How Hillary could tank. the top 10 reasons why Clinton could dive.

[aggiesal]

From hubby Bill's uncharted role to the Karl Rove factor to her scattered hawkish votes, the top 10 reasons why Clinton could take a fatal dive in the '08 race.

By Walter Shapiro

Oct. 16, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- It is a paradox of the presidential primary season: Democratic voters -- and, yes, reporters -- claim to crave a wide-open, spirited fight for the nomination, yet simultaneously are eager to pronounce the race over before a single vote has been cast. From Ed Muskie in 1972 to Howard Dean four years ago, history should have taught handicappers that betting the mortgage money on the odds-on favorite is a mug's game.

Hillary Clinton is the latest beneficiary of this premature rush to certainty. Clinton's meet-her-again-for-the-first-time rollout has softened her image, repositioned her as the Democrats' most experienced candidate, airbrushed away her years of ambivalence on the Iraq war and turned her 1994 healthcare reform debacle into a scars-to-prove-it asset. At the same time, her campaign has shown uncharacteristic flashes of boldness from small matters (putting together a "Sopranos" parody video in a week, featuring Bill and Hillary) to large (matching John Edwards with a full-coverage-for-everyone healthcare plan).

All this has led to the latest episode of I-is-for-Inevitability. Despite the growing (and, in some cases, the grudging) sense that the former first lady's nomination is preordained and the primaries mere formalities, Clinton still must avoid a dirt-road-in-rainy-season ration of potholes on the way to the Denver Convention. Here are 10 factors that could permanently postpone the Hillary-for-president balloon drop:

...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/16/hillary_10/

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This is a SALON article, so you may have to sit through an advertisement to get to the full article.
It only less than 1 minute, so don't be discouraged.

Enjoy

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. Wish I Could Bring Myself To Believe That

But I think that Al Gore is the only one who could possibly defeat her. If the system is rigged, which is also likely, then even he doesn't stand a chance, and perhaps he already knows this.

Anyways, it will take a significant collapse for Obama or Edwards to overtake her.

[Yael]

2. Interesting points (and you can click past the ad)

Perhaps the emblematic moment for Hillary Clinton came at the end of the Dartmouth debate late last month when she could not even offer a straight answer about whom she would root for in the wildly improbable situation that her beloved Chicago Cubs played her adopted New York Yankees in the World Series. The higher Clinton rises in the polls, the more she avoids uttering anything besides perfectly constructed paragraphs of poll-tested mush. On her recent swing through New Hampshire, she offered a stirring portrait in amiable inaccessibility.

That about sums up where I am on it. What I hear, I don't agree with and it is even more troubling to hear nothing but "poll-tested mush".

Although Clinton has deflected this question in several debates, there is a lingering uneasiness about the White House being reserved for just the Bush and Clinton families for 24 years.

Yep, there is that.

Democratic voters may wonder why Rove and Rudy Giuliani have been boosting Clinton as the all-but-certain Democratic nominee.

*cough*

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been in the public eye for nearly 16 years. Yet despite her strong overall lead, more than half the Democratic voters (in almost every poll) prefer other presidential candidates. For all her success at rebranding herself this year, it is worth asking what more can she do to win over the still skeptical wing of the Democratic Party?

Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along and don't pay any attention to the elephant in the living room...

[rinsd]

3. Some of these are hilarious

"Hillary Rodham Clinton has been in the public eye for nearly 16 years. Yet despite her strong overall lead, more than half the Democratic voters (in almost every poll) prefer other presidential candidates. For all her success at rebranding herself this year, it is worth asking what more can she do to win over the still skeptical wing of the Democratic Party?"

Umm considering she also leads as people's 2nd choice while nearly 50% have her as their first choice against a field that includes some very accomplished Democrats that is very impressive.

That's like saying Hillary approval ratings with Democrats are "only" at 80%.

[aggiesal]

4. more than half the Democratic voters (in almost every poll) prefer other presidential candidates.

I read this to mean that Clinton has less than half the voters in almost every poll.

I also ran across a poll that stated if your preferred candidate dropped out of the race,
who would you vote for?
Almost all supporters of the candidate that dropped out, would NOT switch there vote
to Hillary.
If this is the case, by the time there are only 2 candidates left the other candidate could
have more than 50% of the voters. Where would that leave Hillary?

[rinsd]

5. By all means provide the polling then.

Because polling with and without Gore and head to head polling vs Obama say much differently.

Her numbers improve with Gore removed. And her numbers against Obama are relatively the same when they go head to head in terms of lead (both of their support levels rise)

http://www.pollingreport.com/wh08dem.htm

[GreenTea]

6. The old lady will tank!