Trouble in Gotham
Six months ago, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani were the "inevitable" nominees for their respective parties. All of their supporters told us so! Now, however, that inevitability seems to be less likely. A series of gaffes by Senator Clinton have eroded her 20+% average lead from earlier this summer down to more mortal numbers - trailing Senator Obama in Iowa and barely leading in New Hampshire. Mayor Giuliani never enjoyed the type of lead Senator Clinton did, but has fallen all the same. More disappointing (for the Mayor's supporters) is the fact that he is now running a distant 3rd in Iowa and an even more distant second in New Hampshire.
Stories like this are not going to help Mayor Giuliani's campaign. Now a defender of the Mayor told me that the Daily News is a rather "liberal" rag (as opposed to the conservative NY Times?) but this story has also been run by ABC News (HT Captain Ed) and the Politico (among others) so I highly doubt that this is a "liberal hatchet job" as some might claim.
Now considering that I grew up in the Chicago of Mayor Richard J. Daley (the man who perfected modern party machine politics) and stories like this were normal and not all that remarkable. However, Mayor Daley never had a yen to run for President. If he had, those stories would have been an issue, just as they are an issue today! The Mayor and his campaign have not handled the questions well (as Captain Ed points out).
More importantly (in my mind) is the fact that the media has a very large stack of stories just like this, that they are just itching to publish should the Mayor become the Republican nominee. The Mayor's personal life will become part of the campaign. It will be used as a club with which the media will beat the "values voters" over the head in an effort to keep them discouraged and (hopefully) home next November.
The Republican Party must do better at chosing a nominee. We know that the whoever the nominee is will get that media anal probe, do we really need to give them fuel for the fire? I don't think it would be a wise thing to do at all.
UPDATE AND BUMP: Things are going from bad to worse for Senator Clinton. She was booed at a campaign appearance (by phone) for advocating that illegal immigrants earn a path to citizenship. She has also slipped further in Iowa polling which has lead her campaign to ratchet up the attacks on Senator Barak Obama. They have even started to (in a Pot meet Kettle moment) "question his character". This from the campaign that has taken tainted campaign donations from a convicted felon!
It's going to be an entertaining month.
Stories like this are not going to help Mayor Giuliani's campaign. Now a defender of the Mayor told me that the Daily News is a rather "liberal" rag (as opposed to the conservative NY Times?) but this story has also been run by ABC News (HT Captain Ed) and the Politico (among others) so I highly doubt that this is a "liberal hatchet job" as some might claim.
Now considering that I grew up in the Chicago of Mayor Richard J. Daley (the man who perfected modern party machine politics) and stories like this were normal and not all that remarkable. However, Mayor Daley never had a yen to run for President. If he had, those stories would have been an issue, just as they are an issue today! The Mayor and his campaign have not handled the questions well (as Captain Ed points out).
More importantly (in my mind) is the fact that the media has a very large stack of stories just like this, that they are just itching to publish should the Mayor become the Republican nominee. The Mayor's personal life will become part of the campaign. It will be used as a club with which the media will beat the "values voters" over the head in an effort to keep them discouraged and (hopefully) home next November.
The Republican Party must do better at chosing a nominee. We know that the whoever the nominee is will get that media anal probe, do we really need to give them fuel for the fire? I don't think it would be a wise thing to do at all.
UPDATE AND BUMP: Things are going from bad to worse for Senator Clinton. She was booed at a campaign appearance (by phone) for advocating that illegal immigrants earn a path to citizenship. She has also slipped further in Iowa polling which has lead her campaign to ratchet up the attacks on Senator Barak Obama. They have even started to (in a Pot meet Kettle moment) "question his character". This from the campaign that has taken tainted campaign donations from a convicted felon!
It's going to be an entertaining month.
Labels: 2008, Presidential Politics
posted by The Lady Logician at
6:18 PM
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