Why Hillary Lost Iowa
 Clinton on Caucus Day © Joe Raedle / Getty Images |
Days before the Iowa Caucus, two writers (who just happen to be male) sensed what was going wrong in Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign and called it as they saw it.
Their observations proved to be accurate.
Clinton's third-place finish in Iowa suggests that the change voters wanted had little to do with the change Clinton fashioned for herself.
At Time magazine online on December 23, 2007, Jay Newton-Small of the Grundy Center wrote:
Clinton has…shaken up her message in recent weeks, trying on different hats: angry Hillary; warm-and-fuzzy mommy Hillary; commander-in-chief Hillary; insurgent change-candidate Hillary. "It's a very close race in Iowa, and quite naturally, the Clinton campaign has decided to throw in everything it's got, plus the kitchen sink," says Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "She's both the candidate of change and the candidate of experience, the candidate with a hard side and a soft side, and the candidate of the establishment past and the progressive future. Maybe voters are getting confused..."On December 30, 2007, John Heilemann, writing for New York magazine, observed:
Here was Clinton trying, in the eleventh hour, to prove to Iowans that she was, well, human after all. The parodic aspects...were impossible to deny, even by some of Hillary’s most ardent and loyal adherents....[T]he suspicion, the fear, is that Hillary is a candidate without a core or convictions other than that she should be, must be, president. That her shifting personas, and the machine she has assembled to create and perpetrate them, are designed to conceal the fact that she is nothing but ambition incarnate. And that she and her husband are entangled in a bizarro codependency that coughs up chaos and queasy-making psychodrama in roughly equal measure.Heilemann's strong words are echoed in a kinder, gentler form by CNN political analyst Gloria Borger, who believes that Iowans rejected Clinton in part because of "her history question, the Clinton baggage, if you will. There are a lot of voters there who are saying, 'We want to get beyond that.' "
In a Newsweek web exclusive report posted earlier today, Michael Hirsch noted:
Clinton, in her concession speech, sought to be magnanimous even as she harked anew to the theme of change, in what could be an early sign of a shift in emphasis headed into the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday. Referring to the "unprecedented turnout," Clinton declared: "We are sending a clear message that we are going to have change and that change will be a Democratic president in the White House in 2009."She may be absolutely right. But today it's looking like that Democratic president could be Obama.
As of 2:58 am EST, CNN's Candy Crowley stated it appears that Barack Obama won the female vote in Iowa. A hard truth for the Clinton campaign to swallow.
Can Clinton stop shape-shifting and comfortably - and authentically - settle into herself enough to connect with women and men in New Hampshire? Can she convince voters she can bring about change? The next four days may tell.
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Comments
LET US NOT FORGET.
If anyone has a good memory of the Clintons’ White House years they will KNOW why Hillary isn’t popular – in Iowa or in many other States. 1) She turned the Lincoln Bedroom into a $50,000 a nite motel for campaign contributions; sold missile guidance secrets to the Chinese for more campaign cahs; charged $100,000 for a seat on the commerce secretary’s trips; let it be known that she made $100,000 in cattle futures when in fact it was lawyers from the Tyson Chicken Co. who engineered her gains; pardoned at the very last minute the biggest tax cheat in history because his wife made a huge contribution; removed items from the White House & Aire Force One as the ‘co-presidents’- left office; allowed their staff to destroy the White House property and graffiti the walls before leaving.
LET US NOT FORGET.
Incredible! People still repeating the lies about the Clintons after all these years. How much do you want to be that Reta still says that Saddam conspired with Al Queda on the 9-11 attacks?
No matter what she says or tries to say to change what people have seen in her character in the past, and, yes, its connected with her husbands horrible character, whether you like it or not…unless she comes right out and says…” Look I made mistakes along with my husband and I am truly sorry for what I’ve done in the past. I am an open book determinded to do whats right because it is right to do and no more hidden agendas and I have nothing to hide”…I don’t think there are very many people that can or will erace the DARK CLOUD of LIES and deceit that comes with the Clinton name…and, whether you like it or not, the majority of people DON”T approve of her message! They just made that clear …and will continue too….
Barack Obama won the YOUNG vote – report states that 25p ercent of his vote was from those in 18 to 34 age bracket. . . internet surfers, in my opinion. The older vote, ie., women stayed home – too cold to be out to vote.
Why is it the majority of the derogatory comments about Clinton are by men–are they really afraid to have a women in charge. If you don’t believe me watch Hardball–He can’t say her name without a sneer.
Why is it that people cannot see she is the smartest of all the canidates. The USA needs a change and I say that change is a women. The men had there chance.
I am a 54-year old solidly married (very) economically-professionally successful female career engineer who smoked pot and was permiscuous when eveyone else was too. Hillary Clinton should never see the inside of the white house again. When I say her name I don’t sneer, I grimace. Sorry nurse51.
Hillary couldn’t beat a house plant
In the Buckle of the Bible Belt, Iowa went for Barack and the Baptist.
And they reminded us that among Blue Collar Americans, Hillary couldn’t beat a house plant in the Heartland.
With the Iowa caucuses over last night, Iowans today are sitting by the phone like a fat girl on prom night, waiting for someone to ask their opinion on either the affairs of state or the state of their corn crop. It also means that the hordes of television reporters have returned to Los Angeles and Miami, and Iowans no longer have to listen to them whine that Midwest is cold in the winter – which is one of the features of areas that do not have indifferent weather, like New Hampshire where they’re headed next.
It seems an awful fuss for nothing. No delegates are awarded, no one gets elected.
It carries all the real world importance of elections for the Homecoming Queen. But if the criteria for winning the Iowa Caucuses is looking good in a formal gown, Rudy Guiliani would have won in a landslide.
Well, Heaven forbid old (young)Obama should get elected. We all make mistakes, so people do change. Clinton wasn’t THAT bad of a president. Why harp on the human errors he made? Look at all the other Presidents that had mistress’s. come on now! Obama has very little experience. He’s still wet, behind the ears. And Men, we women rule more than you think, or like to give us credit for. We can do as well a job as a man can. Wanna Bet? Joy
I have been intently watching this campagne, and am sad to say, as a senior and former independant undercover counter intelligence operative of our country and some of our allies, that we need to get to the realilzation that this is not a college football cheer leading campaign, but a real life and death campagne to save our country from the thieves presently running our government. Obamma did well because he has ran his campagne like a head cheer leader, and thus bringing in numerous young people who have not got the foggiest idea of what our government has, is, and wants to due to them and all the rest of its constituants. Like so many of our members of congress, who have knowinly, or unwittenly fallen for the lies this administration lives off of, Obama needs to get his head out of the sand and include ALL ages in his quest. The women who are supporting him are in that same group. When the Obama group gets their heads out of the clouds, and their feet down to earth reality, then maybe they will be mature enough to see the scam our government is perpetuating on our citizens, and allies.
Like Dick Cheney recently said, if Obama and Hillery teamed together the would be unbeatable. Unfortunately Obama has not let his ego allow him to see how true this is. The two of them together would be able to draw more women and young people together than any other canadates in our countrys’ history. The way this election is going is playing right into the republicans hands of “divide & conquer”, thus weakening the democrats ability to make real headway.
Dear,
I’m an outsider but lost in one place is not lost the race.
Come on go for it. Hillery Do it, there must something changing in the white house.
I live in Des Moines, Ia and watched what unfolded first hand.
There may be many issues that lead to Hillary’s 3rd place but there is one I never hear in the media – while the media talks about candidates upside and negative rating -in Hillary’s case they don’t mention that Hillary has a hard negative – I talked to so many people who not only chose other candidates but said they would vote for anybody but Hillary. There are many people that not only dislike her -they hate her. These people would (or did) vote against her. To be clear these are people of both parties, both genders,different races and all ages. I actually heard this from more women than men and equally among Dems and Rep. Most young people seemed to feel this way.
You can blame old stories and politics for this but Hillary was here plenty of time and spent plenty of money to create her own impressions on the voters.
I was somewhat shocked to hear this from so many people and in most cases at the very mention of her name!
It’s doubtful that Hillary’s finish in IA was a result of her own lack of confidence, or her uncertainty, if any, in finding her voice.
Personally, I think many of the men just got cold feet – as they are apt to do – when the uncertainties of the unfamiliar are overshadowed by media seduction of alternatives. The alternative proved to be the “safe” choice on that occasion, and many men like sheep followed along thereafter.
It takes courage to elect a woman President, and many men can’t rise to the occasion – still.