I doubt that Mrs. Clinton can be elected president. I use my hometown, the farming community of Yamhill, Ore., as my touchstone for the heartland, and I have a hard time imagining that she could do well there. Ambitious, high-achieving women are still a turnoff in many areas, particularly if they're liberal and feminist. And that's not just in America: Margaret Thatcher would never have been elected prime minister if she'd been in the Labor Party.
If she tries to be all things to all people, she will lose.
What she will need is a good, old fashioned political advisor. She not only has to appeal to her base (eg, women, blacks, hispanics, and gays), she needs to get back the traditional democratic voters (Catholics and labor).
She will never get the evangelical (abortion issue) and the blue collar young male vote.
IMO the key voting groups are the Jews (for their influence) and the Catholics (large numbers). This is the key to her election.
She will get all of Kerry's blue states, but she will need Ohio and Florida.
With a good political advisor, that should be pretty easy for her to do. |
