She's worried, and it's starting to show.

[calteacherguy]

NYT

DES MOINES, Nov. 17 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has nearly doubled the size of her staff in Iowa and has substantially increased her advertising here as her campaign reinforces its effort to prevent Democrats from coalescing around a single alternative to her candidacy.

In the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mrs. Clinton, whose campaign has been on the defensive lately because of her own missteps and increasingly aggressive attacks from her rivals, is moving to double or triple the amount of time she has spent here in recent months. Seldom will a day go by, aides said, when either she or former President Bill Clinton will not be on some patch of Iowa soil trying to solidify her support and win over an unusually high number of uncommitted voters.

“We’re going to begin using all the assets we have,” said Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa who serves as co-chairman of the Clinton campaign. “We haven’t been bashful about asking for the moon here.”

The intense attention is the latest indication of the Clinton campaign’s worry about establishing dominance in Iowa — the opening contest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination — to match the strength she has shown in national polls. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina have waged spirited campaigns here, taking advantage of what polls suggest is unease with Mrs. Clinton among many voters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/us/politics/18dems.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

[rodeodance]

1. this is a good move. a little worry helps sometimes

[BornagainDUer]

34. Trying to buy her way to the top.

Wouldn't it be nice if the field was level in this one aspect.

[Lerkfish]

2. I don't agree with the conclusion.

a lot of candidates, worried or not, will reallocate resources before a primary.

[Evergreen Emerald]

16. good catch...more propaganda bullshit.

[...of J.Temperance]

3. Senator Clinton isn't worried

Those who don't like her would LIKE her to be worried.

However she knows exactly what she's doing, she's very savvy and logical and at this time, concentrating efforts into Iowa makes perfect sense.

[calteacherguy]

5. LOL.

If it gives you some comfort, I can understand you wanting to believe she's not worried.

She's spent her whole life focused on the dream of following her husband in the Presidency, and she's starting to see how it could all so easily slip away.

[...of J.Temperance]

7. It's

Okay, we're fully aware of your intense contempt for Senator Clinton....your inability to post ANYTHING positive about her is already long-known by her supporters.

[calteacherguy]

11. She's actually my #3 choice.

Positive enough?

[...of J.Temperance]

20. Wow! Hillary's your THIRD choice, she's THAT high up for you huh?

:sarcasm:

[rAVES]

31. Considering Dodd, Gravel, kucinich, Biden, Richardson, Obama and Edwards are in the race

Shes doing very well being his 3rd.

[Alexander]

35. And she's obviously your hero.

How did your worship session go today?

[emilyg]

14. give it a rest.

[99th_Monkey]

4. It's almost like she thinks the polls are rigged in her favor ...

"The intense attention is the latest indication of the Clinton campaign’s worry about ... .. the strength she has shown in the polls."

very curious. If the polls are valid, then why should she worrry???

[Cameron27]

45. She's not worried,

considering that she was supposed to come in third in Iowa, she's doing pretty well. It's standard practice to beef up your staff as the caucus gets closer.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. I don't think she is worried

[MADem]

8. Worried? I believe you're talking from a partisan slant, there.

It's SOP in an organized campaign to "pour it on" going into the homestretch.

That's not "worry"--that's organization.

I'd hope Obama and Edwards are plusing up THEIR assets as well. If they don't, they're fucking up. And I'll bet they aren't stupid, either. They may have a different timeline, but I will bet they are flooding the phone lines, pushing people into that state and NH, and SC, and working it to the max.

To do otherwise is to piss it away. And I wouldn't call them "worried" either.

The same thing happens in NH as we get close. The ads become continuous, there are NO hotel rooms available, even in northern MA, or southern ME, and there's staff of hopefuls EVERYWHERE.

But that isn't "worry." That's just "planning."


FWIW, it's so "not helpful" when you omit the ACTUAL headline of the piece you cite. It makes you appear to be a candidate basher, which is...unbecoming. And I am SURE it wasn't your intent...

The actual headline: For Clinton, More Time and More Advertising

[calteacherguy]

9. O.K., you disagree with the author of the article that she's worried.

We agree to disagree.

[MADem]

13. The article says: "worry about establishing dominance"

There's a distinct difference between having some worry about establishing dominance and being "worried."

And as the article notes, the other candidates are also adding staff as well. They're "worried" too, then?

It's a fight for the top slots. That's what the article says. It's a 'strategy' piece.

That isn't the way the OP plays it.

... To fight the new push by the Clinton campaign, rivals are also planning to spend nearly all their time in Iowa in December, hoping to raise doubts about her candidacy. While the Obama and Edwards campaigns have been gradually building for months toward this moment, the Clinton campaign has bolstered its activity here in recent weeks, hiring 100 new workers to concentrate on a person-to-person drive to explain the quirky process of the caucuses, with a goal of having 50,000 in-home visits by Christmas.

[calteacherguy]

23. She's two months behind.

She wasn't expecting a serious challenge.

[jefferson_dem]

10. She will actually have to work for the nomination.

Hillary realizes Iowa is not the BIG enchilada...it is THE enchilada... If she loses in Iowa, the whole "aura of inevitability" will have burst and she will be field questions about what happened nonstop until New Hampshire.

[rocktivity]

46. And even if she wins Iowa, it will have to be by a demoralizing margin

of at least five points. The others will REALLY pile on her if she wins by less.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Rabo Karabekian]

12. Sink Hillary Sink

Let's hope she can still be stopped, even though the MSM has coronated her.

[mac2]

17. The candidate they love to hate

I agree she was picked as a leading DLC candidate because she
can't win. They built her up and then talk her down. Even if
she wins the primary she won't win because of her past history
as a Senator in NY.  She voted for the war,etc. She's a
globalist. She and Rudi went to London to make campaign money.
Their loyality is to who? The American people or the EU WTO
corporate whores? 

Kucinich, Edwards, and then Dodd are my choice in order. I
want the war to end and us out of that Fascist WTO. I want our
Constitution back. This is a democracy not a oligarchy.   

[Sparkly]

15. I don't think they ever took Iowa for granted.

I will still be surprised if she wins it.

The "aura of inevitability" is NOT something any campaign wants. They've worked to LOWER expectations. It's the opponents of the front runner who always claim the front runner is "already measuring the drapes" or is acting like the voters don't get to decide or is being so arrogant they think the election is over, etc. etc. etc... Happens every time.

[mac2]

21. Have you noticed?

That the candidates only campaign in the low population, rural
states such as Iowa, NH, SC? They are not in those states with
big cities and industry? Those states who are liberals? Those
states with huge numbers of their population losing their
jobs,industry, etc.? 

The candidates don't want to discuss the issues of the WTO,
privatization, rights, etc. 

Wouldn't it be great to interview candidates for office? Some
even living in your town wanting to know what "you"
think? 

The primary way of picking candidates for President stinks for
the rest of us. 

[cleveramerican]

18. It looks more fluid than it did two weeks ago.

watch the polls shift.
nothing is set in stone.

Iowa is famous for waiting till the end to decide.

[Sal Minella]

22. Some of us decided months ago.

We just ain't telling anybody. Especially the 2-3-4 pollster callers we get every day.

[KittyWampus]

37. I'd imagine everyone in Iowa must have caller ID. Good Luck!

[Sal Minella]

50. In fact, I don't have caller ID, and I don't have an answering machine,

and I do have a sister who is not well and I do have three children and four grandchildren scattered over the country. So I do have the need to answer the phone when it rings, because what I don't have is an income large enough to update gadgets that work.

[Evergreen Emerald]

40. yikes, that many pollster calls

We don't have that much commotion in WA. Just a few leaflets and lots of ads towards the end.

[cali]

19. She should be worried. She's in a three way in Iowa and slipping

in NH. She needs Iowa in a way the others don't. Having said that, let me point out more sexism: Edwards and Obama are referred to as Former Senator Edwards and Senator Obama. Clinton is referred once as Senator Clinton, but in the body of the article as Mrs. Clinton.

[calteacherguy]

24. I have to call you on the completely unfounded charge of "sexism" by the NYT.

You clearly see sexism because it's what you want to see:

If candidates do not reach a 15 percent threshold in each of the 1,784 precinct caucuses on Jan. 3, their supporters make a second choice, a procedure that Mrs. Clinton’s aides fear could favor Mr. Edwards or Mr. Obama.

[babylonsister]

28. Ouch for Clinton She IS Mrs. Clinton also, and part of her 'charm' is

that fact. Why do you consider that sexism? Whatever characterization of her you don't like is sexism? Gimme a break. She is many things, Mrs. being one of them.

[ellisonz]

25. Oversaturation.

[Harper_is_Bush]

26. You skirt around the title rules by not posting in LBN, but without explaining your take on the

article, you lose ALL credibility.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[William769]

42. Credibility was never his strong point.

[Catherine Vincent]

27. I just counted OVER 40 FUCKING THREADS STARTED BY YOU.

I think you're the one that is nervous. Good lord!

:rofl:

[wiley]

29. You missed the other 50 he's stoking.

[opihimoimoi]

38. The Pubs use teams to spread denigrations, dilute us, distract us, and divide us...

They don't have any other ammo cept playing sneaky...They win by cheatin lying, and stealin....

[Cameron27]

43. Ouch!

[Hekate]

32. The woman's like a teabag: you never know how strong she is until she's in hot water

It's not "inevitable" but it's also not over until it's over.

Hekate

[Perry Logan]

33. The other candidates should just save their energy. The poor guys.

[AmBlue]

36. ...

[ClarkUSA]

39. She should be worried. Her numbers in Iowa and NH are trending down.

That said, I hope she hires hundreds more young staffers from DC to go knocking on doors in Iowa.

Because we know how well that turned out for Howard Dean in 2004.

[William769]

41. She's worried?

:rofl:

[rocktivity]

44. What she's worried about is not winning Iowa decisively

She knows that a one-to-four-point "squeaker" victory won't be enough. That will render Operation HilProp (co-sponsored by the Rethugs and the MSM) a miserable failure, and the other candidates will "bring it on" because she won't look invincible anymore.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Renew Deal]

47. Dean did the same thing.

And everyone was sick of all the Dean transplants.

[Phunktified]

49. That's because the Dean people were a bunch of punk kids

flown in from NYC with spikey hair. LOL

[sampsonblk]

48. Dude, she has a dream team of people to go to Iowa to help her

Wait till you see all the famous people who will descend on Iowa and NH (if needed) to help put Mrs Clinton over the top. Everyone who is anyone is for Hillary Clinton. Because she's been on their side for so many years.

[Writer]

51. This is flat-out stupid.

It's standard for campaigns to wait until the appropriate time to start pumping money into Iowa. There is nothing going on here but responsible budgeting.

[IA_Seth]

52. Finish Hot!

As an oft-quoted, former Chair of the IDP has stated, rule number 3 (I think it's 3) for caucus success is "Finish Hot".

You have to have a strong presence and available staff to finish hot, and this is what she is doing here.