Jackie Calmes has an interesting report on Hillary Clinton's political and strategic choices in today's Wall Street Journal. Clinton has been urged by advisors to reach out to the left to pull herself out of the campaign's current slump.
"If I do what you all want me to do, I'll look great for the next couple months," she said, according to one insider's account. "But what if I'm the nominee? I'll be ripped apart by the Republicans. And what if I'm the president? My hands will be tied."
Apparently she has learned from experience that any concessions now will come back to haunt her later. The reaction? Steer to the right.
As a result, the support she's getting from her own party shows it's conservatives who are embracing her with the greatest warmth. Hillary's campaign isn't very attractive to anyone who's even mildly liberal or progressive, particularly if you take into account many Dems' propensity to vote unenthusiastically for "any of the above" rather than take the chance of handing the White House to any Republican. 40% of "very liberal Democrats" will vote for Clinton, while the percentage increases as the respondents become more conservative, the most conservative garnering 47%. Her methodical approach may work in the long run, but in the meantime her rivals for the nomination are playing hardball.
Now, her party foes are nervous and even desperate as the days dwindle to the first, potentially make-or-break vote in Iowa, the only state where polls show a tight race. They are all firing at her, aiming where she is most vulnerable -- her reputation as too cautious and calculating. Stoking the conflict are Republicans, who report their first uptick in donations to party headquarters in many months, thanks to a recent stream of "stop-Hillary" fund-raising emails. And Sen. Clinton, by her own hedging on several issues, has provided ammunition.
The question is just how conservative she would be -- and more important, how beholden to corporate influence -- once elected.
