Hillary Clinton, Nominee in Waiting

Depending on how things go a year from now, we may look back on the past two weeks as a similar pivot point in Hillary Clinton’s quest for the White House. That was quite a gantlet Mrs. Clinton negotiated, lasting one day longer than her husband’s July sprint 23 years ago. It began on October 13 at the Democrats’ first presidential debate in Las Vegas, continued a week later at Hillary’s old domicile at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where Vice President Joe Biden took himself out of the running, and ended nine days after the Vegas debate in the crucible of the House Select Committee hearing on Benghazi.

At the first debate, Clinton’s closest challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, voluntarily took Clinton’s email scandal off the table and ended up exchanging a high-five with her over it. In so doing, Sanders essentially capitulated: The Clintons’ secret email system symbolizes Bill and Hillary character flaws—Hillary’s is her only real point of vulnerability—and Sanders said he doesn’t want to talk about it. That translates into not really wanting to challenge her for primacy in the Democratic Party.

Neither did former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who’s apparently running for vice president, or perhaps a post in Clinton’s cabinet. James Webb and Lincoln Chafee, the other two men on the stage, were barely there. They were so outclassed that they quit the race afterwards. Chafee, who had pronounced himself a “block of granite” during the debate, sank like a stone. Webb was so unnerved by the experience he’s leaving the Democratic Party.

That left Joe Biden as the last real barrier to Clinton. But the vice president, with President Obama by his side, announced Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden that he’d run out of time to challenge the Clinton machine. He didn’t put it quite like that; he didn’t discuss the dynamics of the race at all. But Biden seems to have made Bernie Sanders’ same calculation: truly running against the Clintons means not only invoking Benghazi and the email controversy, but also employing phrases and images such as “transparency” and “trust”—and perhaps even “impeachment”—and discussing the $150 million the Clintons have pocketed from book sales and speaking fees since arriving in Washington in 1992. The Clintons always dish out as much as they take, and usually more, so using those tactics necessarily means taking incoming fire, too. Joe Biden wanted no part of it.

The last stop in Hillary Clinton’s tour was the House Ways and Means Committee hearing room in the Longworth House Office Building. There, Mrs. Clinton held her ground against waves of kamikaze Republicans trying to sink her ship. They didn’t come close. Moreover, what those hearings showed, coming in the wake of Biden’s demurral and Bernie Sanders’ docility, is that Hillary appears to be on the verge of inheriting a unified Democratic Party. This is unlike the environment in 2008 when the party was split between Clinton and Obama factions. It is reminiscent instead of 1992.


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/10/25/hillary_clinton_nominee_in_waiting_128540.html

Bernie: 'I Don't Know That a Man Would Be Treated The Same Way That Hillary Is'

From August, 2015:

Washington (CNN)Bernie Sanders is battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination -- but he's defending her trustworthiness, saying the former secretary of state is facing "sexist" criticism.

"I think for a variety of reasons, Hillary Clinton has been under all kinds of attack for many, many years. In fact, I can't think of many personalities who have been attacked for more reasons than Hillary Clinton. And by the way, let me be frank and I'm running against her: Some of it is sexist," Sanders, the Vermont senator, said Sunday in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."

His comments come as Clinton pays a political price -- reflected in polling results that show a majority of Americans say she's not honest and trustworthy -- for her use of a personal email address on a private server during her tenure as America's top diplomat, and her family foundation's acceptance of foreign contributions during that period.

Sanders said he's focused on issues like trade and Wall Street reform, and doesn't plan to lodge the same kinds of complaints about Clinton's personal style that many Republican presidential contenders have.

"I don't know that a man would be treated the same way that Hillary is," Sanders said. "So all that I can say is I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I admire her. I respect her. I like her. She and I have very different points of view on a number of issues."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/politics/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-sexist-criticism/

Can Bernie Sanders's Reddit Army Get Organized?

Reddit can foster close communities, but when its forums reach a certain size, they can also turn heated—and fast. The question for the Sanders movement is how to channel the best of Reddit—the friendly groups of like-minded nerds—without falling prey to its pitfalls. How do you turn the denizens of one of the most unruly corners of the Internet into a focused fighting force?

That question became pressing after the first Democratic debate aired on CNN in mid-October. When pundits everywhere hailed Clinton as the winner, and others (myself included) argued that Sanders had fallen short, the subreddit and every other social media channel went crazy with allegations that media was in the bag for Hillary Clinton. "Bernie wins EVERY poll yet CORPORATE MEDIA declares Hillary the winner !!!" one Sanders fan told me. “Are you blind or just bought? Grow a pair and admit the truth,” another wrote to Slate's Josh Voorhees. Conspiracy theories rapidly proliferated, alleging that major outlets were deliberately undercutting Sanders by suppressing favorable poll numbers and deleting pro-Bernie comments. “We have an explicit example of the corruption of money in politics," one Redditor wrote last week. "Time Warner is a top donor of Hillary Clinton and they own CNN, and CNN is censoring Bernie Sanders to alter his message."

The outcry prompted its own backlash among the forum’s users. “My fellow Berners," a Redditor wrote last week. "We need to chillax on the media conspiracy accusations. We are coming off like lunatics."

“Guys, if every damn thing that doesn't fit into praise for Bernie is going to be shouted down as a great big conspiracy, we are doomed,” another wrote. “This is absurd! Tone it down and accept it is a political race or we’re going to wind up under the bridge with Ron Paul's supporters.”

The post-debate episode raised alarms for Aidan King, a 23-year-old Vermonter who co-founded the subreddit with David Fredrick in December 2013, long before Sanders announced his candidacy. The debate backlash pushed campaign organizing for Bernie—which was the subreddit's original focus—to the margins. “It was distracting—it dominated the discussion to the point where if someone wanted to go out and talk about their experience putting up flyers they'd only receive five upvotes,” says King, referring to the site's system for users to rate posts.



http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123199/can-bernie-sanderss-reddit-army-get-organized

Happy Birthday, Hillary Clinton

In high-end politics, what we need to know is less about calendar years than staying power. Marco Rubio keeps talking about “generational change,” but he seems to have less energy than a koala. (Koalas sleep 18-22 hours a day. I am bringing this up so you can’t say I never teach you anything.) Really, where is that man? He hardly seems to be campaigning and he misses nearly half the Senate votes. Pre-millennials, is this the guy you want representing you?

Meanwhile, Clinton wowed the country with her endurance during this week’s Benghazi hearing. If we remember the House Select Committee on Benghazi at all, it will be as the folks who gave Hillary a chance to demonstrate her staying power. Even accounting for breaks, 11 hours of questioning must be close to some kind of record.

“Yoga always helps,” Clinton said as she departed.

She is — except for the part about yoga — a throwback to the first era of American public women, people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who came into their own in late middle age. Stanton, who like Clinton had an ability to make herself nap at will, kept promising the impatient Anthony that when her kids grew old enough to fend for themselves it would be exactly the right time for their great campaign for equal rights. “We shall not be in our prime before fifty, and after that, we shall be good for twenty years at least,” she assured Anthony. Actually, both of them were good for quite a bit longer, and still giving speeches at 80. Justice Ginsburg has a picture of Stanton in her Supreme Court office.

Clinton will be having a birthday party on Sunday in New York, and naturally it will be a fund-raiser. That sounds like the worst possible way to celebrate, but if there’s anything we know at this point, it’s that she can take the stress.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/opinion/happy-birthday-hillary-clinton.html?_r=0

Well, I'm calling this one for Hillary

She's bringing the house down. She's on a red hot streak lately.

Hillary: 'I'm running as a proud DEMOCRAT'

Sanders’ supporters could doom his campaign

Most folks who will vote in the primary already have a history of voting. A well-run campaign would start from a list of registered Democrats who have voted before. Signing up new voters is good, but it is a lower-yield endeavor. The core task is to deliver Sanders’ message in person to folks who are likely to vote, exactly as Sanders has done himself for decades.

As time passed, the size of the group grew, but its sophistication did not. They identified seven action areas, none of which would have supporters leaving their comfort zone to speak face-to-face with likely voters who might disagree with them. Is their desire to see Sanders elected enough to get them to cut their hair, shave their beards, dress neatly and master talking points? They will do street theater, and some will write letters to the editor. But going door-to-door or cold-calling Democrats is absent from their agenda.

For $76, I purchased the Lane County voter rolls with voters’ history of participation and wrote a program to generate walking lists that Sanders supporters could use to visit likely Democratic voters. It appears I wasted my time and money.

The local Sanders group behaves like a protest movement. This is not surprising, because before Sanders entered the race many of these folks viewed electoral politics as evil. I recognize some of them from the Occupy movement. Others are young and new to this. Sadly, the group operates in a hermetically sealed bubble, rejecting experience, expertise and education. This behavior crippled Occupy, which failed to expand its ranks or to effect significant and lasting change.

For example, street theater, which is popular with alternative types, is a negative for many people who vote. Their announcements say to go to Facebook to find meeting times and locations. Folks with a history of voting tend not to frequent Facebook. As with Occupy, many people are unlikely to function well in a group where meeting dynamics dominate over productive work. Many who might contribute turn away or are turned away.

If other Sanders groups around the country are similar, he has no chance. If, like Sanders, these groups go door-to-door to communicate the candidate’s message to voters, President Bernie is a real possibility.


http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/33627704-78/sanders-supporters-could-doom-his-campaign.html.csp

David Plouffe sends email endorsing Hillary.

During the most intense days of the 2008 primary, while I was serving as the Obama campaign manager, I would never have imagined writing this email.

But eight years later, I believe Hillary Clinton should -- and will -- be our next president. She will make an outstanding and worthy successor to President Obama. She will do big and important things -- and we will all look back and be proud of whatever we did to help elect her.

Be a part of this by chipping in $1 right now.

Here’s what I (and so many fellow Obama campaign veterans) have learned about Hillary Clinton:

She doesn’t quit -- and there were times I wish she had! But you have to deeply admire that strength and persistence. From her job at the Children’s Defense Fund to her work as First Lady of the United States, as a U.S. Senator for New York, and as the Secretary of State, she’s been working everyday to make people’s lives better.

You won’t find anyone in this race more determined than Hillary to make sure every single American has a fair shot to live up to their potential. There is no one more prepared, more diligent, or more ready with detailed plans for how to make it happen.

Hillary will protect President Obama’s legacy -- and like President Obama before her, she will make history. I look forward to the day my daughter, who was born a little more than 48 hours after the glorious scene in Grant Park in 2008, will know just as well as my son that she can grow up to be anything she wants, even president of the United States.

The stakes in this election are enormous. The difference between Hillary and a Trump, Carson, or Rubio could not be more profound. Once again, we need a president who understands the challenges we face -- someone who can and will do something about it.

Hillary Clinton is that leader. And if we step up to fight alongside her, she’ll be the next president of the United States. Chip in $1 to help make it happen:

Randall, donate $1

Go win this thing, Madam Secretary.

Sincerely,

David Plouffe

See? I told you Trump would not be the nominee.

In interviews this week, Mr. Trump insisted he was in the race to win, and took aim at “troublemakers” in the news media who, he said, were misrepresenting his remarks. “I’m never getting out,” he insisted Friday on MSNBC.

Mr. Trump keeps noting that he still leads in every major Republican poll and is in a political position that others would envy, and he says he will spend the money to keep his candidacy alive. But he conceded in another interview: “To me, it’s all about winning. I want to win — whereas a politician doesn’t have to win because they’ll just keep running for office all their life.”

He said he had not contemplated a threshold for what would cause him to get out of the race. And he noted that his crowds were even larger than those of Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is drawing thousands to rallies in seeking the Democratic nomination.

While Mr. Trump still leads major national polls and surveys in early voting states, that lead has recently shrunk nationally, and the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed his support eroding in New Hampshire, the first primary state. His recent comments have lent credence to the views of political observers who had long believed the perennially self-promoting real estate mogul would ultimately not allow himself to face the risk of losing.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/us/politics/donald-trump-presidential-race.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

Iowa poll shows Sanders vulnerable on gun issue.

Sanders has climbed steadily in every Iowa Poll this year: 5 percent in January, 15 percent in May, 24 percent in June, 35 percent in August and 41 percent now.

On one potential concern for Sanders, his self-label as a “democratic socialist,” 81 percent are not bothered.

However, the new poll shows he's vulnerable to one corrosive criticism.

“Sanders has a big problem, and it’s guns, not socialism,” pollster J. Ann Selzer said.

Sixty percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers say they feel less supportive of Sanders because he has voted against waiting periods and background checks for gun buyers, positions that were highlighted in the debate. Three-quarters of Clinton voters say his gun stances undermine their support for him, and 46 percent of his own voters agree they're troubling.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/10/22/iowa-poll-clinton-up-7-but-gap-tightens/74306980/