Posted on 01/25/2007 9:15:40 AM PST by jdm
Hillary Clinton may have expected a return to the kind of support enjoyed by her husband when he ran for President last decade, but she discovered yesterday that a key source of energy for Bill's campaign may not support her at all. Hollywood seems more taken with Barack Obama than in another triangulist, and they have begun to put their money where their mouths are:
Is Hollywood abandoning Hillary?
On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Hollywood's movers and shakers received an invitation that they may find hard to refuse.
They've been invited to come meet Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's new superstar. He already has the buzz, but can he bring home the prize?
Movie moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg want their Hollywood peers to join them at a Feb. 20 fundraiser the three are throwing for Obama.
This presents a huge problem for Hillary. A large segment of the Left takes their lead from such Hollywood power brokers, and the early support for Obama gives the freshman Senator a significant boost in credibility. The Dreamworks trio do not waste their time flacking for also-rans, and this signals to the entire Democratic Party that Hollywood wants an alternative to Hillary.
Jeff Katzenberg has already endorsed Obama. Spielberg and Geffen prefer to remain uncommitted at the moment, and Spielberg said he may hold fundraisers for more than one primary candidate, including Hillary. That's small comfort to the one candidate who has been running for more than six years for a return to the White House. It also represents a change in thinking for the moguls; after all, they have contributed heavily to Hillary's past Senate campaigns. Given that those have been little more than Trojan horses for the 2008 Presidential race, one could be forgiven for thinking that Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen had already jumped on the bandwagon.
Why have they begun edging away from the presumptive front-runner? It can't be the triangulation. Bill practically invented it, and he spent most of both terms governing from the center, a position that comes less naturally to Hillary. They probably have started to question her electability, and see Obama as the candidate that best represents the collective wisdom of Hollywood.
If I were Obama, I'd sue for defamation.
I should note the end of another Hillary outreach to the center. The Clinton campaign bought blog ads on my site, as well as several other prominent conservative blogs (Power Line, Hugh Hewitt, and so on). Abbi Tatton reported this on Tuesday's Situation Room:
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, when you're on a conservative blog like this one, Captain's Quarters, it's not unusual to see an advertisement or blog ad, like this one for Republican Rudy Giuliani.
What is unusual is the one directly underneath it, this one for Hillary Clinton, directing people to her Web site, where there is a series of Webcasts this week, where people are invited to send in their questions online.
Now, the adverts are all over the place on Web sites, blogs on the left, in the middle, on the right. But it's those placed on the right that are getting the attention -- a writer at the conservative Town Hall Web site suggesting that it's wasteful, saying none of their readers there are going to be supporting Hillary Clinton.
We spoke to the Internet director at the Hillary Clinton camp. And they said that the blog ad buy was big and it was diverse. They wanted to reach out as widely as possible. It's about starting a conversation with people that might agree and with people that might disagree.
I spoke briefly with Abbi about this topic, and she asked me for my reaction. I told her I briefly considered rejecting the ad, but accepted it. I figured that if the Clinton campaign wanted to throw its money around, they could throw some at me. I also told Abbi that advertisements represent an endorsement of Captain's Quarters, not an endorsement by CQ. I have no intention of going easy on any political candidate just because they buy a blog ad. Believe me, I don't come that cheap.
I don't think it was a waste of her money, at least not altogether. The campaign wanted to make a splash with their video conversations this week, one of them inexplicably scheduled on the same night as the SOTU speech. They were hoping to find the widest possible audience, and that means they need to attract people from the Right as well as the Left.
Now, however, the ad should be gone. The campaign canceled them last night after the final video conversation, and that makes sense. If Hillary or Obama or Kucinich want to buy ad space in the future, I won't object. In their own small way, they're helping to fund the publication of conservative thought, and I'm satisfied with the irony.
Here's my new motto...I've had enough of Clintons and Bushes. ENOUGH ALREADY.
Most of what Hillary! talks about has nothing to do with FedGov or should have nothing to do with FedGov. She appears to have little idea what the Pres's job actually is.
Agreed. Bush...Clinton...Bush...the pattern needs to be broken.
I think that she is going to bring Bill out like a puppy to entice the soccer moms.
Just watch, within the next month, they will be showing up together and she will be talking about how they will BOTH be president.
There are a lot of Dems that think Clinton walked on water, even though most of us know he was about as bad as it got.
I've had enough of Osamabama already.
BTW, Black Americans have been here since Columbus, and can't catch a serious break as Presidential timber, and this young guy just shows up fresh out of Africa and suddenly HE's the one? It's a bad joke.
When will the MSM think to point out how bereft of real ideas and leaders the Democrat party is, when their Presidential "front-runner" is some unknown guy with 2 years in the Senate, and when they have to turn to an ex-republican freshman senator to be the voice of their party for the first state of the union address after they have taken power (who promptly THROWS OUT THEIR PROVIDED SPEECH!).
My bumper sticker idea:
Bush--Clinton--Bush....Clinton!!??
Stop the INSANITY!!
????? Trying to figure out if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
How could anyone be "taken with" Hillary? Sheesh. I saw a little bit of her web address. I have never felt so condescended-to or talked-down-to as if I were too simple to understand what is going on. No way Hillary, this campaign is the end of your political career.
That's a good one! I think that's a very good way to attack Hillary. It appeals to everyone.
Agreed. How bout this Bush...Clinton...bush.............Cowboyway. :o
Yeah, Hillary, You're No Bill...
Her Ankleship is a modern day Lucrecia Borga!
Why not:') Post where you stand on things, Bud.
Bush--Clinton--Bush....Clinton!!??
Stop the INSANITY!!
If Hillary hadn't married Bubba, we'd all be going "Hillary, who?"
When she gave her speech on Universal Health Care (which was a monstrous failure), all I got out of the rhetoric is that we were all stupid. Nothing changes!!
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