Posted on 08/29/2003 5:04:25 PM PDT by blam
Hillary Clinton urged to take on troubled Bush in 2004 contest
By Toby Harnden in Washington
(Filed: 30/08/2003)
Hillary Clinton, the darling of the Democratic Party, is under growing pressure to make a late bid for the White House in 2004 from supporters who believe that only she can defeat George W Bush.
Hillary Clinton: 'star quality'
Democrats, who have been in the doldrums since the September 11 attacks sent Mr Bush's poll ratings soaring into territory that made him seem impregnable in 2004, have recently begun to believe that the President could be in trouble.
But senior party figures worry that none of the nine candidates currently contesting the Democratic nomination has the ability fully to capitalise on Mr Bush's new vulnerability on foreign policy and the economy.
"Hillary could do it," said a Democratic official. "She could rid us of Bush. Launching a campaign now would transform the 2004 race and leave the White House quaking. But will she run? I just don't know."
Speculation that she was seriously mulling over the issue was heightened yesterday by a report that she would meet aides next week to make a decision.
She has until Nov 21 to register for the important New Hampshire primary, to be held in January.
When asked by The Telegraph about the report, Amy Bonitatibus, a spokesman for Mrs Clinton, replied: "Not true."
Those close to the senator, however, seemed to be happy for the rumour mill to keep grinding, perhaps because it helps her to gauge how she might fare if she did decide to announce.
Mrs Clinton has repeatedly ruled out running in 2004, stating that she is concentrating solely on being re-elected to the Senate in 2006, the end of her first term in Congress.
But it is an open secret that she has been laying the foundations for a White House challenge in 2008 when, until now, her strategists had assumed that Mr Bush would be stepping down after being re-elected comfortably in 2004.
They had also calculated that by Sept 1, the unofficial start of the 2004 presidential primary campaign, Democrats would have begun to rally around one figure as the challenger to Mr Bush.
To the dismay of the party establishment, however, Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor running on a populist, anti-war platform, has emerged as the narrow front-runner, eclipsing stalwarts such as Sen John Kerry and Representative Dick Gephardt.
Although it is possible that a liberal candidate such as Mr Dean could secure the Democratic nomination, in post-September 11 America it is highly unlikely that he would unseat Mr Bush in a general election.
Gen Wesley Clark, the former Nato commander in Bosnia, is expected to enter the fray within weeks. He might damage Mr Kerry, who often emphasises his credentials as a Vietnam war hero, but his political inexperience and late entry into the race will count against him.
There have even been calls for Al Gore, the former vice-president who announced last December that he would not run in 2004, to change his mind and come to the party's rescue, although many political operatives believe that he ran an inept campaign in 2000.
Mrs Clinton undoubtedly has the political network and "star quality" that would transform the Democratic contest overnight and cause money to flood into her coffers.
A majority of Democrats still believe that President Bill Clinton was the victim, in Mrs Clinton's famous phrase, of a "vast, Right-wing conspiracy" and that his wife is best placed to avenge him.
She sold more than a million copies of her memoir Living History over the summer and there is some evidence that her image is softening and she has become a less divisive figure than before.
A June Gallup poll found that she had a favourability rating of 53 per cent, a rise from 43 per cent before the book was published.
Republicans in the Senate have said, only a little grudgingly, that she has worked hard as a junior senator, co-operating with her political opponents and mastering the minutiae of congressional business.
If she did decide to run for the White House next year, Mrs Clinton would be following the example of Robert Kennedy, another New York senator who was accused of being a "carpetbagger" because he did not hail from the state.
President John F Kennedy's brother entered the 1968 presidential race when President Lyndon Johnson withdrew, despite earlier protestations that he had no intention of running. He was assassinated in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
One factor that may weigh against Mrs Clinton running is a judgment that while Mr Bush has hit a bumpy patch he is far from being badly wounded politically.
A Gallup poll released on Wednesday found that support for the Iraq war was 63 per cent, exactly the same as a month earlier, and his popularity ratings remain above 50 per cent, indicating that he would easily win another election if it were held at the moment.
For the time being, this is not stopping Mrs Clinton's fans dreaming and hoping. On the friendsofhillary.com website, officially launched by Mrs Clinton last month, many of the comments from supporters posted by the site's staff beg her to take on Mr Bush.
"Please run for President in 2004," begged Josh B. "We need you. We need your leadership, ideas, and changes."
A message from Kim C said: "I would love nothing more than to see you in the White House - the sooner the better. You will always have my continued support whether it's for the Senate or president. Go get 'em, girl!"
Yeah!!, he is troubled...
It's the Economy, Stupid!!!
Nothing cuts Bush as much as middle class Outsourcing...and since it has emerged exclusively on Bush's watch there is no "blowback" on the Democrats.
Bush to Middle Class: Send yous sons and daughters to get BLOWN AWAY in IRAQ while we ship your LIVIHOODS to India!!
...and you think Hillary will fix this situation?
Of course not...but that isn't the point.
This issue has tremendous fear potential...Bush's Middle Class base is seething over it!!
NordP
You know what's even more delicious to me? I'll bet you some of her insider minions monitor FR for threads like this. It's just tooooooo juicy when I think about it. Heh heh.
Hillary ain't slick. She's predictable to people with half a brain cell.
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