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A Wary Mrs. Clinton Runs a Perpetual Race
NYTimes ^ | 10/18/04 | RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

Posted on 10/17/2003 9:40:09 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be riding high these days. Democrats around the country are begging her to run for president. Her name is a huge draw at party fund-raisers. And her memoir is selling big around the world.

But back home in New York, with her re-election campaign more than three years away, the junior senator from New York is acting like a candidate on the run, embarking on the kind of furious bout of campaigning normally found with a politician who is trailing in the polls.

Mrs. Clinton is not on the run, of course, but the pace she is setting reflects a recognition that she, more than most politicians, cannot take anything for granted. And that means doing all she can, all the time, to try to counteract a basic fact of life for her: a lot of voters really dislike her.

This core of Hillary haters is one reason that some of her advisers see her immediate presidential prospects as implausible.

"There are a large number of people out there who would run through a brick wall for her, but I also think there are an equal number of people who want to throw her through a brick wall," said one senior Democratic strategist.

Since she was elected in 2000, Mrs. Clinton's popularity in the state has been on the rise. Her approval rating among all New Yorkers appears to be higher than ever — 61 percent in a poll earlier this month.

More important for Mrs. Clinton, a large core of voters who said that they had no opinion of her or did not know how they felt about her in the early days of her term have become admirers of the job she is doing in the 32 months since then, recent polls show.

Despite all that — and despite her huge national celebrity — Mrs. Clinton has reason to be vigilant in New York, according to interviews with Republicans and Democrats as well as independent pollsters. New York, like the rest of the country, has a solid core of voters who apparently cannot be persuaded to support her, no matter what she does.

One of three New York voters, for example, recently told pollsters for Quinnipiac University that they have an unfavorable opinion of her, slightly higher than the number of people who said they felt that way when she took office. Zogby International, an independent polling firm, got roughly the same response from likely voters several months ago.

Mrs. Clinton would not comment for this article, but her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said, "Senator Clinton's focus each day is on the day ahead, and the decisions she makes concern how best to serve the people of New York."

People close to her, however, describe her as being in something of a bind, measuring her every action so she does not stir up her sizable number of opponents.

"Her margin of error is small," said one senior Democratic official who is close to her. "And she is working hard, and so far she has been very successful."

Her advisers also note that Mrs. Clinton inspired almost the same level of antipathy during her 2000 Senate campaign — and still managed to defeat her opponent, former United States Representative Rick Lazio, 55 percent to 43 percent.

"She fully understands that she will always have a core of people who dislike her," said another Democrat who is close to Mrs. Clinton. "But her goal has been to persuade the swing voters in the middle that she is doing a good job."

Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said there was danger in Mrs. Clinton's unfavorable ratings, which provide an opening that can be exploited by Republicans and other opponents who would like nothing more than to stop her political rise in its tracks.

He noted, for example, that a poll his organization conducted in late September found that Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is considering a run against Mrs. Clinton in 2006, would handily defeat her, 57 percent to 40 percent.

"Mrs. Clinton has a solid base of support to build from," Mr. Miringoff said. "But her high number of detractors makes her a potential target for the G.O.P., especially if Giuliani is wooed into the race. Her future politically could tip either way."

So Mrs. Clinton is leaving nothing to chance. With her book tour behind her, she is traveling the state from end to end. She has made at least 31 public appearances in the state in the last 57 days, according to her calendar.

She has, among other things, visited breast cancer survivors on Long Island, toured the United States Military Academy at West Point, welcomed the Irish prime minister on a stop in Albany. She was the first statewide New York official on the scene in Syracuse after the Carrier Corporation, the city's best-known company, announced that it would close its plant and stop making air-conditioners there.

When not traveling the state during that period, Mrs. Clinton spent much of her time working in Washington, often meeting with groups or officials representing all sorts of constituencies back in New York, from car dealers to retirees and farmers, according to her office.

Meanwhile, leading New York Republicans have stepped up their attacks on Mrs. Clinton, hoping to soften her up now for a challenge in three years. Big-name Republicans like Mr. Giuliani and Gov. George E. Pataki have been touted as possible opponents, even as the party is hard-pressed to identify an opponent next year for New York's senior senator, Charles E. Schumer.

At least one senior adviser to Mr. Pataki and other Republicans have also tried to keep alive speculation about a possible presidential bid by Mrs. Clinton, in an effort to resurrect her image as a carpetbagger who is using New York as a steppingstone toward national power.

Most of the rumors have been spread behind the scenes. But in a recent radio interview, Mr. Giuliani endorsed the speculation that Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who had recently announced that he was running for president, was a stalking-horse holding a spot for Mrs. Clinton to enter the race herself.

Mr. Giuliani also said he believed Mrs. Clinton might jump into the 2004 presidential contest if President Bush suddenly began losing ground to any of the nine Democrats running for president. "If one of them starts to emerge with the ability of being able to defeat President Bush, then I think she may just jump in," he said.

Robert E. Davis, the vice chairman of the New York Republican Party, said that even if Mrs. Clinton did not enter the presidential race now, she would still have a lot of explaining to do when she is up for re-election. "In 2006, Hillary Clinton is going to have to answer the question of whether she plans to serve out her full term or whether she is going to be a presidential candidate in 2008," he said. "We're going to hold her feet to the fire."

Alexander Treadwell, the New York Republican Party chairman, said in an interview that while Mrs. Clinton enjoyed a huge national following, it had little to do with her work as a senator on behalf of New Yorkers.

"Yes, she is a celebrity," he said. "But she has been elected to represent the people of New York. What has she done? What has she accomplished?"

Wittingly or not, Mrs. Clinton has said and done things to encourage speculation that she has bigger plans than being merely a junior senator from New York, even as she and her advisers insist that is not the case.

After keeping a low national profile at the start of her Senate term, Mrs. Clinton has emerged as one of the national party's main attractions, campaigning and holding fund-raisers for fellow Democrats around the country. (At the same time, she has done well for herself. Her re-election committee, Friends of Hillary, raised $3.4 million since she took office, and has $1.3 million on hand, according to an aide. A political action committee she started in 2001 to help other Democrats, Hillpac, has raised $4 million, though it has only about $168,000 on hand, according to the latest disclosure statement.)

Most recently, Mrs. Clinton agreed to travel to Iowa, a key state in the 2004 presidential primary, to serve as master of ceremonies for a local Democratic Party fund-raiser in November that all the Democratic candidates for president are also planning to attend.

In the end, Mrs. Clinton may be doing nothing more than keeping her options open with trips like the one to Iowa, political strategists say.

But even her supporters agree that she must be careful. They believe talk of a national candidacy by Mrs. Clinton is a potential sore point among New Yorkers, though recent polls suggest that the talk has not hurt her standing in the state.

"Voters are sophisticated enough to know that this kind of speculation is not based on her performance in the Senate," said a Democrat close to the Clinton camp. "They know it's based on what many people see as her personal ambition. And she has to be careful about that because her personal ambition is what fuels the negative perceptions of her."



TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; hillary
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1 posted on 10/17/2003 9:40:10 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Hillary is letting the New York Times get the "fluff" pieces out to the public as she prepares to run for re-election in 2006. If she wins, she'll definitely be a prime presidential aspirant in 2008.
2 posted on 10/17/2003 9:42:58 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
This article acknowledges that people dislike Hillary. It can't possibly be from the Times.
3 posted on 10/17/2003 9:43:08 PM PDT by July 4th
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
A Wary Mrs. Clinton Runs a Perpetual Race

I don't see how she can run in those pantsuits. Doesn't Bill have an old pair of jogging shorts she can wear?

4 posted on 10/17/2003 9:43:34 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
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To: Texas Eagle
Doesn't Bill have an old pair of jogging shorts she can wear?

Whoa! Talk about a Weapon of Mass Destruction...

5 posted on 10/17/2003 9:46:06 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Hillary and Clark rhymes with Ft Marcy park...)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
think there are an equal number of people who want to throw her through a brick wall," said one senior Democratic strategist.

What? Who? ROTFL!

Hillary is running for President, not Senator from NY. Looks like the Times would love nothing better!

6 posted on 10/17/2003 9:46:24 PM PDT by ladyinred (Talk about a revolution, look at California!!! We dumped Davis!!!)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
He noted, for example, that a poll his organization conducted in late September found that Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is considering a run against Mrs. Clinton in 2006, would handily defeat her, 57 percent to 40 percent.

Hmmmmmm.....boy, I don't think she has a choice but to run for President in 2004. Obviously if Guiliani kicks her ass in 2006, he will kick her ass when he runs for President in 2008.

She's not going to wait until 2016 to run for President do you think?

7 posted on 10/17/2003 9:48:05 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
"There are a large number of people out there who would run through a brick wall for her, but I also think there are an equal number of people who want to throw her through a brick wall," said one senior Democratic strategist.

Oh, no. It's not an equal number... try many times over number would like to throw her through a brick wall.

8 posted on 10/17/2003 9:54:58 PM PDT by hotpotato
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
"There are a large number of people out there who would run through a brick wall for her, but I also think there are an equal number of people who want to throw her through a brick wall,"

All of the above sounds good to me. Kill two birds with one brick wall, so to speak.

9 posted on 10/17/2003 9:55:25 PM PDT by hobson (The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
None of this matters if this story turns out to be true:

Clinton's Fall Guy May Turn the Table - Peter Paul

Hope springs eternal... :-)

10 posted on 10/17/2003 10:01:18 PM PDT by hotpotato
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
with her re-election campaign more than three years away, the junior senator from New York is acting like a candidate on the run, embarking on the kind of furious bout of campaigning normally found with a politician who is trailing in the polls.

Why not? She learned that from her wife, Billy Jeff Pervert. People don't like me? I'll fix that, I'll go on the campaign trail and find some that do! ABCCBSCNNNBC will cover it for me! And if they still don't like me, I'll run to Europe! They LOVE me over there! Screw doing my actual job!

11 posted on 10/17/2003 10:11:17 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
And not one word about the days and days she has spent away from her desk traipsing all over the country signing her "book" for her precious dronettes.

This thing lives for one reason and one reason only, to be POTUS.

12 posted on 10/17/2003 10:37:58 PM PDT by upchuck (This Tag Line be blank on porpoise :)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
...a lot of voters really dislike her

Voters? How about your everyday average person who has a sense of of morals who really isn`t too hip about having a bonafide sociopath in the White House? She comes into New York with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever to run for Senator, never mind that she never lived in nor had anything ever to do with New York, nor had any history in an elected position in politics before, and immediately puts the people of that state she is running in, in danger by ordering her husband to pardon FALN terrorists who bombed NYC and Chicago130 times, even before she is even elected! All so she can buy votes from a bunch of misguided idiots! And what did these terrorists say to her husbands offer that he would pardon them if they renounced violence? They refused! Screw you pal! They refused to renounce violence! And what happened? He pardoned them anyway! Pardoned them even though most were sentenced to life, pardoned them even though they only served 15 to 20 years, pardoned them even though they never asked to be pardoned nor ever apologized for what they did! And this is how she treats just one state? And they are considering this sick woman for President? Are you out of your f------g mind? And does anyone for one second believe that this woman is doing anything but campaigning right now? Do you honestly think she has been on this "book signing tour" for the past six months just to sell freggin` books? Her Presidential campaign started the second she decided to run for Senator of New York! And when is she ever IN New York?? It`s either to do a TV show, or march in a parade. How many funerals did she attend for NYC firemen and cops killed on 911? ZERO! NYC fag parades are more important to her than those who gave their lives that day. Every other politician in NY state has attended those funerals, Guliani 200++, every one except Hillary Clinton. Why? Because she is a SOCIOPATH! That is not an insult, IT IS A FACT! And this is who they want to be the first female President? This is the best that the human female race can come up with?

Profile of a Sociopath



13 posted on 10/17/2003 11:45:13 PM PDT by metalboy (Liberals-Nuke `em from orbit. It`s the only way to be sure.)
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To: All

-The Clinton Files--

Liars-- and Sleaze, Incorporated... ( my files on the clintons and friends )

-Some old strange clinton "stuff"--

-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--


Madison Society - Slick Willy
... THE CLINTON TIME LINE. The Etherzone provides, in one location, all the events
of the Clinton Ongoing Corruption from 1977 through 2000. Read more. ...

CLINTON'S ROGUES GALLERY:
... And that gets to my second chart, Mr. Speaker, which is the time line.....Up until
1993, Mr. Speaker, under Democrats and Republican Presidents alike, there ...

The Cost of Life (Clinton/Gore Sellout of Security for Campaign Contributions) **FR EXCLUSIVE** #2

DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON

CIA Officials Reveal What Went Wrong – Clinton to Blame

Is Bill Clinton Responsible for September 11?

Catastrophic intelligence Failure - Clinton's Bin Laden GATE

-Murder, Inc.--

-The number of "suicides" for people linked to this and other Clinton-related cases--

-ATTENTION BLOODHOUNDS--

-Women in the Clinton Era: Abuse,Intimidation and Smears--

-SEND JUANITA BROADDRICK VIDEO TO THOSE WHO WANT CLINTON TO SPEAK--

Nothing phony about response to Hillary at fete

Hillary's delegates spit on and taunt Police Honor Guard at her Convention

-Sen. Hillary Clinton--NewsMax.com Hot Topics--

Boo Hillary! The Video***

-All Hillary, all the time...--

1. The Clinton's are pro-abortion. Our children deserve better.
2. The Clinton's are against school vouchers. Our children deserve better.
3. The Clinton's are against our ballistic missile defense system. Our children deserve to be protected from rogue North Korean nuclear missiles.
4. The Clinton's want Americans to be subjected to the International Criminal Court, which has no Bill of Rights, no right to see your accuser, no jury, and no appeal. Our citizens deserve better.
5. The Clinton's want the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming to become law. That treaty will eventually lead to the prohibition of gasoline-powered automobiles. We deserve better than to return to the pre-industrial age.

14 posted on 10/18/2003 2:18:43 AM PDT by backhoe (Just an old Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the trakball into the Sunset...)
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To: hotpotato
She needs to be BEHIND a brick wall with razor wire on top doing the hard time she's earned in her notorious criminal career.
15 posted on 10/18/2003 5:45:12 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
She needs to be BEHIND a brick wall with razor wire on top...

I'd rather see her blindfolded and in front of the brick wall and being offered a cigaret.

16 posted on 10/18/2003 5:51:49 AM PDT by JesseHousman (Execute Mumia Abu-Jamal)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
"Voters are sophisticated enough to know that this kind of speculation is not based on her performance in the Senate," said a Democrat close to the Clinton camp. "They know it's based on what many people see as her personal ambition. And she has to be careful about that because her personal ambition is what fuels the negative perceptions of her."

Some voters, but not the New York Times, are sophisticated enough to know that anti-Hillary hostility has less to do with Senate performances and personal ambitions and more to do with her record in the White House 1993-2000, including the selling of defense secrets, pardoning of domestic terrorists and drug kingpins, grand jury perjury, the use of thugs to intimidate, the use of lawyers to assert spurious executive privileges, and other "gated" corrupt enterprises, as well as their Final Days of pandering and purloining.

Giuliani could become New York's patron saint if he were to run against Hillary in 2006 and thereby rescue us from our stupidity here in the Empire State. This threat may drive Hillary into the 2004 race where she can be put out of our misery once and for all. She would lose both the election and her potential power and influence. To paraphrase Churchill, there is nothing more exhilarating in life as to have your opponent shot at with result.

17 posted on 10/18/2003 7:05:56 AM PDT by OESY
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To: OESY
To paraphrase Churchill, there is nothing more exhilarating in life as to have your opponent shot at with result.

A keeper.

18 posted on 10/18/2003 7:18:55 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: JesseHousman
I'd rather see her blindfolded and in front of the brick wall and being offered a cigaret.

Ha. That reminds me of the cartoon I saw of the man standing before the firing squad and being offered a last cigarette by the Captain of the guards. The condemned's response, "No thanks, I'm trying to quit."

19 posted on 10/18/2003 7:22:15 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: hotpotato
" Oh, no. It's not an equal number... try many times over number would like to throw her through a brick wall."

Just exactly how many people do you think it would take just to lift her??

20 posted on 10/18/2003 7:27:00 AM PDT by Thom Pain
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