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What Went Wrong? How Hillary Lost
ABC News ^ | June 4, 2008 | Rick Klein

Posted on 06/04/2008 4:09:33 PM PDT by HAL9000

Excerpt -

Back when Sen. Hillary Clinton was just starting her campaign, top aides and advisers had a ready answer when asked if she could win the presidency.

"She's already winning," came the response, as repeated by chief strategist Mark Penn, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe and other top aides and advisers, in memos, press releases and interviews as the campaign began more than a year ago.

It was a rejoinder that fit the "inevitable" candidate  and for a long while, the response fit the facts.

Clinton, D-N.Y., occupied the race's top perch virtually until the voting started, with a campaign that was designed to hover above the opposition and break through with dramatic early victories that would end the campaign cleanly and quickly.

But her campaign, it would turn out, was based on a series of fundamental miscalculations  about the mood of the electorate, the threat posed by Sen. Barack Obama and even the basic rules of the Democratic primary process.

In retrospect, the mistakes started with a faulty assumption: That inevitability itself could underpin the rationale for a presidential candidacy, even in the face of a deep Democratic desire for change and the wide enthusiasm that greeted a first-term senator from Illinois.

~ snip ~


(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008dncconvention; clinton; clintons; hillary; itsover

1 posted on 06/04/2008 4:09:35 PM PDT by HAL9000
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To: HAL9000

I think the media won for obama. certainly they were completely out of bounds all week with the “hillary concedes” headlines.


2 posted on 06/04/2008 4:11:09 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Obama's a front man. Who's behind him?)
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To: HAL9000
The Obama loving media wants her out badly but I wouldn't count her out yet.
3 posted on 06/04/2008 4:12:28 PM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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To: the invisib1e hand

I just heard she is going to SUSPEND, not end her campaign on Friday, doesn’t sound like someone trying to UNITE her party does it...lol


4 posted on 06/04/2008 4:13:09 PM PDT by LegalEagle61 (If you are going to burn our flag, please make sure you are wearing it when you do!)
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To: HAL9000

I can simplify this considerably although no one at ABC will thank me for doing so. Hillary lost because the MSM support that placed her husband in office and on which she was certain she could count, found a more romantic object of their collective affections in B. Hussein Obama. It really isn’t any more complicated than that.


5 posted on 06/04/2008 4:13:41 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: HAL9000; All

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042008/news/nationalnews/clinton_to_drop_out_of_race_friday_113958.htm

CLINTON TO DROP OUT OF RACE FRIDAY
Post Staff Report

June 4, 2008 —

Sen. Hillary Clinton will drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination Friday, The Post has learned.

Her decision ends speculation about what she would do after Sen. Barack Obama captured the nomination yesterday.


6 posted on 06/04/2008 4:14:45 PM PDT by aculeus
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To: Man50D

I wonder which one of these two is the lesser evil?


7 posted on 06/04/2008 4:15:15 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Obama's a front man. Who's behind him?)
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To: HAL9000

Haters always lose.

Haters can not and will not EVER win in America.

You can take that to the bank!


8 posted on 06/04/2008 4:16:01 PM PDT by The_Republican (Hillary is a turd that won't flush.)
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To: HAL9000

It’s very simple: many voters just plain don’t like her!


9 posted on 06/04/2008 4:16:01 PM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: HAL9000

Hillary lost because she thought if she won all the big blue states like the RINO relic she would capture the nomination. She had the RIGHT strategy in the WRONG party.


10 posted on 06/04/2008 4:16:47 PM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: LegalEagle61
That is why she asked people to send their support and zip codes to her website. she can now stand up and say “Look at all these people who support me! I cannot let them down.”
11 posted on 06/04/2008 4:17:40 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Will this thread be jacked by a Mormon?)
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To: HAL9000

Interesting.....

Eight Reasons Why Clinton Lost

1. Clinton focused on the large states and neglected the small ones.
2. Clinton neglected important new donors in Silicon Valley and instead relied on her old Hollywood connections.
3. Clinton’s election campaign was still from the 20th century while Obama’s was from the 21st century and harnessed the power of the internet.
4. Bill Clinton’s vicious comments that often had a racial undertone.
5. Lack of Brutality: When the Jeremiah Wright tapes surfaced Clinton could have played them constantly in her campaign and seriously damaged Obama’s chances. She chose not to for fear of dividing the party.
6. She hesitated to distance herself clearly and convincingly from her vote for the war in Iraq.
7. Proportional representation hurt Clinton. In this campaign there was only one chance to build a lead among delegates: Super Tuesday. Had it not been for proportional representation Hillary Clinton would have been the Democratic nominee on February 6th.
8. Race beats gender: Clinton thought women’s rights were the core question for liberals. She was wrong. The race issue was.

http://blogs.dw-world.de/acrossthepond/michael/1.6528.html


12 posted on 06/04/2008 4:24:43 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Yo prometo lealtad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America, y a la Republica que representa...)
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To: Billthedrill

Yeah, I think you nailed it, but let me add one other point: most middle Americans never bought all the Clinton BS in the first place. She was hated by a large percentage of the people, even Democrats — that’s a tough “fact” to square when you’re supposed to be inevitable and you’re supposed to have the media on your side. When the mainstreams saw that she was hated and Barack was adored, the shift heppened — and Billary’s corrupt ways couldn’t stop the momentum. As bad and awful as she was, I have no doubt she would have been a better president than Obama may prove to be — but let’s hope we won’t have to test that last hypothesis.


13 posted on 06/04/2008 4:25:38 PM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds ("The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.")
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To: HAL9000
I will never understand why Terry MacAuliffe isn't treated like navel lint by the Democratic Party.

He's like a "DON'T" picture with the international 'NO' symbol over his face like you get with assembly instructions from IKEA warning you with pictographs not to insert a kitchen knife into an an AC wall socket.

Good LORD, is that man stupid. He was her campaign chairman? He's been telling it like it ain't for decades now.

14 posted on 06/04/2008 4:26:47 PM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: HAL9000

Two things killed her chances. 1) Her vote on Iraq war 2) the voters wanted change so badly they would vote for any new face.


15 posted on 06/04/2008 4:30:47 PM PDT by ex-snook ("Above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: Rummyfan
...many voters just plain don’t like her!

I agree that her personality is not one that draws support to her, especially when there is charismatic competition. I also consider this her fatal flaw and thought she might not have lasted this long as a candidate for POTUS.

She is certainly planning something for her political future now that her presidential hopes are most likely gone. I'll bet she'd take a Supreme Court appointment in a heartbeat. Obama would be nuts to take her as a running mate.
16 posted on 06/04/2008 4:33:49 PM PDT by PerConPat (A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.-- Mencken)
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To: the invisib1e hand
I wonder which one of these two is the lesser evil?

Neither. They're both socialists.
17 posted on 06/04/2008 4:35:21 PM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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To: HAL9000; Man50D; Billthedrill; the invisib1e hand; LegalEagle61; aculeus; The_Republican; ...

The nomination was taken from Hillary for the common good.


18 posted on 06/04/2008 4:41:41 PM PDT by Enterprise (Give all Democrats a half vote in all future elections. They are entitled to it!)
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To: HAL9000
What Went Wrong?

Hillary became a high level victim of affirmative action. - Tom

19 posted on 06/04/2008 4:44:46 PM PDT by Capt. Tom (Don't confuse the Bushies with the dumb Republicans - Capt. Tom)
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To: HAL9000
She's an ugly fat cow. B’roke is hip. Like-ability always wins.
20 posted on 06/04/2008 4:54:13 PM PDT by VRWC For Truth (No mas Juan "Traitor Rat" McAmnesty)
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To: mad_as_he$$

She wait too long to start getting info for a grassroots organization!


21 posted on 06/04/2008 4:56:05 PM PDT by wo fat
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To: wo fat

Probably thought she had a done deal going it. It also seems to have impacted her fund raising.


22 posted on 06/04/2008 5:07:59 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Will this thread be jacked by a Mormon?)
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To: HAL9000

She lost because she is the most unlikable, meanest, rudest, most fake, and most arrogant person to run for President in decades.


23 posted on 06/04/2008 5:11:00 PM PDT by jveritas (God bless our brave troops and President Bush)
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To: Enterprise

Thanks for the new tag!


24 posted on 06/04/2008 5:11:01 PM PDT by txflake (Hillary, we are going to take the nomination from you - for the common good.)
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To: The_Republican

Golden words.


25 posted on 06/04/2008 5:14:22 PM PDT by jveritas (God bless our brave troops and President Bush)
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To: HAL9000
My picks: 1) the answer to the NY illegals with drivers licenses questions, 2) Obama drug dealing denial non-denials, 3) Obama liar because of kindergarten essays nonsense, 4) Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina comment.

-PJ

26 posted on 06/04/2008 5:15:47 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (Repeal the 17th amendment -- it's the "Fairness Doctrine" for Congress!)
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To: txflake

LOL - Yer welcome.


27 posted on 06/04/2008 5:18:36 PM PDT by Enterprise (Let all Democrats have a half vote. They deserve it!)
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To: the invisib1e hand
I wonder which one of these two is the lesser evil?

Hillary is the experienced, competent, leftist extremist.

I'm not sure that answers your question.

28 posted on 06/04/2008 5:27:00 PM PDT by Pilsner
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