Posted on 06/09/2005 8:07:44 AM PDT by CHARLITE
LOS ANGELES -- Back east, well-placed Democrats have agreed that the party's 2008 nomination is all wrapped up better than three years in advance. They say that the prize is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's for the asking, and that she is sure to ask. But here on the left coast, I found surprising and substantial Democratic opposition to going with the former first lady.
Both the Hollywood glitterati and the more mundane politicians of Los Angeles are looking elsewhere. They have seen plenty of Sen. Clinton over the past dozen years, and they don't particularly like what they've seen. Two far less well-known Democrats -- Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh -- were hits on recent visits to California, mainly because they were not Hillary.
The concern here with Clinton is not borne in fear that she might fail to carry California. Almost any Democrat would be likely to win in the nation's most populous state, where the advent of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an exotic event that has not changed the GOP's minority status in California. Rather, the fear here is pronounced that Clinton cannot win in Red America, guaranteeing a third straight Republican term in the White House.
Party insiders in Washington and New York, including many who ran the last two losing Democratic presidential campaigns, say they have never before seen anything like the way Clinton has sewed up the nomination. In particular, they say, she has cornered Eastern money in a way nobody else ever has done at such an early date.
At a dinner party in a private room of a Los Angeles restaurant attended by eight Democratic politicians (including City Council members and a county supervisor), I was asked to assess the political scene. I concluded with a preview of the distant events of 2008. While there had not been so open a race for the Republican nomination since 1940, I said, Clinton was dominant for the Democrats. For someone who is neither an incumbent president nor vice president to have apparently locked the nomination so early is without precedent.
As I made this analysis, the liberal Democratic functionary across the table from me shook his head in disagreement. He left his seat between courses, and then returned with this announcement: "There are eight Democrats in this room. I've taken a little poll, and none of them -- none -- are for Hillary for president. They think she is a loser."
Talking to some of them, I found concern that Hillary carries too much baggage from her turbulent marriage and her husband's presidency to do any better than John Kerry did last year. One female office holder was looking hard for another Southern moderate who could bite into the Confederacy as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had done.
Another woman office holder was hostile to a Clinton candidacy on a more personal basis. "Don't think that Hillary has the women's vote," she told me. "I will never forgive her for sticking with her husband after he humiliated her. It's something I can't get over."
Eight Democrats, no matter how prominent, constitute a tiny sample. But I checked with Democratic sources in California and found broad early resistance to Clinton. Warner wowed listeners on a recent trip, though he was not as big a hit as Bayh on his L.A. sojourn. The Hoosier senator may be a dull, moderate Midwesterner to the party cognoscenti who already have bestowed the nomination on Clinton, but he looked like a winner to the Hollywood crowd.
These anti-Clinton Democrats are not reassured by what Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Moderator Tim Russert asked: "Do you think that Sen. Clinton would be a formidable presidential candidate?" "I do," Mehlman replied, adding: "Sen. Clinton is smart. She's effective." As Mehlman himself said, Republicans don't want to repeat the 1980 mistake of the Democrats when they relished the nomination of Ronald Reagan as an easy mark.
Nevertheless, in private, Republicans say they would much rather run against Hillary Clinton, who votes a straight liberal line, than an unknown moderate from Virginia or Indiana. Savvy Democrats in Los Angeles agree.
The demorats run for the presidential nomination is going to be so uggglllly that I can't wait to see it.Mud wrestling won't even come close to second place.
This is very interesting news. If they can convince the rest of the country that Hillary has too much "baggage" maybe the Democrats will select somebody else to run and put her in her place once and for all.
Charlite,
Either they are tired of seeing her mug all over the place or really aren't down with her moderate make over that she's been trying to put over on the masses. Rush Limbaugh has been saying for a long time that the Clinton's will not go away.....how true. Definitely a trend to keep an eye on.
Is she gay? Angry?
Why, just the other evening Weekly World News reports she kicked in the door of a Georgetown 'Daughters of Lesbos' bar and screamed, "I can lick anyone in the joint."
Well they had better come up with a plan quick. She's a one-woman locust storm and she's coming. {{{{shiver}}}}}
As the article points out even many democrats don't like Hillary, what's to like? The office I work in is stafffed by mostly liberals, informal poll here for Hillary in 08
1 for 6 against.
"Talking to some of them, I found concern that Hillary carries too much baggage..."
Wow! If she has too much 'baggage' for West coast liberals, that's saying something. That's sort of like a whore telling you that you have bad breath, or something! Right?
It was Bill that Hollywood was in love with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I live in Memphis, Tenn. an annex of Arkansas. This is small town America and everybody knows everybodies business. Of all the things that I have heard about the Clinton's, Mrs. Clinton being a lesbian is not one of them. I think that if was true the rumor would be wide spread here.
I fully expect that Hollywood will receive marching orders, and they will obey. They will fawn over Hildabeast just as they did over Wee Willie... probably moreso.
"Why, just the other evening Weekly World News reports she kicked in the door of a Georgetown 'Daughters of Lesbos' bar and screamed, "I can lick anyone in the joint."
That's priceless. You made my day!
Fair enough. Like I said, I don't plan on mentioning it again.
I think this is the surprise. Many feel this way who would vote for Kerry or any other. let's just see what any of them do on illegal immigration. This will be the upside to any who oppose it.
"I will never forgive her for sticking with her husband after he humiliated her. It's something I can't get over."
This is very interesting.
I love your comment, and I agree completely. History will show that these two are a blight on America's reputation. The damage that they have already caused is truly inestimable. It is staggering, when you begin to reflect upon all of their potentially criminal acts, going all the way back to their start-up Arkansas ("arkancide?") days.
Thanks for your comment, priarie.
Char :)
On the advice of former president Carter, Madelyn Albright and president Hillary/Wm. Clinton sold out America's national security to *appease* North Korea.
The treasonous "liberal" mantra is "more global equality."
Needless to say, dispensing "equality" is not giving every nation and odd country an equal number of nuclear weapons.
If any politician deserves a pie thrown in their face, I suggest that even a pie facial could not improve Mad Albright.
Terrorist Attack 9/11 is the H/W Clinton legacy.
Anti-Americanism throughout the world is Albright's legacy.
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