Everyone Knows Hillary

The New York Times reports that Hillary Rodham Clinton faces a problem that has dogged her since her days as first lady: an entrenched bloc of voters simply do not like her:

One poll after another shows that roughly one of three New Yorkers has an unfavorable opinion of Mrs. Clinton, a statistic that has not changed since she took office in 2001.

Nationally, her standing is worse, even as her aides prepare for what is emerging as a possible bid for president in 2008. Roughly 4 of 10 Americans disapprove of her, according to a recent poll by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

The voters who disapprove of Mrs. Clinton are numerous and unshakable, and they have been around so long that they even have a name in political circles. Hillary haters.

From California Yankee.

Palestinians would vote for Clinton

I’ve keep watching the various international “constituencies” in Zero Electoral Vote Territories across the world saying who’d they’d vote for.

Here’s an interesting one:

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinians would vote for Clinton

If the American presidential election had been held in Ramallah on Sunday, the hands-down winner would have been former president Bill Clinton.

“Frankly,” said Azzam Mansour, who owns the al-Numan “American-style” grocery store in Ramallah’s twin city of El-Bireh, “I only wish I could vote for Clinton.”

John Kerry is most Palestinians’ inevitable second choice. The most succinct answer many Palestinians gave 48 hours before one of the tightest presidential races in memory was, “I would vote for Kerry. Why Bush?”

“We want to get rid of Bush,” said Mansour, who bounced around the southern US for 30 years. “Maybe Kerry will be better, but the bottom line is that Bush made people hate America.” On the other hand, he said, Clinton “was just, he was fair.”

Mansour said that he wished he could grab hold of Bush’s collar and shout “Whatcha doing?” All of Mansour’s five siblings live in the US, and they all intend to vote Kerry.

Hillary Clinton As "Understudy"

That’s the term the Financial Times uses, noting that this year she’s “waiting in the wings,” and that:

when Hillary Rodham Clinton steps to the stage in Boston’s FleetCenter on Monday night, convention organisers will have little control over how many delegates use the occasion to boost the party star, not as a sitting senator or a former first lady but as a future presidential candidate herself.

For while the gathering is officially and overwhelmingly about trying to send John Kerry to the White House, it is unofficially and unavoidably also about the future of the Democratic party. And any discussion about future presidents among Democrats inevitably turns to Mrs Clinton, who was elected to the Senate from New York in 2000.

An interesting take on a somewhat tired story … read the rest here.

"Edwards Clouds Hillary’s White House Dreams"

That’s the title of this Alexander Bolton piece at The Hill, where he opines that the Edwards VP selection has “swelled the budding rivalry between him and Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), who is believed by many to be eyeing the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.” Lots of insider quotes and perspectives; well worth the read.

The Bush-Clinton White House Lovefest

Bill Clinton returned to the White House to be there for the unveiling of his official portrait — and heaping handfuls of praise hurled at him by President George Bush. (To see one artist’s view of Clinton click here. )

Here’s just a small part of it (we won’t use more because we don’t want to get diabetes):

GWB ON CLINTON: “”The years have done a lot to clarify the strengths of this man. As a candidate for any office, whether it be the state attorney general or the president, Bill Clinton showed incredible energy and great personal appeal.” And on Hillary:”Listen, New York politics is a serious business — it’s rough business. It takes an extraordinary person to campaign and win the United States Senate. She has proven herself more than equal to the challenge.”

CLINTON’S COMMENTS:”I’ve just been doing some interviews in connection with my book, and I told Mr. Rather yesterday, I said: ‘You know, most of the people I’ve known in this business, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, were good people, honest people, and they did what they thought was right. And I hope that I’ll live long enough to see American politics return to vigorous debates where we argue who’s right and wrong, not who’s good and bad.”

Then they all hugged (we guess..)

Kerry Maintains Wisconsin Lead In New Poll

The latest Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll shows Kerry maintaining huge lead in Wisconsin:

Kerry 47%
Dean 23%
Edwards 20%
Kucinich 2%
Sharpton 1%

According to Zogby:

Dean is polling very well among young people around Madison. It is hard to see Dean going on from here however, he is polling well enough to get delegates and it’s interesting to see that Edwards and Dean together suggest a substantial non-Kerry vote. What would happen if Kerry were to face just one opponent?

Kerry has the highest favorable ratings and is given by far and away, the best shot at defeating President Bush. Again, it’s all about electability.

The poll was conducted Friday, February 13th through Sunday, February 15. The margin of error is +/- 4.1

From Bad to Wes

Mark Steyn takes on the misperception that Clark is electable:

If he didn't have the temperament to be NATO commander in the dozy '90s, he certainly doesn't have the temperament to be president at a time of war. ''I'm going to take care of the American people. We are not going to have one of these incidents.'' He is the incident, waiting to happen.

Yikes.

www.HillaryNow.com

Bob Kunst of the Oral Majority has launched www.hillarynow.com ... pay a visit and see a grass-roots draft campaign first-hand.

Howard Fineman on a Clinton Convention

From MSNBC:

THE SCENARIO, as sketched by this hard-boiled insider, calls for Clinton to make an entrance as healer and unifier at the end of the primary season in May or June in the unlikely--but not impossible--event that none of the existing contenders has amassed a majority of the convention delegates."You'd have to have Howard Dean not wrapping it up, and being an angry, wounded front runner," this adviser said. "You'd have to have two of the other challengers tearing each other apart in primary after primary. Then Hillary could come in, well in advance of the convention, and say, 'Look, somebody has to save the party'."

I'm not sure that this is a plausible scenario. Read my response here.

Does the Media Yearn for a Gore/Clinton Ticket?

This CNN article notes the difficulty the nine democratic hopefuls have at getting attention, when Gore and Clinton seem to ooze it.

Consider this. Gore delivered a speech in New York Thursday criticizing Bush on everything from Iraq to the economy, echoing the same complaints that the nine candidates have been delivering to varying degrees during the last few months. And yet the cable news stations cut away to a live broadcast of Gore's speech, something they've rarely done with the nine candidates.

Even the first Democratic presidential debate sponsored by ABC News was delayed tape at the discretion of the local affiliates, or next day C-Span coverage.

In the meantime, the pundits breathlessly speculate about what would happen if Gore entered the race, even though his aides insist that he will not. The publication of Hillary Clinton's book, "Living History," provided even longer and more intense coverage, and fierce speculation that she's going to run for president one day.

Does the media want Hillary or Al to run? of course, and not just for political reasons either. So far the consensus is that Bush is going to easily step over any of the potential candidates, leading inevitably to a boring fall. Punditry will be unnecessary and journalists will be praying for scandal. Add Clinton or Gore and you have a political blockbuster.

Presidential Candidate Hillary?

More speculation on the Senator's aspirations, this time from the Rochester Democrat Chronicle. It notes:

In New Hampshire, a Boston Herald poll of likely Democratic voters in late July showed Clinton the front-runner by a narrow margin over former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean if she entered the fray. Clinton received 27 percent, up 14 percent from an early-July poll by the University of New Hampshire that had her in third place, four points behind Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and two points behind Dean.

Clinton Gears Up for Election Bid ... Sort of

Just days after a poll showed Hillary Clinton in a statistical dead heat with Bush in a hypothetical election, she is launching a website called Friends of Hillary Clinton. The site will ostensibly serve as a fundraising tool for her 2006 re-election campaign, but will also be used for general Democratic outreach. No doubt the move will feed suspicions on the part of Republicans who believe, despite her repeated denials, that Clinton has not counted out a run in 2004.

Full Story at CNN All Politics

Hillary On 2004 Prez Bid: 'You Never Know'

This contradicts an earlier story ... but again, deception is at the heart of the art of strategy. From NewsMax:

New York Sen. Clinton continued to gin up speculation during her book tour in Great Britain this weekend that she's preparing to run for president in 2004, hinting during a television interview that such a move "might happen."

Appearing Friday on BBC Channel 4's "Richard and Judy Show," Mrs. Clinton was pressed on whether she might challenge President Bush as early as next year.

"You never know what might happen," she told the TV duo, after first dismissing as "rumors" reports that she was considering a run in 2004.