MyDD :: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me

Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me

by areyouready, Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 10:48:21 AM EST

A very candid conversation with David Yepsen. She is a realist. She has the big picture. I have no doubt she will prevail no matter whether she wins or loses Iowa. This interview is the most candid I've seen so far regardin the state of the race and it's definitely worth reading.

David Yepsen: Iowa presents steepest hill for Clinton to scale
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20071023/OPINION01/71023 0367/1035/OPINION

Hillary Clinton was candid about her chances in Iowa during a weekend interview, calling Iowa the "hardest state" she faces in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I have no illusions this is the hardest state," she said. "I take nothing for granted."

Other presidential candidates such as John Edwards and Barack Obama understand that if they don't stop her here, in the leadoff state, they may not get a chance elsewhere. So, they are pouring everything into Iowa in an effort to trip her.

"That's a real problem for me," she said. "I know that. That's what they should be doing. They haven't broken through on the national level."

She laughs: "I am well aware this is 'pile on.' I used to play touch football with my brothers and my friends, and I am on the bottom and they are piling on, and I'm thinking how am I going to get out of here?"

She said she has lagged in Iowa because "I have no pre-existing relationship with the state. Bill never campaigned here. I spent weeks in New Hampshire," because Tom Harkin's candidacy in 1992 prompted other Democrats like her husband to bypass Iowa.

"John Edwards has been living here for four years and that counts. I respect that, those personal relationships are important. Barack has been here before he announced. I never did," she said. "I started so far behind. Even I was shocked how far behind I was when we first started."

"Trying to translate the interest people have in my candidacy into caucus-goers is something people have tried to do and failed in the past," she said.

Clinton may have another problem in Iowa.

"I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here," she said, theorizing it may be the risk-averse nature of a state built around agriculture.

"I think not only do I have to bring people to me, I have to maybe reassure people here maybe more than I do in New Hampshire, which has had a woman governor," she said.

"I think Iowa poses a special burden, or a special obstacle to me because when you look at the numbers, how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism, that's not the openness I see in Iowa."

"As well as I do, I still have to go over a much higher hurdle in Iowa than anybody else," Clinton said.

She is so calm and determined.

Tags: Hillary Clinton (all tags)

Permalink :: 13 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

Dog piling a woman in touch football?

by DPW on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:03:19 AM EST

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

This will be steep for Clinton or Obama.

by iamready on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:09:54 AM EST

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

"Barack has been here before he announced. I never did."

It is interesting that Obama's ONE VISIT to Iowa gave him such a leg up. I hadn't realized that ONE VISIT was such an insurmountable lead in building personal relationships. This doesn't seem to be a candid conversation, this seems to be almost entirely spin. I would classify this as Hillary's effort to lower expectations. She realizes that she could lose Iowa and doesn't want a narrow loss to snowball.

by Obama08 on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:30:36 AM EST

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

I think she is quite aware that she is ahead in Iowa, and that her lead appears to be growing. However, humble does it. One vote at a time, pretend to be 20 points behind, work your heart out every day. You don't win over Iowans (which she has done a great job at, obviously) by coming across as coasting, 'we got it in the bag,' etc. She'll most likely be in a great position to win Iowa because of her reputation as a hard worker, tireless fighter for the Middle Class, truly caring, not by swooping in with a jet from New York to pick up a few delegates or taking the lead (even if it is growing) for granted.

by georgep on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:40:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (2.00 / 1)

I think more relevant than the fact that Obama visited Iowa once before he announced is that his state neighbors Iowa. That's a huge advantage. Does anybody expect Hillary, for example, to lose the New Jersey primary?

by markjay on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 12:14:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

It could be argued that New York and New Jersey have more tying them together than Illinois and Iowa. If Chicago was on the Illinois-Iowa border I would agree with you, however given that rural Iowa and rural Illinois is the border area it really isn't a logical comparison.

by Obama08 on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 01:37:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

Well, it's exaggerated in some ways, but not others. Iowa is a very small state so Illinois media can have a big presence over the border. Plus there are supposedly a lot of students from Illinois at Iowa universities. So yes, you're right--New York and New Jersey are probably tied more closely, but there are still some not unsubstantial ties between Illinois and Iowa.

by markjay on Wed Oct 24, 2007 at 05:58:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

she should hold more open forums (none / 0)

Chase Martyn's piece in Iowa Independent last week got noticed:

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary .do?diaryId=1309

The truth is, although the Clinton campaign has paid much lip service to the importance of retail politics, they aren't walking the walk. According to numbers compiled from several sources including Iowans for Sensible Priorities, an organization which seeks to ask candidates questions about the Pentagon budget and records their answers, Clinton seldom holds question-and-answer sessions at her public events. One estimate indicates that she has taken questions from audiences no more than about a dozen times since she began traveling around the state last summer. (She has answered voters' questions one-on-one on rope lines a few more times than that, but that is not the same as holding "town hall" style events where she answers questions in front of the whole crowd.)

Iowans for Sensible Priorities did not observe Clinton taking questions from voters in public a single time between her June 9 event in Story County and her "Middle Class Express" bus tour earlier this month. On that tour, she only took questions at a few events.
[...]
In fact, aside from Clinton, every Democratic candidate for president seems to have taken questions at well over half of their public appearances in the state, according to activists, campaign officials, frequent event attendees, and other sources contacted by Iowa Independent over the past few weeks. Aside from a few policy roll-out speeches and multiple candidate appearances, sources were hard-pressed to think of any events at which Clinton's rivals avoided taking questions publicly. Edwards, Richardson, and Obama, along with Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Joe Biden, have been known to keep stump speeches short in an effort to allow the maximum number of audience questions possible at their events.

I noticed she did take questions in Des Moines over the weekend. Maybe that will be a sign of things to come.

John McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me."

by desmoinesdem on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:47:13 AM EST

Hillary: Issues challenge to Iowa Democrats (none / 0)

"I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here," she said, theorizing it may be the risk-averse nature of a state built around agriculture.

"I think not only do I have to bring people to me, I have to maybe reassure people here maybe more than I do in New Hampshire, which has had a woman governor," she said.

"I think Iowa poses a special burden, or a special obstacle to me because when you look at the numbers, how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism, that's not the openness I see in Iowa."

"As well as I do, I still have to go over a much higher hurdle in Iowa than anybody else," Clinton said.

Wow. That's a gutsy play, issuing a direct challenge to Iowans to examine their failure to elect women to statewide office and asking them if they want their state to continue being lumped with Mississippi. She is, at the same time, questioning Iowa's track record and appealing to their progressive pride.

Very skillfully framed narrative.

by hwc on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 12:01:40 PM EST

misleading, like so much else (none / 0)

Hillary says.

Iowa DEMOCRATS have nominated women to many state and federal offices.

If Hillary does poorly among Iowa Democrats, she will brush that off as a sign of Iowans' sexism--even though Iowa Democrats have tried to send many women to Congress.

John McCain: 100 years in Iraq "would be fine with me."

by desmoinesdem on Wed Oct 24, 2007 at 01:33:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

Thanks for the link to the Yepsen op-ed. I'm glad to see that HRC is making the effort to reach out to local Iowa media especially after getting some flack for not talking to the press....

I think the image of playing rough with her brothers is a nice narrative to reinforce her tough image.....

Just a heads up, but Howard Fineman is reporting in his latest article (really a snotty hit piece) that Hillary will get the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) next week....

--
I'm told by labor sources that the endorsement will come next Thursday after a series of AFSCME committee meetings. The union, whose members by definition are no strangers to politics, has 30,000 members in the crucial caucus state of Iowa, plus 90,000 in Michigan and 110,000 in Florida - two other "early" states in the nomination process.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21435796/

by ademption on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 12:38:54 PM EST

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

Thanks for the info. The AFSCME national endorsement is a nice one. I think she'll get the NEA's teacher's union endorsement as well.

by georgep on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 12:44:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Hillary: Iowa will be the steepest Hill for me (none / 0)

nice.

Hillary: We will finally have a president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking for directions. Am I right, ladies?

by areyouready on Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 12:46:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

You are not logged in.

In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.

If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.