I'll tell you exactly what happened to Hillary Clinton...

[CoffeeCat]

I live in Iowa and I had the opportunity to experience each campaign, up close and personal.
We know how fortunate we are, with our "first in the nation" position. Candidates hang out
here for weeks, and we get to see the whites of their eyes. I was close enough to Joe Biden,
to see that he was wearing a cashmere sweater. Any Iowan who wants to meet all of the
candidates--and even ask them questions--has that opportunity.

When the candidates began campaigning, I assumed--like most people in our country--that Hillary would
be the nominee and Edwards would run a competitive campaign in Iowa.

I watched these campaigns closely and it became clear--very early in the game--
that Obama and Edwards ran citizen-oriented campaigns--which micro-targeted people
and small groups with their detailed plans. Obama and Edwards furiously criss crossed
Iowa, meeting with small groups and answering individual questions as they stopped at
local restaurants, hospitals and bars.

I watched as Obama's and Edward's frantic schedules attracted very little media attention.
Meeting with ten farmers in Albia or a small group of nurses in Dubuque, didn't exactly attract
the CNN satellite trucks. However, those stops were impacting people--voters.

Hillary's large speeches in Iowa's biggest cities did attract the satellite trucks. This
created a distorted exaggeration of Hillary's impact and missed the invisible--yet powerful--
strides of Obama and Edwards.

I could almost feel the invisible undercurrents. Voters walked away from Hillary's large speeches
feeling like they didn't know her. Her campaign felt orchestrated and overly
managed. She wasn't winning voters, but her high-profile events gave the impression that
she was. Obama and Edwards were engaging voters--but without the glare of the spotlight.

Hillary stopped taking questions in Iowa, but not before some very egregious blunders.

At a rally in Newton, Iowa- a college student revealed that a Clinton staffer approached her, and said, "Would
you like to ask Hillary a question?" After agreeing, the college student reported that the Clinton staffer
circled an "environmental" question that had the words "college student" written next to it. With dozens of
hands raised in the audience, Hillary called on this student and Hillary's response to this question
began with, "Thank you for your question...college students often ask me this question..."

This college student couldn't believe what just happened and she came forward. The Hillary campaign
denied this and insisted it was an anomaly. Hillary staffers insisted that the college student not speak
to anyone about this incident. Two days later another Iowan came forward with a similar story--describing the
same notebook full of questions and a Clinton staffer prompting her.

(Full story on this event: http://web.grinnell.edu/sandb/questions.html

During a Hillary rally in Davenport, Iowa--a man asked her about Kyl/Lieberman. She became defensive.
In front of the entire crowd, she accused the man of "reading something that someone else sent to you".

(Full story on this event: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/07/clintons_iran_vote_prompts_a_h.html )

Hillary stopped taking questions for a long time, after these incidents.

Many Iowans were put off by Hillary's actions--as Obama and Edwards continued to build meaningful relationships
with Iowans.

My phone was filled with a constant stream of phone calls from Obama, Edwards, Biden and Richardson. I was
invited to events, speeches and town-hall meetings, daily. I rarely heard from the Clinton campaign.
As caucus-day approached, I attended an Obama house party and received emails and friendly visits from
Edwards and Obama canvassers. Their ground games were like nothing I've ever seen--and I've experienced
many campaigns as they roll through Iowa.

Meanwhile, Hillary had to fire a few staffers. One of her Iowa Directors was fired for sending out
"Obama is a Muslim" emails. The "Obama drug" stories began circulating through her paid staffers--both
nationally and in Iowa.

Hillary appeared to rely on impersonal events and dirty tricks. When Bob Kerry announced his endorsement
of Hillary, he said, "I can't wait for Hillary to run against Barack Hussein Obama!". It was like fingernails
on a chalkboard and it was so obvious. Kerrey later apologized profusely for the remarks.

Hillary did land the endorsement of the Des Moines Register, the local unions and our popular ex--governor
and DLCer--Tom Vilsack. Iowa's political apparatus carried Hillary--right over the heads of Iowa voters.

Hillary's polls began declining, while Obama's popularity rose and Edwards maintained second-place status. I heard two
high-level Iowa Democratic party officials--on a local radio program--speaking about Clinton's tanking "internals."

It's rare for anyone outside of a campaign to hear about "internals"--highly accurate polls that campaigns
guard vociferously. Those numbers were not supposed to be revealed, but they were a glaring symptom of Hillary's
arrogant and impersonal campaign.

In response to her sagging polls, Hillary launched a week-long, "Get To Know Hillary" press event.
Showcasing an entourage of Hillary girlfriends, former teachers and college pals, Hillary toured the Iowa
countryside. Her preschool teachers gushed about what a nice person Hillary was, and her friends talked about what
a good listener she had been. It was like watching someone run for national Prom Queen. Breaking the
absurdity ceiling, Hillary just happened to spot her previous Sunday School teacher--standing in the Iowa
crowd, "Is that you? Oh my gosh!", Hillary cried. A tearful, "coincidental" reunion occurred with the
cameras rolling. This went on for days.

Hillary's campaign then went PT Barnum, by announcing their new "Hillocopter" event! Hillary spoke on a
tarmac, and ended the event by flying away in her campaign-coined "Hillocopter". At this point, I wasn't
sure if Iowa was still a state or the site of a three-ringed circus. When her campaign promised me a
cute "Hillary Coffee Mug" if I returned a signed pledge card to the campaign--I knew that we had gone
down the rabbit hole and taken a left into some bizarre political game show--complete with cheap parting gifts.

Outside the circus tent, support swelled for Obama and Edwards. Their rallies grew and so did excitement for
their ideas, plans and call for "change". Hillary Clinton hadn't mentioned the word "change" in Iowa. Those
tiny dots on the map--where Obama and Edwards visited--were now connected and galvanized into a series of blowout
rallies. They had won over Iowans--one by one--and now those loyal supporters coalesced at record-turnout events.

Their ground games drilled down into individual precincts, neighborhoods and households. Now, when
the Obama and Edwards campaigns called me, we were on a first-name basis and they knew how my husband
was voting, the ages and names of my children and that my main concerns were Habeas Corpus, corporate
corruption, torture and illegal wiretaps.

After much research and a call from Obama himself (while I was decorating Christmas cookies), I agreed to
be a precinct captain for Obama and caucus for him. The Clinton campaign called me the night before the
caucus "to see if I had any questions". Needless to say, I didn't.

The soul of these campaigns played out, in technicolor, in Iowa. Edwards and Obama respected that voters
were thirsty for accessible, honest candidates and meaningful dialog. Iowans received those things in spades
from the Obama and Edwards campaigns. Touting her "inevitability", Hillary not only underestimated the power
of the people--she discounted it and put her faith in gimmicks, dirty tricks her political machinery.

If you want to know what happened to Hillary---it happened "on day one" of her campaign--and you need to look no
further than Iowa. On the wrong track "from day one", Hillary's campaign maneuvered around "We The People"; while
Obama and Edwards coalesced an honest, open relationship with "We The People".