Trackbacked at Shadowscope, Hot Air:
Two years before the next president is inaugurated and a full year before the first vote is cast, the contest for the White House is off to a breathtakingly fast start, exposing an ever-growing field of candidates to longer, more intensive scrutiny and increasing the amount of money they need to remain viable.
On Sunday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) held her first campaign event, highlighting her focus on health care a day after declaring her plans to run. Hillary’s abrupt announcement on Saturday that she is running for the presidency is a sign that her campaign is already in trouble.
From the Washington Post:
One day after declaring for president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) gave her first public glimpse of how she will run: as the mother of a daughter, as a serious student of policy and as a two-term senator from New York.
With minimal staff, no family members and not even a sound system to amplify her remarks, Clinton appeared on Sunday at a colorless community clinic in Manhattan to announce a piece of health-care legislation, her first real outing since launching her presidential bid online. Despite a media crush that overwhelmed the participants, Clinton treated the event like a routine stop, acknowledging only during a question period at the end that she had finally decided to run.
“I am worried about the future of our country, and I want to help put it back on the right course, so that we can work together to meet the challenges that confront us at home and abroad in order to secure a better future for all,” Clinton said when asked why she wants to be president, embracing the 2008 campaign after more than six years of frenzied speculation about her plans.
“I believe that I am in the best position to be able to do that,” she said. And she repeated her latest mantra: “I’m in to win. And that’s what I intend to do.”
There are now a dozen serious contenders from both parties competing in a presidential race that for the first time in more than half a century will not include an incumbent — either the president or the vice president — on the ballot or even a definitive front-runner.
Why did Hillary Clinton announce the start of her presidential campaign without fanfare or build-up? Why did she make the announcement on a Saturday morning, the least news-worthy time of the week? Why did she do it at such short notice that she would not appear on the Sunday morning politics chatshows such as Meet The Press that abound on US television? And why would she do it three days before the president’s annual State of the Union address, which will inevitably hog the news pages and bulletins between now and the middle of next week?
The most obvious answer is: panic. Since Barack Obama made his announcement last week, the Clinton camp must have felt a slippage in support, in terms of money and talent, that led it to announce the formation of her exploratory committee so abruptly. The Washington Post’s front page article put a positive gloss on the timing by saying: “Her announcement was deliberately timed to come shortly before President Bush’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, campaign advisers said, so she can draw a contrast with the administration’s record and help focus attention on the office of the presidency.”
BS.
The Clinton Camp has been watching Obama’s poll numbers and they’re scared, possibly for the first time in years, that Hillary cannot command the Presidential spotlight.
She also has $14 million in the bank and the proven ability to harvest millions more.
But the “New York Times” has a more compelling reason on its front page: the earlier start by Obama was revealing his strength in fundraising. The NYT referred to a recent decision by George Soros – who in the past has backed both Clinton and Obama – to immediately send financial support to Obama in the wake of his announcement. “Soros believes that Senator Obama brings a new energy to the political system and has the potential to be a transformational leader,” the NYT quoted Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, as saying. The almost endless supply of money that Soros can send to Obama could cripple Hillary before she’s able to get a strong foothold leading into the Democratic primaries – the same primaries Hillary has always assumed she would breeze through.
Obama’s arrival as a serious rival candidate will make matters far more difficult for Clinton. In the past Hollywood has been a rich vein of funding for both her and her husband’s campaigns – but now Obama’s star factor is crowding her out on the west left liberal coast.
In any case, the stage is now set. The Democratic nomination will be won by one of the three leading candidates: Clinton, Obama or John Edwards. All three are strong candidates and effective campaigners. But the fact that there are three spells disaster for Hillary Clinton. Her biggest rival is Obama, and if Saturday’s announcement was the product of a reaction to his recent success, then her chances may be fading by the day.
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1 Komrade Hillary Jumps In « Obi’s Sister // Jan 23, 2007 at 1:12 pm
[...] January 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 pm (Election2008, Stop Hillary) CommonFolkUsingCommonSense calls a spade a spade. Why did Hillary Clinton announce the start of her presidential campaign without fanfare or build-up? Why did she make the announcement on a Saturday morning, the least news-worthy time of the week? Why did she do it at such short notice that she would not appear on the Sunday morning politics chatshows such as Meet The Press that abound on US television? And why would she do it three days before the president’s annual State of the Union address, which will inevitably hog the news pages and bulletins between now and the middle of next week? [...]