Mike Allen's morning newsletter.
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HILLARY'S PLAYBOOK -- "A model for Hillary Clinton 2016: Hillary Clinton 2000," by Maggie Haberman : "The most urgent question Hillary Clinton would face if she runs for president again is whether she could avoid the blunders - the bitter staff rivalries going public, the poisonous relationship with the press, the presumption of inevitability - that helped doom her campaign five years ago. There's one powerful piece of evidence that she could - her own bid for New York senator in 2000. ... The candidate who pivoted from first lady to Senate candidate overcame a 'carpetbagger' tag, ditched the Rose Garden strategy and campaigned hard in New York's purple upstate region. ... The first lady was one the most polarizing figures in the country, surrounded by an international media swarm. The early betting was she couldn't break through the protective bubble of Secret Service agents and advisers to forge a meaningful connection with voters. She did all of those things, handily beating Republican Rick Lazio. ...
"Clinton allies know she will need new faces for 2016 - people who are empowered and trusted to do their jobs. It was one of the most important leaps of faith she took in 1999. ... When she arrived in New York, Clinton combined familiar advisers - ad maker Mandy Grunwald, policy adviser Neera Tanden, advisers Harold Ickes and Patti Solis Doyle, and aides Karen Finny and Kelly Craighead - with a large group of people she'd never met before. They included Bill de Blasio, the New York City mayoral frontrunner who was tapped to be her campaign manager; Howard Wolfson, the current deputy mayor under Michael Bloomberg who had been chief of staff to Rep. Nita Lowey; press aide Karen Dunn, who last year was part of Obama's presidential debate prep team; and Jewish liaison Matthew Hiltzik; and, on the coordinated, soft-money campaign, operatives like David Axelrod, former Obama White House political hand Sean Sweeney, pollster Geoff Garin and former political strategist Gigi Georges. ...
"[S]he was treated like a rock star, drown[ing] out ... negative coverage. The cartoon version of Hillary Clinton - shrill, regal - largely evaporated. ... With Clinton's persona larger than ever and no obvious Obama-like candidate in the wings, Clinton will have to summon her 2000-era self to show she's working hard for the job. ... Clinton barely engaged with Iowa voters in a meaningful way in 2007, a fact that came back to bite her when the better-organized Obama vaulted ahead. Voters complained throughout the race about a lack of access to the candidate. In 2000, ... Clinton made a point of visiting towns that had rarely, if ever, seen a Democratic statewide political candidate ... An entire strategy was devoted to humanizing her ... She went on David Letterman's show in January 2000." goo.gl |
