Should Hillary Have Skipped Iowa?

[sniffa]

If she loses the caucus here Thursday, will her campaign wish it had listened to the advice it got last May to take a hike on the Hawkeye state?

Back then, Clinton's deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry, wrote a 1,500-word internal memo saying Iowa was not worth the effort.

"My recommendation is to pull completely out of Iowa and spend the money and Senator Clinton's time on other states," Henry wrote.

"If she walks away from Iowa she will devalue Iowa -- our consistently weakest state."

Henry's advice was never accepted.

After the memo was leaked to the press, the Clinton campaign publicly repudiated the memo and said it would compete fiercely in Iowa, which it has.

But Iowa has long been a weak spot for Clinton.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/01/should-hillary-have-skipp_n_79128.html

[DemKR]

1. If she loses

There are 49 more states that get to choose their President. We'll get over it fairly quickly. Since we're up by double digits now in New Hampshire, it shouldn't be a problem.

[sniffa]

3. especially with some of her supporters helping the cause

there are some in Iowa right now canvassing and not posting online.

[DemKR]

6. and there are some making phone calls and doing that during DAYLIGHT hours n/t

[sniffa]

11. oh, i'm sure

:thumbsup:

[Debi]

21. Ohhh, so it's YOU who called me!

Sorry about yelling 'leave me the fuck alone' into your ear before slamming the phone down :blush: One to many calls today.

[tammywammy]

23. Good luck Debi

It's almost over. :hug:


BTW, I want to thank you for your informative posts on how the caucus works. It's been enlightening.

[Debi]

33. I'm kidding of course! I treat every caller w/respect (well, the live ones)

I hang up on the robo-calls. Today I have wished every live caller a Happy New Year and told them to enjoy making their calls. I'll miss all the staff members when they are gone and miss speaking with the candidates. I really do like the campaign season (I'm sick, I know). :hi: Thanks for the compliment!

[JackORoses]

8. sure you're up double digits, keep saying that and maybe it'll come true

[BringBigDogBack]

40. ....she's toast.

[IndianaJones]

2. its like asking if the Patriots should have skipped the Dolphins game. nt.

[TwilightZone]

4. Contrary to apparent DU opinion, Iowa isn't the only state in the campaign.

A loss there is not the end of anyone's campaign.

[Colobo]

5. No, but is bad press.

[DemKR]

10. honey---The press has been pro-obama from day 1. Axelrod has nothing to whine about this time.

[sniffa]

15. honey - the press has been bought and paid for by the Clintons

[TwilightZone]

18. That's pretty amusing.

Yes, all of that great press that the Clintons have been getting the past fifteen years.

It might have been purchased by someone, but it wasn't the Clintons.

[sniffa]

19. i respond to stupidity in kind

:hi:

[Auntie Bush]

56. Then how come almost all the channels have nothing but hostel,

negative things to say about her? Name one MSM channel that supports her.
I think that should prove she hasn't bought and paid them. If she did...she sure got screwed.

[Sulawesi]

20. honey?

[Debi]

22. Should we all call Sniffa honey now?

And how will BB feel about that?

[CoffeeCat]

42. Oh please...

Hillary sailed into Iowa, with her media-backed "inevitability" in tow.

Many political wonks in Iowa are now revealing that Hillary's main pitch
to them, when she initially entered Iowa, is that she would be the nominee
in the end--and that's all she wrote.

Hillary has had the media referring to her as the "likely Dem nominee" and
"the front runner" for many weeks, if not months.

Biden, Edwards, Richardson and Obama had to earn their points in Iowa. Believe
me, I saw all of these campaigns hard at work. They earned every supporter they
now have, and Edwards' and Obama's poll numbers demonstrate how inspirational
and creative their campaigns were.

Hillary's polls have tanked, and are on a downward slide--while Edwards
and Obama are rising.

[CoffeeCat]

41. 13 of the last 14 presidents...

...have won either Iowa or NH or both.

These initial contests are important.

It's not the states themselves that are important, it's the initial testing and
vetting that is done by these very-intimate caucuses and votes that happen early.

I would gladly relinquish our "first-in-the-nation" status to another state(s). I
believe that the process should rotate states and allow several states to be
in the first-tier of voting. Then everyone would see how essential this up-close-and-personal
process is, in selecting a candidate. Otherwise, all you get is impersonal, media events
where the candidates spew soundbytes, instead of multiple opportunities to get to know, question
and challenge these candidates.

Candidate Hillary flunked the Iowa test.

She ran an abysmal campaign here. It was a disaster.

And like I always say, if you can't run a decent campaign in Iowa, how in the hell
can you run a country?

[babylonsister]

7. No way! The 'discourse' on DU would have never been the same!

:P

[TwilightZone]

9. That is an accurate statement.

There would have been about eight thousand fewer "poll" posts.

[babylonsister]

24. And opinions, except, that's what DU is about. nt

[TwilightZone]

26. True.

Without the Clinton and Obama supporters, perhaps we might have enjoyed a lot more Dodd bashing.

[mtnsnake]

12. The primaries would be a bore without her, even for a little while. She's a ROCK STAR

The people of Iowa deserve to see her and Bill. Even the supporters of other candidates want to see the Clintons just as a reward for having to put up with all the boredom from being around their own candidates all the time :smoke:

[durrrty libby]

16. Ain't that the truth

[babylonsister]

25. And you're an ... nevermind.

:eyes:






































:evilgrin:

[mtnsnake]

28. invisible man?

Yes. How did you know? :evilgrin:




























:evilgrin:

[aquart]

13. Don't you worry your pretty little head.

[sniffa]

14. don't you worry your pretty little head

[seriousstan]

17. j

;

[BenDavid]

27. HRC will win Iowa by narrow margin....if obama is a man of his

word as all you suporters say he is, then he will drop out....Lets see if he is true to his word.....

[Capn Sunshine]

30. I am really enjoying your fantasy takes

we're up by 7 points and the voting is tomorrow. Hillary might finish 3rd or 4th.

[babylonsister]

31. WTF are you talking about? He never said that. If he did, prove it. nt

[Joe the Revelator]

32. There is absolutely nothing pointing towards a Hillary win in Iowa....

if I were you I would start trying to lower expectations.

[CoffeeCat]

43. On what are you basing this bizarre prediction?

Have you been calling the LaToya Jackson Psychic Hotline again?

[Renew Deal]

52. A Hillary imprinted crystal ball

:smoke:

[madrchsod]

29. no.... i think her staff

screwed up to many times and opened the door for obama and edwards to catch up to her numbers. she was way ahead and now she`s even. i`m sure that every candidate has memos discussing the positives and negatives of what should be done and why...this is where judgment comes into play. if there is one criticism of hillary`s iowa adventure is that her judgment of what people around her were doing is lacking. again she should have never lost that lead in the polls.

[Capn Sunshine]

36. That's exactly the point I've been making since last January

The composition of her staff assures a similar performance no matter what campaign they are in.

Hillary as a candidate could have been huge, but not with her organization of sycophants inside the beltway jerk-offs and axe grinders, and Ivy league condescending arrogant jerks. They just don't understand how things work outside the beltway, and truth be told, the ones I know loathe the common man.

[babylonsister]

38. Hmm, Clinton, *, sycophants, that's too reminiscent for me.

I agree, we need some fresh enthusiasm, and a different MO.

[Didereaux]

34. Mike Henry must be advising Giuliani as well...you see how well ducking Iowa has worked for him

[thatsrightimirish]

35. no

because if she wins Iowa, its hard not seeing her win the whole thing

[Hardrada]

44. That is why we are fighting her here

so we don't have to fight her over there!

[hayu_lol]

45. Hardrada, I can't believe I'm the only one who got your message...

post 44. LOL!

We always need more humor in here and that line really worked.

[Hardrada]

61. Thank you, Thank you. I'm here all week.

[JI7]

37. only if she thought it would help Edwards win Iowa more easily

the problem for her is that OBama has a strong campaign in New Hampshire also so a win in Iowa would help him there. similar to Kerry in 04.

but if they thought Edwards would win easily and Obama didn't have much chance i think they would have skipped Iowa.

but i'm guessing they looked at the numbers and decided it wasn't worth the risk. they needed to be there to try to prevent Obama winning also.

[babylonsister]

39. They must be worried now.

:evilgrin: Gobama!

[WillTheGoober]

46. No ...

Hillary is doing very well in Iowa.
So well in fact that she could win Iowa.

I promise you that my candidate, Mrs. Clinton, has all of these scenarios mapped out.

Say what you want about this lady -- but nobody can deny her hard work and her organizational skills.

I'm not worried.
We're going to have a good night tomorrow.

W.

[Perry Logan]

47. Should threads with goofy questions in their titles be banned?

[JTFrog]

48. No but videos with goofy people should be. n/t

[Renew Deal]

51. Why is that a goofy question?

I don't expect an answer considering all you post are goofy 1 line responses lacking substance or logic.

[sniffa]

53. spot on

:hi:

[NashVegas]

49. Iowans Will Vote in November

I wouldn't want to be a nominee who failed to give any state its due.

[Renew Deal]

50. Hillary's campaign theme of inevitability didn't work with her weakness in Iowa.

Hillary's campaign has totally misplayed Iowa. They pushed the inevitability BS knowing the first state (or 2) was going to be tough for her. I saw someone say recently that her campaign theme had no wiggle room. When you campaign on inevitability and lose, there's no fall back position.

Hillary had to campaign in Iowa to win. Her problem was not taking it seriously enough from the beginning.

[WillTheGoober]

54. I disagree

I think Hillary is running a great campaign -- and I expect she will win Iowa tomorrow -- despite all of this hoopla.

Everyone wants to talk about the youth vote, the new caucus goers -- yadda yadda. Organization wins every single time. And so Hillary will win.

Thanks!
W.

[Renew Deal]

55. Iowa Independent puts Hillary's organization 3rd

That's from their last review.

[WillTheGoober]

57. We'll see ...

None of this matters, does it?

Tomorrow we will see the results and I expect when she wins we will be back here and everyone will talk about how she didn't win by enough. This is how we dance.

Everyone -- the media, the Republicans, the Liberals, the ...... wanted Hillary to fall. Everyone was waiting. And they're still waiting. The most anyone can do is grasp at straws.

I'm proud of her.
And I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

W.

[I was just saying...]

58. From a state that's NEVER elected a woman above school board

the answer is an unqualified yes. Add to the fact that is just a caucus to elect convention delegates, plus the bottom-line fact that only a fraction of Iowa's votes participate and you
have to wonder if this process is even worth 2 cent, let alone millions of dollars and years of
hype.

Here's hoping that this the last nutty campaign hoopla about this very rural, very white, non-representative state of political affairs in this country.

[rasputin1952]

62. It should never be a question of gender, race or anything else

as extraneous as that.

Male/female, black/white/asian/whatever, should never really enter the equation. It is all about qualifications and if the individual can present said qualifications.

I for one, could never find myself voting for/against someone because of extraneous subjectives. one of the reasons bush came even close to the WH is because there are many out there thta voted for him simply because of his relgious claims, a real time aspect of just why we should be looking at qualifications and not the superficial.

BTW: I have no candidate yet.

[suston96]

59. If Hillary had skipped Iowa she would have been trashed for skipping it.....

Besides, these early primaries are set up to raise money - big money.

[mpendragon]

60. not many negatives

She's got the money for the extra campaigning and I'd like to see her out there way ahead of the general election burning people out on the negative messages about her so it takes the edge off of them later when the GOP trots them out. If she can dismiss their claims as old news that everyone's already heard then it will be a big help this summer.