You're Hillary's campaign manager - how do you come back?

[origin1286]

Interested to see what you backseat drivers would do. By all appearances, Hillary has gone from "the woman who could bring fire from the heavens to the woman who can only cast shit from the trees."

I have three ideas, two clean and one dirty.

Idea 1: The Kind Contrast

Right now, Obama is the good guy. The hero, if you will. Anyone who attacks Obama is viewed as the villain. This is why negative campaigning does not work against him. You hear it at rallies - Clinton says something negative about Obama and groans/boos erupt from the audience. Her message is lost because she pissed off his supporters. At this point in time, I'd venture that more Americans support or are leaning towards supporting Obama than support or are leaning towards supporting Hillary. Hillary can't piss them off - she needs to woo them.

I suspect that if Hillary plays the game more like John Edwards, she has a shot. By propping Obama up as this great candidate who would be a very good President, she'd get people's attention. While she has their attention, she can slip in about what she has done that he hasn't, or how many bills she has past that he hasn't, or something along those lines. It may be too late for this strategy, as it depends on gradually feeding off of Obama's popularity by being complimentary of him.

This plan runs this risk of backfiring, however. It could be seen as conceding. It could feed his popularity. On the other hand, Hillary is such a love/hate candidate, her praise of Obama could have the effect of making people think the opposite is true.


Idea 2: Save Me, Edwards

Keep Edwards in the race. Much like plan 1, except suck up to Edwards instead of Obama. Prop Edwards up as this great candidate. Hope his campaign can gain some traction. Typically, Obama supporters have Edwards as their second choice and vice versa. If Edwards can suck some of Obamas supporters away, Hillary can nose out wins because those two are splitting "change" votes. This is a tough strategy because Edwards would need to pull at least 5% from Obama. Even that probably won't help in these early states. It could be big for Super Tuesday.


Idea 3: Thief in the Night

The biggest knock on Obama is that he hasn't been specific enough publicly. He has outlined plans on his websites and in smaller discussions, but in the big public forums he has not been specific. What Hillary can do - and this is the dirty plan - is raid Obama's plans. Scour his website, his speeches, etc, etc. Take some of his better ideas, change them a little bit, and claim them as her own. When Obama does get specific and starts talking about those plans, he will look like the copy cat. He may start to look unoriginal. He will be forced to address Hillary's theft of his plans, which takes him out of his "above it all" strategy. It has the potential to make him truly look inexperienced and unoriginal because everything he starts to talk about will have been made popular by Hillary, even if it was Obama's idea first. I'd venture a guess that most supporters don't have Obama's exact outlines memorized.

Problem is ff found out, Hillary is done, possibly for good. She would never be able to live it down. This plan would need to be put into action immediately to work before Obama's momentum is unstoppable.


What about you guys?


Edit: Fixed my inability to count.

[ButterflyBlood]

1. Quit her campaign and join the campaign of a real winner

OBAMA!

[jlake]

2. That really is a great pic of Hillary - too bad Obama's white twin is in the background.

[origin1286]

3. Knock it off...

Take it elsewhere, children.

[jlake]

11. Yes, Mom/Dad/Gender Unspecific Parent

.....

[ButterflyBlood]

4. Oh you mean the murderous warmongerer?

Whose war Hillary rubber stamped and Obama opposed from day 1?

[jlake]

6. No, I mean the strong woman. Obama would NOT have opposed the war from the US Senate.

He has admitted that he does not know how he would have voted.
Based on his track record, either YES or NO VOTE...finger in the wind...finger in the wind.

[ButterflyBlood]

8. He said in 2004 he would've voted Nay

Strong women like Barbara Boxer stood up also voting Nay. Hillary caved to Bush and voted Aye, and now unlike Kerry and Edwards refuses to say that was a mistake. That basically leaves her with Lieberman among Democrats...oh wait.

[jlake]

16. yes, then he said he did not know how he would have voted.....

do i hear a FLIP FLOP. ....and Yes, she has said that if she knew then what she knows now she would have voted no.
Edwards is the one that can be unforgiven....he did know everything and co-sponsored the IWR....and his apologies are truly phony....

[mathewsleep]

5. wow

obama is as far from bush as you can get, maybe edwards is a little bit more. hillary is much more bush like then barack is.

[jlake]

7. Nah, check their voting records. Obama sides with Bush more.... and his

foreign policy is akin to Bush's.

[origin1286]

9. Take it elsewhere...

The moderation on this forum really sucks.

Those who hijack threads from the get go should be banned, no matter who they support.

[jlake]

Why don't you take it elsewhere if you cannot stand ideas opposed to yours.

....like freeperville.

[origin1286]

21. Because...

your ideas have nothing to do with the original topic. You're hijacking threads. Why the hell are you so adamant about debating candidates when you're clearly not old enough to vote?

[mathewsleep]

12. ohh, you're right

obama did support the war from the start, i think he said he would have voted for it. where as clinton voted a strong no on invading iraq.

[Mr_Monday]

17. Yeah, Obama supported foreign wars

against sovereign nations right? Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton.

[jlake]

18. Well, I am sure he would if given the chance.....he surely has not stood up against any wars

WHILE IN THE SENATE....and he does not show up for votes. Just lies about being sick and sending a statement AFTER THE VOTE

[mathewsleep]

24. we actuly know

that hillary did support the war, every time, beginning to today. so how can you say obama is more bush like?

[jlake]

26. Christian Evangelical, "no more blue states or red states" = "uniter not a divider"

NO Foreign Policy experience, ego/self worship, cult of personality, media hyped and pushed, similar policies, both ran on "change"

[ButterflyBlood]

29. OK, so we'll nominate Hillary instead

on the grounds that she's an extreme secularist who has never mentioned God or religion in her speeches (:sarcasm:) and is an extremely divisive figure who'll be hated by 50% of the country her entire term no matter what. Sounds great!

[mathewsleep]

32. what?

obama is not an evangelical, not every christian is an evangelical.

every one runs of uniting the country. do you think it'd work for someone to say, fuck the republicans,
i'm only going to help the democrats.

obama does have foreign policy experience, clinton does have more. but obama has shit loads more experience then bush had. bush had only gone to mexico before being president.

obama doesn't worship himself, in all the speeches he's been giving since winning iowa, he's said he's just riding our wave. he's giving the voters credit. hillary only talks about what she will so, she said 'i' way more then obama.

bush didn't have a cult of personality, evangelicals liked him because they didn't believe in evolution.

the media didn't hype bush that much.

they do not have similar policies, back that up with some info if you're going to make that claim.

bush ran on change to a different place, and he got it.

[ButterflyBlood]

33. Oh yeah anti-religious bigotry is NOT the way to win elections

Even your queen realizes that.

[jlake]

39. She is not my queen. I do not worship my candidate ulike some I might mention...

No one is asking anyone to be anti-religious. Obama simply PREACHES on the campaign trail and uses more religious grandeur than Bush ever dreamt of.

[ButterflyBlood]

10. I actually think Hillary is the most Bushlike of all 2008 candidates

That's even including the Republicans. They're just as awful as Bush, but still a different beast.

[aquart]

13. Except for the unquestioning idolatry of his supporters.

Anyone who isn't frightened by that, isn't paying attention.

[origin1286]

15. I guess this serves as proof

that most of you are nothing but backseat drivers who can sit and criticize based on talking points you read on the internet or hear on tv. Get original thoughts in your head. That goes for all of you.

[ButterflyBlood]

19. Love your sig

Exactly why we need to nominate who has the most independent support. I wonder who that is?

[Mr_Monday]

14. LOL! But seriously not funny. nt

[Bullet1987]

20. I would skip Nevada...

and spend all my time in South Carolina and Dem-only primary states for Super Tuesday.

[ButterflyBlood]

22. I hope she does that

So she can get her ass kicked by the 50% black electorate in SC and avoid Nevada, a state with far friendlier demographics.

[Bullet1987]

27. Well she can't skip SC...because it'll look bad

and she definently can't skip BOTH Nevada and SC. I'm wondering what this "Super Tuesday Strategy" actually entails? Does she ignore NV and SC?

[ButterflyBlood]

30. It's basically the same as Giuliani's strategy

Enough said. Frankly it's hilarious and telling that Hillary HAS to skip states due to lack of appeal. Obama doesn't have that problem.

[origin1286]

23. Thank you...

For at least attempting to get back on topic.

[silverojo]

35. Even for a HRC supporter

That's a new low.

[Kahuna]

38. See. This type of ridiculous comparison is what is costing Hillary

HER dream. Keep it up.

[ButterflyBlood]

25. Seriously though, your third idea is what will probably be done

It's just so Hillary-esque in the extreme sleaziness of it. It's exactly the way her campaign has been run.

[musicblind]

28. uhuh

You have pretty good ideas. Maybe you should consider a career in politics? lol. I wonder what other people think?

[origin1286]

31. We'll see

I think I'm far too opinionated to actually run for office. I also suck at public speaking.

But hey, once I get through law school, the sky is the limit!

Thanks though :)

[ButterflyBlood]

34. Do behind the scenes work

No public speaking needed there.

[Yuugal]

36. Heres what I'd do

1) Fire anyone I've ever heard of from her campaign including Carville.
2) make a deal with Edwards to both stay in and help each other, if they can each get 25% of the final total of delegates they can throw to who ever wins the coin toss.
3) Rehire Carville, fire him again
4) Exile Bill until election is over
5)apologize for the war vote and many others
6)say the words "working class", try not to snicker
7)apologize for outsourcing and nafta, promise to end both
8)5 inch heels, its late in the game and we are going to have to play rough
9)hold press conference, announce Carville's return, but don't tell him in person, play dumb when he shows up
10) Have Al From disappeared(thats just for me)

[Horse with no Name]

37. 1. Take a few days off the trail to regroup

Let the crap die down. Come back out refreshed and never make mention of these things again. She is only going to spend the next few days defending herself. IF she waits, someone else will have committed a gaffe that everyone is talking about. She will be old news.

2. Fire someone. It's always effective.

3. Campaign on her issues. NO more underhanded attacks.