Quakes In Hillaryland, Part II, some of the "inside story" from Ambinder

[jefferson_dem]

Quakes In Hillaryland, Part II
11 Feb 2008 08:34 am

(Read more here.)

Since Iowa, parts of Hillary Clinton's campaign leadership have been in a state of suspended animation. One by one, the benchmarks the campaign has set for itself -- money, a Feb. 5 knock out, a lead in the popular vote, a superdelegate advantage -- have fallen to a superior effort by Barack Obama's campaign. Clinton aides, junior level to senior level, are exhausted.

Strategically, it is clear that Clinton campaign did not envision an elongated contest until fairly recently, even though senior adviser Harold Ickes had set out a memo laying out various delegate scenarios in December. Obama's campaign, by contrast, had for months projected a fight for delegates.

A lack of money is the main reason why the Clinton campaign failed to organize well enough in smaller caucus states like Minnesota, Colorado and Maine. It's not that the demographics of these states were favorable -- certainly they were not -- but donors, allies and the press have wondered by the campaign was simply not competitive enough to keep Obama's vote totals -- and thus his delegate totals -- in a standard orbit. This mistake has given Obama many extra delegates and with that, the argument that he has won more delegates than she was.

Clinton herself was not informed that the campaign was in dire financial straits until after Iowa, one adviser said. For two days, Bill Clinton camped out in the campaign's Ballston, VA headquarters and poured through the numbers with Williams and other aides. Aides and advisers say that Clinton's decision to lend herself money was not made by consulting members of the senior staff and was relayed to them after-the-fact.

The relationship between Maggie Williams and Patti Solis Doyle has been described as close but acrimonious, akin to two longtime friends who have the same goal in mind but argue about how to get there. They have argued in private, and increasingly, in public settings.


http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/02/learning_some_more_details_sin.php

EDITED TO COMPLY WITH DU COPYRIGHT POLICY

[speedoo]

1. So I guess this is the kind of leadership we will start to see on "Day One"?

Pretty incredible, frankly, that Hillary's campaign is in such bad shape.

[blm]

2. What machine do we want going into Nov? The one GROWING in strength or the

one that keeps breaking down and losing power though it had ALL the advantages going into the race?

[Stephanie]

13. I'd like to take another look at her campaign expenses.

I seem to recall $50,000 for flowers and a huge sum for parking, in the meantime it looks like they neglectd their ground operations in certain states. That's messed up.

[Stephanie]

9. How did she NOT KNOW about the financial straits of her campaign?

I find that incredible. She didn't know? They didn't tell her? They didn't have enough $$$ to organize on the ground but they had $5.8M for Mark Penn? WTF?

[HeraldSquare212]

17. Remember HRC boasting about how detail-oriented she is,

and lambasting Obama for saying he was not really a details guy, that his chief of staff would handle that?

The evidence suggests she doesn't understand what 'detail-oriented' means.

[goclark]

14. Miss Experience Day One

The campaign is a no brainer compared to leading this country.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. No, no.

She's not going to be ready UNTIL day one.

:rofl:

[Medusa]

3. Study these key lines.

One by one, the benchmarks the campaign has set for itself. . . have fallen to a superior effort by Barack Obama's campaign. That speaks for itself--who set realistic goals ans objectives has achieved them? Not Hillary.

Strategically, it is clear that Clinton campaign did not envision an elongated contest until fairly recently, even though senior adviser Harold Ickes had set out a memo laying out various delegate scenarios in December. Obama's campaign, by contrast, had for months projected a fight for delegates.So basically, even though a senior adviser had sent out a memo outlining these issues, they were ignored. Gee-didn't we see this with Bush & Hurricane Katrina? Is that what we want in the White House again? And who was prepared? Obama. Supposedly the candidate with no real "experience".

Clinton herself was not informed that the campaign was in dire financial straits until after Iowa, one adviser said. Again, that sounds Bush Part Deux. You mean to tell me she had NO idea of her financial status? Is that a harbinger for how she will attend to our economy?

For two days, Bill Clinton camped out in the campaign's Ballston, VA headquarters and poured through the numbers with Williams and other aides.
And who does she call when she's in trouble? Bill. If she can't stand on her own and solve her own problems. . . .

Aides and advisers say that Clinton's decision to lend herself money was not made by consulting members of the senior staff and was relayed to them after-the-fact. Yes, that's a great idea, consult with staff after you make a decision. Gee whiz.

[speedoo]

5. All signs of a poorly-led, failed organization. nt

[cottonseed]

23. Sounds a lot like "no one could have imagined".

There's an administration we're all familiar with operates in the same basic manner.

[CoffeeCat]

4. I think Hillary assumed she had it in the bag...

...and she didn't plan her campaign accordingly.

She thought she could just show up in each state, run through the motions--and
she would easily sail to the nomination.

I watched all of the campaigns very closely when they were in Iowa. Hillary had
a lead, and Edwards was very competitive--in the beginning. Obama was in it,
but he was in third.

Then, the campaigns kick into high gear. Edwards and Obama were in hyperdrive,
criss-crossing the state and meeting with small groups and holding events in
small towns. They were doing more town-hall style meetings and answering questions.
A lot of this flew under the radar. The media just doens't find Edwards' meeting
with 30 nurses in Dubuque newsworthy; or Obama's conversation with 25 people in the
small town of Albia.

However, they blanketed the state, but Hillary didn't. She had large events, but they
were in some of the larger cities, and she didn't take questions. Her campaign felt
very overly managed, and it was difficult to get to know her. She seemed inaccessible.

She garnered the endorsement of the Register, and of state unions. I think the Clinton
campaign felt that they could rely on the usual state political aparatus, and her
"inevitability".

Hillary also planted questions at an Iowa event. The "plant" came forward to reveal
what happened and it was all over the media. The Clinton camp denied this happened,
but it was obvious it did. Then another "plant" came forward and revealed that she
was also approached by a Clinton staffer about asking a specific question that was
written in a notebook. This did not bode well.

Another Iowan asked Hillary about her Kyl/Lieberman vote. In front of the entire
crowd, Hillary accused this questioner of being a plant. Again, not exactly a
solid way to woo voters.

She seemed to enter this state, ill-prepared to meet the voters. Dirty tricks
were pulled out--one by one--and they all backfired big time. It was as if she
entered the state with a Rovian model and became befuddled and insulted when Iowans
weren't bamboozled by this obvious ploys. The "Obama is a Muslim" emails went
out, from one of her state directors--who was fired. Two people from her staff,
started in on the "Obama...was he a drug dealer?" bull, and that also backfired
and resulted in one of her senior staff being fired. When Senator Bob Kerrey
endorsed Clinton and mentioned, "Barack Hussein Obama"--it was so transparent
what was happening, and people recoiled. Bob Kerrey later apologized.

She totally underestimated Obama while overestimating her "inevitability". She was
gobsmacked by the Iowa outcome (Obama, Edwards, Clinton) and her campaign wasn't
organized at the onset for a tough fight against a formidable opponent.

It reminds me of Donald Rumsfeld after the invasion of Iraq, when he said, "We underestimated
the psychology of the Iraqi people."

I think Clinton underestimated the psychology of the American people.

[GalleryGod]

6. Disregarded Obama coming from their Left Flank

[geiger]

7. exhaustion is certainly showing, in many ways

I think she needs to cut down on the number of daily appointments and events. You lose your effectiveness after a certain point..... she's a hard worker, but sometimes she works too hard.

[hedgehog]

10. An excellent analysis. As further proof that Hillary started this by

just going through the motions, does anyone else remember the song contest, the lunchroom vingnette and the Sopranos parody? I found them to be an insult to the voter, and I said so at the time. We needed an attack on the BFFE, and we got a situation comedy instead. Of course, that kept the focus off issues such as her IWR vote.

Bob Kerrey's endorsement of Clinton was counter-productive for me. I can't find the info, or else I'd provide the link, but Kerrey was Clinton enemy until she directed a number of Federal grants and Defense Department contracts to his New School. Isn't using government money for private gain the epitome of corruption?

[Stephanie]

12. Yes, those were all very condescending.

Her tone toward voters is generally patronizing.

[CoffeeCat]

16. Not to mention her Iowa "marketing gimmicks"...

I didn't even mention these.

Hillary organized an event in which people could watch her take off in a helicopter
and fly around the Iowa countryside. Her campaign called it "Hillocopter" trips.

No. I'm not kidding. Hello. Are we all in third grade?

She also sent out a mailer in Iowa, about ten days before the caucus. If you pledged to
vote for her, they sent you back a Hillary coffee mug.

Um...ok. Are we running a political campaign or trying to get people to buy soup?

Those two ideas were brought forth after a big Hillary internla poll showed that Iowans
didn't like her.

Can you just hear the behind-the-scenes bantering, on the way to those decisions.

"They don't like you Hillary! You don't answer questions. You don't talk with people. The
Iowa voters don't feel like they know you!"

"For God's sakes! Ok, I'll get to know them! I hear Iowans love coffee. I bet the sound of
a helicopter would make them think I'm friendly and approachable! Someone quick! Order 10,000
coffee mugs and let's reserve a helicopter for this weekend!"

Uhhhhhh...yeah. Suuuure. :rofl: Man, this could be a Broadway play!

[Stephanie]

11. Astute analysis.

That post merits its own thread. I think that's the Hillary problem in a nutshell. To boil it down further, her fatal flaw is her fundamental insincerity. I was a little shocked on watching the HRC documentary the other night at how much I actually liked her younger self. But I think as a New Yorker who campaigned for her in 2000, I just became exhausted by how many times she disappointed me in her votes. The IWR was the capper. I think HRC went to DC and stayed too long and learned her lessons too well and sacrificed her priniciples in the process. And I think Rovian ploys just don't work any more. We are a wised up nation. We learned our lessons too.

[Tesha]

28. This is *PRECISELY* why she'll never get my vote.

> To boil it down further, her fatal flaw is her fundamental insincerity.

This is *PRECISELY* why she'll never get my vote. During the
2000 election cycle, when she was first running for the Senate,
Mr. Tesha and I sent a lot of money to Hillary's campaign based
on our understanding at that time of what her positions would
be if elected.

Once she was actually elected, though, she began voting against
our positions on essentially all of the big issues. Instead, she
helped prop up Bush, the Bush War Machine, and Bush's War on the
Constitution. So that sealed her fate as far as we were concerned:
we'd never support her again in any way.

And yes, this includes withholding votes for her in the General
Election.

Tesha

[Arugula Latte]

20. Good post, TwoSparkles. Thanks for the insight!

:hi:

[madrchsod]

8. lynn sweet of the chicago sun times

"broke" the story that this was going to happen after new hampshire....i guess either it was lynn`s dream or they were were going to but did`t... is it to late to stop the train?-wisconsin,ohio,and texas will tell.

[cloudythescribbler]

19. very interesting and suggestive pic you have there

:thumbsup:

[Medusa]

18. I'm kicking and recommending this.

This is crucial information about the TYPE of manager she is and it isn't good. How can anyone claim this woman will be ready on Day One when she hasn't a clue as to what's going on in her own organization, is ignoring important memos and consults with her advisors after making a decision, not before? Not to mention it sounds as if her decision making on whom to appoint to what position in her own campaign is deeply flawed. I just can't get over this article.

[Diane R]

21. We've got to kick this thread...this is good stuff.

[speedoo]

22. K&R... Important info throughout this thread. nt

nt

[sniffa]

24. K&R

To DU Hillary supporters, is this someone you are still comfortable supporting? Is anyone possibly having buyer's remorse? :shrug:

[psychopomp]

25. This is shaping up to be a very revealing contest

Sen. Clinton's campaign is shockingly poorly mismanaged. Is this the team we want going into the race for the White House?

[blm]

26. Remember when the Dem powerstructure INSISTED Kerry put in Clinton strategists to 'help'

guide the campaign?

I think Clinton loyalists are BOTH deceitful AND incompetent due to their arrogance.

[blm]

27. Remember when the Dem powerstructure INSISTED Kerry put in Clinton strategists to 'help'

guide the campaign?

I think Clinton loyalists are BOTH deceitful AND incompetent due to their arrogance.