What the heck happened to Hillary?

• Dealing with an antagonistic media
  Hillary and her inner circle come by their loathing of the media honestly, I suppose. After all, she has spent much of her career waiting for journalistic shoes to drop. But that is no reason to have adopted a distant, hermetically-sealed media strategy for the campaign. It was counterproductively control-freakish. She knew she was going to be treated poorly by the national media – and in many ways she has been – but the answer was not to make that a self-fulfilling prophesy. As others have said many times, she can be utterly charming and convincing in small groups. Why didn’t she at least try a charm offensive at some point?
  
• The Iran vote
  Whoever advised Hillary to try to burnish her commander-in-chief credentials by voting to declare the Iranian Army a terrorist organization did her a deep disservice. It cost her dearly, by giving Obama a way to outflank her despite his votes for funding the war in Iraq. The fact that Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd voted against it made her vote all the more vivid, and damaging.
  
• The kickoff slogan
  “I’m in it to win it,” in retrospect, said way too much about the mentality of the campaign. It didn’t seem to be about the American people, but about her and her coterie of well-placed acolytes inside the Beltway.
  
• Focusing on women
  Senior strategist Mark Penn bragged repeatedly months ago about how Hillary had a solid, unassailable base among women – and a core that, if all else failed, would guarantee her the nomination. Three things wrong with that. For one, it made her sound like a for-women-only crusader (no way to attract men). Second, it violated the strategist principle used shrewdly by another top aide, Mandy Grunwald, in designing Hillary’s first run for the Senate in New York in 2000. In that race, Hillary focused on her weakest spot, upstate New York, and turned it into a positive. She should have done the same thing demographically, as opposed to geographically, this time around. Third is perhaps the result of the other two – she didn’t even win the female vote in Iowa.

• Bill
  Having seen him on the trail (not to mention on “Charlie Rose,”) I think the former president is a net positive for his wife. It’s not his fault that no one else in the campaign had tried aggressively to call Obama to account. He had to do it. He also summarized her resume better than she herself did. But the visibility of her husband allowed Obama and Edwards to more easily outflank her on the “change” issue. It seems that the country really has had enough after 28 years of Bushes and Clintons.

• Edwards and Obama gangup
  They did it here in New Hampshire at the ABC debate. Hillary got angry. She had reason to be. She had a right to respond aggressively to both of them. Edwards’ patients’ bill of rights never did pass; Obama indeed has talked out of both sides of his Cheshire-cat-grin mouth from time to time. But the sight of Hillary – back up and eyes flashing – did not help.

Video Clinton emotional in N.H. remarks Jan. 7: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s eyes water and her voice break as she talks with voters about her campaign for the presidency. NBC's Athena Jones reports. MSNBC

• Missing the wave
  For many Baby Boomer women it is infuriating to watch Hillary, who would be the first female president, be outflanked by Obama on the “making history” theme. Had she run five years earlier, it would have been a more sensational thing. But she seems to have missed by half a wave. There is a bigger story now, or at least there seems to be here in New Hampshire.

MORE FROM

Section Front

Obama campaign head gets big book deal Officials turn down Franken request Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent Franken lead at 49 with absentees left to count Minn. Senate winner won't be known in 2008 First Read: 'Twas the seventh week of recount... Franken opens first lead in Minn. Senate race Mom of Palin daughter's boyfriend arrested Minn. court weighs rejected absentee ballots Minnesota panel reviews disputed ballots Section Front   Add headlines to your news reader: