While the other presidential candidates in both parties take aim
at her, Hillary Clinton takes aim at President George W. Bush.
Judging from Sunday night’s Republican debate, and the criticisms coming from Democrats, right now the presidential race is mostly about Hillary Clinton. Whose birthday is this week. She turns 60 on October 26th. Look for the glitterati of New York and LA to have a field day.
George W. Bush, with near record levels of unpopularity, scarcely gets a mention these days from the Republicans seeking to replace him. But the wife of his Democratic predecessor certainly does. Even resurgent Russia, target of some recycled Cold War rhetoric, gets more mention.
The Republican race is in a phase in which the leading candidates are trying to shore up appeals to more conservative elements in the Republican base vote. The effort comes with most of the top candidates having shaky bona fides in that regard. Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have both been moderate to liberal on social and other issues, and Giuliani hasn’t changed his positions. John McCain has been more consistently conservative, except on immigration, campaign finance, and the environment, but he’s faded from his leadership position. Fred Thompson has under-wowed as a candidate. Mike Huckabee stirs the hearts of social conservatives with his traditional views on their issues, but hasn’t been able to raise money.
Rudy Giuliani, who has done the best in the Republican debates, told a conference of social conservatives on Saturday in Washington not to fear him. He would appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, he said, seeking common ground by citing his devout Catholic schoolboy past. But he didn’t back away from his pro-choice stance, and scored rival Mitt Romney for changing his positions.
Last night’s debate in Florida was the first big event since the candidates appeared Friday and Saturday before a conference of social conservatives in Washington. Mike Huckabee was the favorite of the crowd. Mitt Romney narrowly won a straw poll. Fred Thompson reportedly disappointed, and finished fourth in the straw poll. Rudy Giuliani tried to assuage concerns without changing his views.
So the candidates are attacking one another, and promising to be the best to go after Hillary. Who simply drives many Republicans wild. Which makes it a good strategy to try to stir up Republican voters, who polls show are much less satisfied with their candidates than are the Democrats.
With Clinton in the lead, her Democratic rivals are going after her, too. Which makes sense, as we learned last week that she has the most money.
We’re learning more about the campaign finance picture in the presidential race. The Democratic candidates are in much better shape than their Republican counterparts. In the vital area of cash on hand, Hillary Clinton leads on the Democratic side while Rudy Giuliani leads on the Republcian side.
On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani has $11.2 million cash on hand to Mitt Romney’s $9.2 million, Fred Thompson’s $7.1 million, and John McCain’s $3.5 million. The libertarian Texas Congressman Ron Paul, an asterisk in the polls, has $5.4 million.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has $35 million to Barack Obama’s $32 million, John Edwards’ $10 million, and Bill Richardson’s $5 million.
Edwards is going after Hillary for ties to lobbyists, and is expanding his attack now to her questionable fundraising, notably to date from the Asian-American community. Her campaign has already had to return $850,000 raised by disgraced political fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is suspected of using straw man contributors to launder money into campaigns. Now it looks like many of her Asian contributors in New York are questionable as well.
Meanwhile, for her part, Hillary is campaigning against Bush, launching a new TV ad campaign called “Trapdoor,” arguing that Bush and the Republicans have brought a new era of economic insecurity to America.
She’s continuing her theme of change, which she’s done a good job of at least partially coopting from Obama and Edwards, by emphasizing her standing as the first major woman candidate.
And this week she spends several days campaigning in the West, a major opportunity area for Democrats, going up and down the West Coast and hitting Nevada and Colorado. She has some general election problems in the Mountain West, which her campaign wants to begin to address.
Giuliani will continue his emphasis on Florida, a key early state now for Republicans — though not for Democrats, who are honoring Democratic rules against its move into the first group of contests — and Thompson is spending two days there to try to cut into Giuliani’s lead there.
All the Republican candidates are likely to participate in a senior citizens forum in Iowa. …
You can read the rest of Monday Morning Quarterback on PJ Media.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
Read 
| Comments (0) |
Good ad for Hillary. She is strong.
I would like summit between Presidents Clinton and Putin.
I would like summit between Presidents Clinton and Putin.
Hillary is kicking some b—. lol
Where else would the Republicans be then at a seniors forum?
A little mean there.
She’s doing very well. She’s really improved since I saw her at the first Nevada forum in February.
>Ann :
Hillary is kicking some b—. lol
Oct 22, 2007 07:45 AM
Perhaps with Premier Putin. Although it may be much the same thing.
>sergei :
I would like summit between Presidents Clinton and Putin.
Oct 22, 2007 06:43 AM
Sorry folks, but I can’t think about Hillary and foreign policy without a visual of her convicted advisor Sandy Berger — “Hey, are those top secret documents detailing the Clinton Administration’s failures to address global terrorism in your pants or are you just glad to see me?”
Breathtaking hubris. If this stunning lack of judgment becomes a campaign issue next year, will the Democratic Party machine call it “Swiftboating’?
KK, what did the Bush Justice Dept. do with the Sandy Berger case?
KK, what did the Bush Justice Dept. do with the Sandy Berger case?
Right Wing Religious Conservative dont want a Liberal woman in charge.
They are willing to kill her to make sure it does not happen in Pakistan. What will the GOP do in the US if Hillary Clinton gets into office?
Read the story…
http://www.hotconflict.com/blog/2007/10/right-wing-cons.html
Whose that Giuliani guy whose a big crook? Kerreck?
I believe Berger was fined $50k, placed on probation for two years and stripped of his security clearance. I am sure you can confirm this on Hillary’s campaign website, where they are no doubt proud of their best and brightest advisors.
Imagine the strategy meeting where Hillary decides to empty a full clip into her foot — “Aww, don’t worry, the voters will forget about the destroying classified documents thing before election time.”
In tennis, its called an unforced error.
I like the “trap door” message a lot, but the delivery in the ad is clumsy.
Agreed on the latter point.
Not sure about your numbers. Am sure that the Bush Justice Dept. left it as a misdemeanor violation. Berger has no official role in the Clinton campaign, which is not short on advisors.
>Kandy Kid :
I believe Berger was fined $50k, placed on probation for two years and stripped of his security clearance. I am sure you can confirm this on Hillary’s campaign website, where they are no doubt proud of their best and brightest advisors.
That’s actually Bernard Kerik. He was one of Rudy Giuliani’s closest confidantes, a former bodyguard/driver who the mayor made New York’s police commissioner.
He was his business partner after leaving office and his suggested pick as Bush’s Secretary for Homeland Security. But with his nomination by the president, all sorts of things came out.
>Ann :
Whose that Giuliani guy whose a big crook? Kerreck?
Oct 22, 2007 10:00 AM
Incidentally, as someone who’s now doing a lot of recording of interstitial cues, the guy doing the key voiceover in Hillary’s ad has the wrong voice and is way too rushed.
The voiceover work is the most glaring problem with that ad. It’s actually jarring. Which is too bad, because the actual message is quiet good. I think “trap door” can tie into the lowering consumer confidence and zeitgeist of economic uncertainty more than citing actual economic data. Hopefully she won’t drum it to death like Gore did with “lock box.” God that was bad.
The voiceover work is the most glaring problem with that ad. It’s actually jarring. Which is too bad, because the actual message is quiet good. I think “trap door” can tie into the lowering consumer confidence and zeitgeist of economic uncertainty more than citing actual economic data. Hopefully she won’t drum it to death like Gore did with “lock box.” God that was bad.
When you’re saying something transitional that’s also making the point, you have to be calm, measured, and strong.
When you’re saying something transitional that’s also making the point, you have to be calm, measured, and strong.
Point well made. Want to make a couple grand re-dubbing that ad?
That would be a conflict of interest.
Ah, still giving free advice to candidates. Where I’m from, that’s called a “broken business model.”
You’ll be interested in a mid-day item.
Now that you’re a part of the education system, maybe you can answer that age-old question: Is our children learning?
I don’t have anything to do with undergrads.
But a friend of mine does. He’s amused to have his journalism students take quizzes on current events.
And fail spectacularly!
How bad is it?
Let’s just say that it’s much easier to get right answers on the question of who is the governor of California than it used to be …
Incidentally, NWN passed 42,000 comments sometime in the past week.
Incidentally, NWN passed 42,000 comments sometime in the past week.