Hillary Clinton Readies for a Long Slog Against Bernie Sanders

[morningfog]

Facing a tougher than expected challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is preparing for a primary fight that could stretch into late April or early May and require a sprawling field operation in states and territories from Pennsylvania to Guam.

With the Iowa caucuses in two weeks and Mr. Sanders’s insurgent candidacy chipping away at Mrs. Clinton’s once formidable lead there, Clinton aides are acknowledging that the road to the party’s July convention could be an expensive slog. “Remember, I campaigned all the way into June last time,” Mrs. Clinton told CNN last week.

Even though the Clinton team has sought to convey that it has built a national operation, the campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa, hoping that a victory there could marginalize Mr. Sanders and set Mrs. Clinton on the path to the nomination. As much as 90 percent of the campaign’s resources are now split between Iowa and the Brooklyn headquarters, according to an estimate provided by a person with direct knowledge of the spending. The campaign denied that figure.

The campaign boasted last June, when Mrs. Clinton held her kickoff event on Roosevelt Island in New York, that it had at least one paid staff member in all 50 states. But the effort did not last, and the staff members were soon let go or reassigned. (Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said they had been hired as temporary workers to sign up volunteers at the start of the campaign, an effort he said had paid off organizationally.)

The focus on Iowa, which still haunts Mrs. Clinton after the stinging upset by Barack Obama there in 2008, has been so intense that even organizers in New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 9, have complained to the campaign’s leadership that they feel neglected.

* * *

For all its institutional advantages, the Clinton campaign lags behind the Sanders operation in deploying paid staff members: For example, Mr. Sanders has campaign workers installed in all 11 of the states that vote on Super Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton does not, and is relying on union volunteers and members of supportive organizations such as Planned Parenthood to help her.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/us/politics/hillary-clinton-readies-for-a-long-slog-against-bernie-sanders.html?_r=0

Such an enjoyable read. Really recommended reading.

[jeff47]

1. So "well qualified" that she can't have staff in all of 11 states?

Wow....that's pathetic.

[morningfog]

2. The most qualified ever. She has already made all these mistakes. She is qualfied to make them again

It was her hubris that shocked her last time. She didn't learn or change a thing, despite what her "supporters" here have been claiming.

[Punkingal]

4. LOL..."she is qualified to make them again."

[JimDandy]

6. Now THAT's funny! n/t

[daleanime]

29. True....

[John Poet]

20. Hillary!

[img][/img]

((was the actual concluding line of a pro-Hillary post on Facebook... thought to myself, wow, wouldn't that be a great campaign slogan!))

[morningfog]

3. Kick. Kick. Kick.

[grasswire]

5. kick nt

[Kentonio]

7. Wow, if she really has invested so heavily into Iowa

Then that explains completely why she's looking so worried. The common belief was that she had a comprehensive national organization in place. Wow, just wow..

[morningfog]

9. Imagine what her internals are showing.

They were so arrogant they don't have a national plan. They thought her lead was so formidable there was no need to consider it. That lead is fast eroding. The next two weeks are going to be incredible. Hillary will try anything and everything, no matter how sleazy or dishonest.

[Kentonio]

10. All I can think now is 'paper tiger'

90% of finances into one state and HQ is insanity. If Iowa falls they're going to be in an absolute panic.

[winter is coming]

11. It really is 2008 all over again.

[pengu]

26. And it feels wonderful!

[HereSince1628]

32. But...SUPERtuesday!!!...Firewalls!!!

What the hell?

I guess I fell for the notion there was structure behind those claims.

[davidpdx]

12. I thought they said it was suppose to be over by Super Tuesday?

[Katashi_itto]

13. She is well organized for the slog. Like Napoleon's march from Moscow. It will be spectacular.

Last edited Tue Jan 19, 2016, 09:37 AM - Edit history (1)

[scottie55]

15. Who Could Blame Her

She believed all them rotary dial phone polling numbers we have been fed.

Anyone do any polls using them new fangled wireless phones, or them sellyouler phones?

Didn't think so.

Please explain to me why 4 times as many people show up for Bernie rallys in the same spots as her rallys.

[Marty McGraw]

17. Relying on Union Members?

in her orphaned states? Perhaps the upper ranks but members...? oh oh...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. "...the (Hillary) campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa.."

Excuse me for a moment....

Okay. I feel better now.

[SheilaT]

19. Hah! I recall a few weeks, maybe a couple of months ago,

Hillary supporters assuring me that *She* had offices in a bunch of states and Bernie didn't, which was why, aside from being Totally Inevitable, she was going to sweep the primaries.

Where was it that eager Bernie supporters opened an office for him on their own? And didn't I see it posted here that a few hours after an office was opened for him in NYC (at least that's where I think it was) something like 600 people had signed up to volunteer for him?

[John Poet]

21. In Ohio, Bernie backers opened office on their own

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/16/1470870/-Ohio-s-Not-Waiting-for-Bernie-Sanders

[morningfog]

22. She lied to her supporters.

She led them to believe they were building a robust national campaign, mindful of her 2008 mistakes.

But that was all a facade. She's really stressing the FIRST state, blowing all her money and scrambling to develop a Plan B far too late.

Poor planning, arrogance, and blowing smoke up supporters' asses are not presidential qualities.

[morningfog]

23. A lot of good nuggets in this.

[morningfog]

25. The, like Hillary, are in for a surprise.

[pengu]

27. Indeed

I hope they underestimate him in the general election every bit as much as Clinton has.

[DonCoquixote]

28. With all due respect

If she was not prepared for a long slog against Bernie, then how would she do once Trump starts spending money like a king and calling her every insult in the book?

[morningfog]

30. One step further, how would she run the country?

[mikehiggins]

31. Towards the end of WW I

The Kaiser's people sent a sealed train into Russia. Inside was Vladimir Lenin. THe Germans were convinced that if their secret weapon could foment an insurrection against the Czar it would weaken the Russians, and maybe even lead to their quitting the war.

Hey? How'd that turn out, comrades?

This, again, is the Law of Unintended Consequences at work, much like our great success in Iraq, etc., etc.

Bloomberg has carried some first rate articles about this race but this is a real dosey. Are the GOPukes really that stupid? Well, yeah.

Like most armies they are fighting the last war. Being experts and political insiders they are discounting the widespread dissatisfaction with "politics as usual" ( personified in HRC on our side and the CLown Convention on theirs ) running through this nation.

Let them support Sanders all they want. They already HATE Sec'y Clinton enough to risk sending that train into Burlington. What they will reap from their efforts may give OUR party everything we need to rip it out of the hands of the Third Way Wall Street types and give, dare I say it?

Power to the People.

[SheilaT]

34. Well, Russia did quit the war after the Revolution.

Although Germany still lost.

[Proud Public Servant]

33. So the candidate who couldn't

Beat a black guy with three Muslim names is now the candidate who is readying for a "long slog" against a Jewish socialist with a honking Brooklyn bray who isn't even a Democrat?

She's who I'm supposed to be "ready for"?

She's our inevitable standard-bearer in a general election?

Seriously, do you suppose we can get our party back when the Clintons are done playing with it?

[thereismore]

35. Wow, 90% of spending between IA and headquarters. Somebody didn't plan for other states.

They must be really scrambling now. At least they will create some jobs.

[Orsino]

36. Well, I would hope so.

Time is, for the moment, on Sanders' side.