Text 22605, 366 rader
Skriven 2006-09-22 19:52:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: The Slickster
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They trot old Bill out to comment on Iraq.  Nice.  They are getting 
desperate.   Their message isn't sticking and if they lose the Iraq 
issue they have nothing left....

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http://www.examiner.com/a-
303482~Meet_the_Next_President__Hillary_Clinton_remains_coy_about_run.ht
ml


WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the most dominant figure in 
the crowded field of Democrats and Republicans mulling a White House bid 
in 2008, is also the coyest about her intentions.


“I am not thinking about that at all,ö the New York Democrat insisted on 
ABC last week. “I know everybody else is and lots of other people are 
saying, ‘Oh, she is, she is,’ but the truth is, I don’t think about it. 
I haven’t made any decision about it because that’s not how I think and 
how I work.ö

Her assertion was seconded by former President Bill Clinton.

“She hasn’t made up her mind, and I know that to be the truth,ö he told 
the network. “We talk about it, and I’ve urged her to think as little 
about it as possible.ö

Pundits find it hard to believe that the only person in the political 
universe who is not contemplating a presidential campaign by Hillary 
Clinton is, well, Hillary Clinton. That’s because when she’s on the 
stump, she sounds very much like someone who is running for president.

“Stand up! Stand up for progressive values and progressive politics!ö 
she exhorted the Take Back America conference in June. “Let’s take back 
the Congress in November and begin our return-to take back our country.ö

With scorching rhetoric, the former first lady implored Democrats to 
counter the “right-wing Washington Republicans who are determined to set 
this country on a disastrous path.ö

“But we’ve got to win elections, or it won’t matter,ö she warned. “We 
have to be smarter, tougher and better-prepared than our opponents. 
Because one thing they do know how to do is win.ö

Actually, Clinton also knows how to win. She was intimately involved in 
her husband’s two successful presidential campaigns and spent eight 
years inside the White House as a hands-on strategist in the daily power 
struggle against Republicans.

“She is a smart person and obviously has got a lot of experience,ö 
President Bush said recently. “It is helpful, to a certain extent, to 
have seen the presidency and presidential campaigns firsthand.ö

After leaving the White House, Clinton defied legions of naysayers by 
winning the Senate seat in New York on her first try. To some extent, 
her years in the Senate have softened the caricature of a first lady who 
once famously claimed to be the victim of a “vast, right-wing 
conspiracy.ö

Though Clinton is rated as 100 percent liberal by Americans for 
Democratic Action, she has attempted to position herself as a moderate. 
For example, she voted to authorize the Iraq war and opposes a specific 
timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.

“I’ve taken a lot of heat from my friends who have said, ‘Please, just 
throw in the towel and say let’s get out by a date certain,’ ö she told 
ABC. “I don’t think that’s responsible.ö

This stance has allowed Democratic rivals such as Sen. John Kerry, Sen. 
Russ Feingold and former Sen. John Edwards to run to the left of Clinton 
by endorsing withdrawal timetables. Some rank-and-file Democrats refuse 
to support Clinton until she does the same, opening a rift that could 
hurt the party’s chances in 2008.

“It would really be crazy if the anti-war element of our party thought 
that the most important thing to do was to beat up on the Democrats, and 
gave the Republicans a free ride,ö an exasperated Bill Clinton told the 
New Yorker. “This deal with Iraq makes me want to throw up. I’m sick and 
tired of being told that if you voted for authorization, you voted for 
the war. It was a mistake, and I would have made it, too.ö

While the former president is willing to call his wife’s vote a 
“mistake,’ she stops short of using the “m-word.ö

“I can only look at what I knew at the time because I don’t think you 
get do-overs in life,ö she told ABC. “I think you have to take 
responsibility and hopefully learn from it and go forward.ö

By contrast, Kerry told The Examiner his vote for the Iraq war was a 
“mistake.ö Edwards told the paper his vote for the war was “wrong.ö

Hillary Clinton was the only Democrat who declined to be interviewed for 
a profile in “Meet the Next President,ö The Examiner’s two-week series 
on White House hopefuls.

“Thank you for both the interest and the opportunity, but Senator 
Clinton remains focused on being the best senator she can be for the 
people of New York,ö said her press secretary, Philippe Reines.

Clinton’s official position is that she’s too busy campaigning for re-
election to her Senate seat in November to contemplate a presidential 
bid. But she is widely expected to win by a landslide in November and is 
sitting on an enormous political war chest that she can spend on a White 
House campaign.

“She’ll have all the money that anyone’s ever wanted to have to run for 
president more than perhaps we can even comprehend,ö said Ark. Gov. Mike 
Huckabee, who is considering his own run for the Republican nomination. 
“It will be sobering, if not staggering.ö

Clinton has tapped the formidable fundraising prowess of Terry 
McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who

could help her raise $100 million or more in 2007 alone. McAuliffe told 
the Hill newspaper this week that he would play a “huge roleö in her 
presidential campaign.

“I was a Girl Scout; I believe in being prepared,ö Clinton said of her 
penchant for fundraising. “I don’t want anybody to take advantage of me, 
or I don’t want anybody to think I’m taking anything for granted.ö 

Such preparations add to the air of invincibility of a Clinton 
nomination. She already holds double-digit leads over all rivals in 
Democratic preference polls.

And yet many Democrats privately fret over whether Clinton is too 
polarizing to win the general election. Some are even beginning to feel 
twinges of “buyer’s remorse.ö

“You do hear people saying, ‘I hope she doesn’t run,’ ö said David 
Yepsen of the Des Moines Register.

When the newspaper polled Democrats on their presidential preferences 
last summer, Clinton was beaten by Edwards, who projects a more upbeat 
persona.

“I still think there’s a possibility that, after she wins re-election, 
she sits down and makes a very cold, methodical assessment of her 
chances,ö Yepsen said. “She is a pretty good politician in that regard.

“And she may conclude: ‘You know, I really couldn’t do this, I couldn’t 
go the distance,’ ö the columnist added. “And so there’s a piece of me 
that says she may not pull the trigger.ö

Some Democrats worry that Bill Clinton will prove a liability to his 
wife’s presidential ambitions by reminding America of his affair with 
White House intern Monica Lewinsky and subsequent impeachment. Others 
say the former president has the singular ability to outshine his wife’s 
political skills.

“Mrs. Clinton may be the only Democrat in America who cannot look at 
Bill Clinton as an unalloyed political asset,ö The New York Times wrote 
in a front-page story in May.

The story raised eyebrows by seeming to hint darkly about the Clintons’ 
marriage. It said they spend a lot of time apart and described “Mr. 
Clinton leaving B.L.T. Steak in Midtown Manhattan late one night after 
dining with a group that included Belinda Stronach, a Canadian 
politician.ö

Hillary Clinton insisted the Times story did not bother her.

“Not at all,ö she told ABC. “I just don’t pay any attention to it; I 
really don’t. My attitude is I have no control over what somebody wants 
to talk about or write about.ö

Bill Clinton told The New Yorker he would be a liability to his wife’s 
presidential bid “only if people thought she wouldn’t be her own person. 
And I don’t think that will be a problem.ö

But even as her own person, Hillary Clinton would almost certainly face 
new questions about old scandals that dogged her during the 1990s.

Yepsen said Iowa Democrats tell him: “I don’t want to replay the Rose 
Law Firm and all that. I don’t want to pick up where we left off at the 
end of Bill Clinton’s presidency.ö

Both Bush and White House political strategist Karl Rove said Hillary 
Clinton will probably win the Democratic primary and then lose the 
general election. Rove said there is a “brittleness about herö that 
diminishes her appeal to voters.

“For somebody who is philosophically very liberal, she’ll be a very 
cautious candidate at times,ö he said. “That cautiousness will serve her 
well a lot of times not always, but a lot of times.ö

Bill Clinton told The New Yorker: “I’m sick of Karl Rove’s bull----.ö 
His wife agreed.

“Maybe because Bill and I have been through so many elections we know 
that Democrats have to fight back that you can’t assume people will see 
through the blizzard of negativity that is the hallmark of modern 
Republican campaigns,ö she told the magazine. “When Democrats don’t 
fight back, I don’t understand it. So that’s been a disappointment to 
me, because of the results that, unfortunately, we’ve been stuck with 
now.ö

If nothing else, Hillary Clinton is a fighter, which helps explain why 
she is so far ahead of the pack at this early stage of the presidential 
sweepstakes.

“The key is that she’s got to convince her own party that she can win a 
general election,ö said Charlie Cook, publisher of Cook Political 
Report. “And it’s a close call right now.ö

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton


1947 » Born in Chicago, daughter of a textile executive


1965 » Graduates from Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois


1969 » Graduates from Wellesley College, Massachusetts


1973 » Graduates from Yale Law School, Connecticut


1975 » Marries Bill Clinton


1976 » Joins Rose Law Firm, Little Rock, Arkansas


1978 » Becomes first lady of Arkansas


1979 » Makes partner


1980 » Daughter Chelsea born


1993 » Becomes first lady of U.S., named chair of health care task force


1996 » Publishes “It Takes a Village (and Other Lessons Children Teach 
Us)ö


1998 » Blames “vast right-wing conspiracyö for allegations that 
President Clinton had affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky


2000 » Elected to U.S. Senate from New York


2003 » Publishes “Living History,ö a memoir


2006 » Runs for re-election to Senate


Clinton’s positions on the issues

Abortion 

Rated 100 percent pro-choice by NARAL Pro-Choice America; zero percent 
pro-life by National Right to Life.


Civil rights 

“We owe an apology to African-Americans for hundreds of years of 
slavery.ö


Gay marriage 

Voted against constitutional ban. “We ought to be providing domestic 
partnership benefits for people who are in homosexual and lesbian 
relationships,ö she told CNN.


Iraq 

Supported the invasion; opposes a withdrawal timetable; criticizes 
shortcomings in President Bush’s post-Saddam plans.


Poverty 

Ties the minimum wage to congressional salaries. No more increases for 
Congress until we raise the minimum wage.


Taxes 

Wants to raise taxes on upper-income earners. Rated 5 percent by 
conservative Americans for Tax Reform.


Americans for Democratic Action rating (2005) 

100 percent liberal.


American Conservative Union rating (2005) 

9 percent conservative.


What observers are saying


David Yepsen

Political columnist 

Des Moines Register

Pro - She sucks all the oxygen out of the room, she eclipses everybody 
else. Her biggest asset is that rock-star status.


Con - She's a polarizing figure. Every Democrat that I talk to says 
something like this: ‘I like Hillary Clinton, but.’ ö


Charlie Cook

Editor 

Cook Political Report

PRO » “She is very, very smart, articulate, smooth. In the last few 
years, she has become a polished performer. She can turn on the charm.ö


CON » “She has to overcome her caricature from the 1990s, and she can 
never be 100 percent successful at that.ö


Larry Sabato 

Political scientist, University of Virginia

PRO » “An enormous financial advantage plus the invaluable benefits of 
White House experience.ö


CON » “The most divisive candidate in either party, polarizing the 
nation with her liberal image and cold persona. Bill Clinton is also a 
double-edged sword because people know he will be moving back into the 
White House — with less to do.ö



After studying the polls, consulting the handicappers and interviewing 
the candidates themselves, The Examiner has winnowed a list of some 30 
potential presidential contenders down to 10. The result is Meet the 
Next President, a two-week series of in-depth profiles of the 10 people 
most likely to become the next leader of the free world. It's a behind-
the-scenes look at Democrats and Republicans, liberals and 
conservatives, front-runners and dark horses in the 2008 presidential 
sweepstakes - even before the 2006 midterms have been decided. With 
presidential campaigns starting earlier each election cycle, why wait?

bsammon@dcexaminer.com


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