"Is it too late for Hillary -- Time"

[Botany]

By fighting Clinton to a draw on "Super Tuesday" Obama won .... Hillary didn't have
any organization ready to go after that.


http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1713270,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

This is not the race that Clinton thought she would be running. Her campaign was built on inevitability, a haughty operation so confident it would have the nomination wrapped up by now that it didn't even put a field organization in place for the states that were to come after the megaprimary on Feb. 5.

Clinton's positions, most notably her support for the Iraq invasion and her refusal to recant that vote, were geared more to battling a Republican in the general election than to winning over an angry Democratic base clamoring for change. Not until last fall did she seem to acknowledge that she faced opposition in the Democratic primaries, so focused was her message on George W. Bush and the GOP.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the victory podium at the Democratic National Convention. While Clinton was busy running as a pseudo incumbent, Obama donned the mantle of change and built a fund-raising and ground operation that has proved superior to hers by almost every measure. As a veteran of Democratic presidential campaigns who is not affiliated with any candidate this time around puts it, the Clinton forces "get to every state later. They spend less. They don't get the best people."

And now Obama is making inroads with every Democratic constituency, including the ones that Clinton counted as hers. In deeply Democratic Maryland, for instance, Obama won rural voters, union households, white men, independents, African Americans and young people, and held his own among Hispanics — the makings of a broad and tough-to-overcome coalition. Obama's campaign now claims a 136-vote lead among pledged delegates, those elected through primaries and caucuses. "We believe that it's next to impossible for Senator Clinton to close the delegate count," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters the morning after the Potomac primaries.

[Perry Logan]

1. Thank God. We can put the nutcrackers away.

[Bucky]

10. Damn, and just when I was starting to form calluses

[Unsane]

12. Go make another bizarre video about it.

[susankh4]

2. Obama's "inevitability" may not be good for him....

Just like Hillary's was not good for her.

If I were Obama I wouldn't want this kinda stuff being out there.

As a Hillary supporter I rejoice in it. Esp. as we inch up on Ohio... where frontrunners are historically not embraced.

[tekisui]

4. I agree. Inevitable should be a no-go word. It only hurts a campaign.

[Botany]

5. What "stuff?"

That Obama had plans and organization for post super tuesday and Clinton
had nothing?

[Hepburn]

3. Thank gawd she is failing. IMO, if we nominated her....

...we are making sure that McCain will win.

[ClintonTyree]

6. I feel the same way.....

about Obama. If he is the Democratic candidate for President we've just given the Republicans at least 4 more years in the White House. Bookmark this post and see if I'm correct. I just can't see Obama standing up to the withering attacks that WILL come from the right-wing attack machine. He may be the darling of the media right now, but when it comes to a one-on-one with the Republican contender they'll turn on him faster than you can say, "gotcha".

I have no "hope" that Obama can beat McCain in November.

[AlertLurker]

8. Right on the money AGAIN.

If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, he will go down in flames in the first debate with McCain.

[Iktomiwicasa]

22. That bright and articulate young man will mop the floor

with the creaky old bastard when they debate.

[AlertLurker]

23. Obama may need to be "flown by wire" - a la Shrub in 2004.

Obama's been great with prepared speeches in presentation format. He's an awesome performer/communicator in a public venue. He is able to articulate his position with a lot of passion, he reads audiences very well and stays on topic.

The problem is that, in the past, he has debated somewhat like a six-year old in ESL class: Stumbling, fumbling, bumbling for the answer, going off-topic and having to forget about his innate creativity in a search for the correct words. It seems to be very difficult for him to project the obvious passion you see (and hear, and feel!) in his public appearances and encapsulate his positions into the concise talking points required for a debate format.

I sincerely hope that if he DOES end up in a GE debate with McCain, he prepares adequately and is able to properly communicate his message quickly and concisely. This has not always been the case in the past, but if he is able to do it, he will, as you say, almost certainly "mop the floor with the creaky old bastard!"

[Hepburn]

15. So, this is why all the polls show Obama doing better against...

McCain than Hillary does? So what is your excuse...er...explanation for this? Some conspiracy theory?

:eyes:

[ClintonTyree]

16. Please, bet your life on polls....

you'll be dead within a week. Polls mean nothing. In anonymity of a voting booth people make decisions quite differently than in phone or on-line polls. People that swear they'll vote for Obama in a poll could, and probably will, do something completely different within the solitude of a voting booth.

[Hepburn]

17. Nice excuse...ALL the polls are wrong and Hillary is the one...

...who really does better against McCain! Care to explain the ACTUAL results of the last few primaries wherein Obama beat the hell out of Clinton in certain demographic groups which she should have been way ahead? Is that a product also of people saying one thing in public and doing something else in a voting booth??

LOL....:rofl:

[ClintonTyree]

18. Those were Democrats....

in small population states in a PRIMARY. Do you really think Obama will carry the combined popular vote in all of those states with just a pocket full of hope as his only weapon? :eyes: Dream on, Obamatons. That's all you have, dreams and hope.

[Hepburn]

19. Ummmmmmmm....are your aware that there were some open primaries, too?

Sooooooo...what's the excuse here? The Reps and Indies are crossing over and voiting in the Dem primary to pick the weakest candidate?

You know, spin it any way you wish, but if Hillary is the nominee in Nomvember, the Dems will lose for sure to McCain. With Obama, there is a good chance for the Dems to capture the WH.


Edit to add: I am NOT for Obama so much as I am against Hillary. So knock off the name calling, OK?

[City Lights]

7. The last thing we need is another president who values loyalty above

anything else.

Gone is campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, the former scheduler whose primary qualification seemed to be her long history with the candidate. Some of Clinton's closest advisers had argued against putting Doyle in such a high-wire role, but it was a characteristic move for a candidate who, like Bush, is known to value personal trust and loyalty above all other virtues.

The installation of Doyle as campaign manager was also a reflection of the Clintons' confidence in their political instincts, say those who have worked with them. So convinced were they of their superiority at charting a course to November that they were looking, first and foremost, for subalterns who would carry it out without question or challenge.

Heckuva job, Doyleie.

[GumboYaYa]

9. No, no, no...it can not be bad campaign strategy that sank her...it is misogyny....

I bet a man wrote that article.

[Bucky]

14. Clinton certainly didn't have bad strategy. She's an excellent campaign tactician.

There's hardly even a "problem" there at all, strategy-wise. That would be like an Olympic silver medalist blaming the color of her shoe strings. She's an incredibly talented, hard-working, and smart politician. She simply arrived at a time when the country was looking for something else. The fact that she's competing so well against the "change" tide speaks volumes about her talent.

[GumboYaYa]

20. I have to disagree.

She clearly has no ground game in Wisconsin and doesn't seem to be doing much to build one. The massive blowouts in the last few states are also products of having no ground game. Running out of money when the campaign is at its most critical juncture...how is that good strategy?

She tried the same tactic that Howard Drean tried...roll it up early and knockout the competition. When the knockout blow fails, it is a big problem if you spent all your money on advertising in early states and not building a field operation in the states down the line. Clinton had the advantage of a built in field operation in some of the big machine type states so she has held on longer than Dean did, but it seems almost inevitable now that she will be outlasted by Obama.

She trained for the 100 meters and ended up having to run a marathon.

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. GOOD, because she seemed to be the only person in the room who didn't realize

that Bush wasn't running this year.

If she wanted to challenge Bush so much, she should have run in 2004.

But then again, she probably figured she couldn't beat out Kerry.

[Bucky]

13. It may be too late for Hillary Time, but it's never too late for Miller Time.

Maybe I shoulda gone with Hammer Time.

[Raffi Ella]

21. Too late?hah,No.

Even if Obama sweeps the rest of all the states he still won't have enough delegates - Neither will Hillary if she sweeps.

I saw on CNN last night that unless one or the other sweeps all the rest of the States by 70+ % margins then there is no way either can get enough delegates to declare victory.

This is going to convention,bet on it.And with Hillary having the experience and knowledge and skill behind her I can't imagine but that the Party will hand her this all too important G.E.

I have to admit though that I am liking Obama followers thinking he has this.Being the 'under dog' is not a bad thing ya' know. :)