check whether they are with the press. When a dishevelled looking man wearing a tweed jacket started to ask a question at a Mississippi event, one of the Clinton aides shouted: "Hey, that's a reporter asking a question!"
But it turned out he was a community worker. Like her father, Miss Clinton is taking part in four events a day in Pennsylvania this week, a punishing schedule as she is driven by bus from town to town.
But there are signs that the notion she might prove to be her mother's secret weapon may well have been too optimistic. She faces an uphill task among youg voters, who support Mr Obama by a whopping 73 to 21 per cent among voters aged 18 to 29.
The crowds Miss Clinton attracts are often no more than 200. At an event at Central Pennsylvania College in Summerdale on Wednesday there was barely that number and more than half were pupils from a local high school, most of them too young to vote.
In Mechanicsburg on Monday night, Miss Clinton arrived well over an hour late - a characteristic inherited form her father - and did not apologise to the 150 people gathered shivering in the dark at the village playground.
Her microphone didn't work, prompting shouts of "Speak up!" and she was heckled by youths carrying "Clinton Go Home" signs and shouting "Vote Ron Paul!" and "Chelsea, you're hot!"
Badly-planned events are often a sign of poor "field work" by a campaign and superior field organisation by Mr Obama's staff has been a principal factor in the victories that have brought him to the stage where the Democratic nomination is almost within his grasp.
Before Miss Clinton arrived, small yellow Frisbees with the words "It's Your Future. It's Bright!" printed on them were handed out. Her answers were fluent, if laden with jargon, and she spoke for 40 minutes.
But many of the students were unmoved. Lauren Witte, 19, said many more had turned out to see the actors Dule Hill, from The West Wing and Zachary Quinto, due to star in the new Star Trek film when they came to stump for Mr Obama.
"There's no split - everyone's pretty much for Obama. He's laid back, you can relate to him, but Hillary is too prim and proper and America's not like that any more."
Her boyfriend Sebastian Eichler, 19, interjected: "Hillary's uptight." Chris Bower, 20, said that most students were voting for Mr Obama.
"I'm undecided but the way Obama presents himself, it seems like he's talking as if he's one of us. Chelsea was pretty good today but it's like Hillary sent her just because she has to if she wants to win."
Chelsea was prepped as next in the dynasty line. (I thought Huma was the most trusted person.)
Hill is pimping her like a Times Square Hooker.
Ohhhhh, what I said!
Papa Webb would be proud.
She's just an ordinary person with plain looks and no charisma. She will convince nobody, in my opinion, to leave Obama-lama-ding-dong.
Anyone turned on by Chelsea Klinton is not hooked up right.
She does take after her mother in some regards.
8 beers?
She's a shill that deserves no protection from scrutiny and questioning. She's pulling the same $hit her mother and father (?) have consistently done...scripted events, scripted questions, "off-limits" answers, lies, lies and more lies....she IS fair game for the toughest most humiliating questions that could be asked.....no quarter...
I hope Chelsea sends her invoice for services to the campaign.
Frisbees are so last century.
I am sick of family empire politicians. R and D both. This missy scares me.
Much more.
And she’s ugly.
Somebody please ask Chelsea why she did not correct her mom’s lies about the Bosnian fabrication. She was there, heard the poem...and she allowed the campaign’s lieing to continue.
Gag me with a spoon!
ML/NJ
Just as long as she isn’t Hillary’s “nude” weapon. Yuck!
I still can’t get over the bit about Obama rising in the polls, after all that’s happened.
As far as I’m concerned, they could get Beelzebub on the hustings and I’d support him if it meant beating Obama. I’m not kidding. I really believe we’re dealing with the devil here.
Good similarity. I thought for years Janet Reno was her father.
There really should be a law against that kinda weapon.
“When we’re done playing Frisbee golf, we’re all going down to the quad to go streaking, c’mon Chelsea, everyones gonna do it” -Frank The Tank
That really looks like Hillary is smooching Linda Tripp.
Chelsea! Iron Huma’s shirt.
"There's no split - everyone's pretty much for Obama. He's laid back, you can relate to him, but Hillary is too prim and proper and America's not like that any more."
Her boyfriend Sebastian Eichler, 19, interjected: "Hillary's uptight." Chris Bower, 20, said that most students were voting for Mr Obama
November 2008.
AW Man! I would've voted for you dude , but I was to busy blogging.
One more thing. Why isn’t the MSM beating down the door to
find out what Webb thinks of all this? Here, let me prime the pump Webb Hubbell(R. Sing Sing).....
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