Hillary's Secret Weapon For Rural America

CBSNews.com Reports: Clinton Campaign Settles On Strategy To Deploy Bill Clinton To Small Cities And Towns

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli.

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Until Bill Clinton came to town, the last time the citizens of Washington, Pennsylvania saw a president was nearly 50 years ago, when John F. Kennedy touched down there as part of his campaign.

The story isn't much different in South Bend, Indiana, where Clinton's visit last week had residents talking about Robert Kennedy's visit 40 years earlier.

It hasn't always been easy for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to decide how best to deploy Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail. Some have worried that the former president could overshadow his wife, and there were also concerns that his aggressive advocacy for the former first lady could hurt more than it helped. After Mr. Clinton made comments ahead of the South Carolina primary that some found racially insensitive, analysts were talking about his tarnished legacy and asking whether he'd inadvertently given a bump to rival Barack Obama.

But in the past few weeks, the Clinton campaign seems to have settled on a consistent strategy for the former president: Keep him largely out of the national spotlight while deploying him to small cities and towns like Washington, PA and South Bend, where figures of his stature are rarely seen.

Clinton himself acknowledged his role at a recent stop in the blue-collar town of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he called himself the campaign's "rural hitman."

Putting Mr. Clinton to work on what he calls the "secondary circuit," while his wife works larger markets, is a smart move by the Clinton campaign, said Philadelphia-based Democratic political analyst Larry Ceisler.

"When these small towns get a president of the United States, it really gets people juiced up," Ceisler said. "He's certainly been a negative at times on macro political stage, but in micro and personal campaign there's none better. She's lucky to have him."

Mr. Clinton is effective in such settings because rural Americans relate to the former president, said Steve Jarding, a Democratic political consultant who has focused on rural areas.

"It's the 'boy from hope' stuff, the fact that he grew up in a small town," Jarding said. "Someone like John Kerry, and I mean this with respect, looked to people in rural America like a blueblood. With Clinton, I really do get a sense that they believe he feels their pain."

Clinton still sometimes makes national news - he recently suggested, for example, that claims that the Obama/Clinton battle is hurting the Democratic Party are "a bunch of bull" and argued that those who believe otherwise should "chill out." But he has largely steered clear of the sorts of controversial statements that made headlines early in the campaign.

"There's this weird line he has to walk that no one else has to walk," said Democratic strategist and CBS News political analyst Joe Trippi. "People might expect [the spouse of a presidential candidate] to say something unflattering about one of the other candidates, but they don't expect that sort of thing from the former president of the United States, a man who is the biggest Democrat alive in a lot of ways. You don't expect him to say things that could be seen as negative or rough and tumble politics, so when he does it's news."

When Clinton sticks to the script, by contrast, his appearances don't make national news. But they do get significant, usually positive play in local media, resulting in coverage that can cut through the noise of an extended political campaign.

"Washington, Pennsylvania may only have about 25,000 people, but it has a newspaper that goes to the whole county," said Ceisler, a Washington native. "That kind of coverage can make a difference."

"He's being used as a mobilization force," said University of Pennsylvania political scientist Richard Johnston. "He is going to the parts of the state where in some sense his wife has her base."

And while Clinton's controversial comments earlier in the campaign - among them a reference to Obama's positions as a "fairytale" - may have diminished the former president in the eyes of some urban voters, they didn't significantly damage his popularity with their rural counterparts, according to Jarding.

"It was seen as more offensive in urban areas, and as political football in punditry," he said. "It didn't seem to have the same resonance in these rural areas."

Mr. Clinton can be particularly effective when discussing economic issues, Jarding adds, and thus becomes a particularly valuable surrogate in a depressed economy. But while the former president's rural touch can be a boon for the Clinton campaign, one damaging sound bite could still undo his efforts in parts of America that usually go unseen by former presidents.

"For all the help he's giving in terms of the 3,200 people who see him that day," Trippi said, "you have to worry that it's not going to be worth what 3 million people see that night on cable or on the Evening News."

[tbweb]

It''s 3am and the red phone is ringing.
...
Posted by rufisgufis at 12:44 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

How about the truth? It''s 3am, do you know where your husband is, as you can see, he''s not laying next to you! lol

[pepperwood2]

PHILADELPHIA -- AFSCME president Gerry McEntee said today that he knows Hillary Clinton has been against NAFTA from the start, saying the former First Lady called him back in the ''''90s to tell him %u201Cwe lost.%u201D

%u201CI know that she spoke against it, she opposed it,%u201D McEntee said about NAFTA.

%u201CMaybe she does not even remember this,%u201D McEntee continued.

Thank you Mr. McEntee for coming forth with that charitable testimony. I''m sure some of us have not realized what the little woman is suffering from. Possible battle fatique & flashbacks from the Battle of Bosnia. Poor thing. We should be more compassionate & believing. So Sad!

[likeitis5050]

Can you people forget your silly stories for a while and think of one thing you don''''t like about her politics.

Posted by dinkydog1

You start....think of something you like and all us ''dumb azzes'' will give you OUR reasons for not liking her...which apparently you aren''t reading or able to comprehend so you summarize as silly. In the meantime...****.

[rufisgufis]

dinkydog:

HERE''S ONE THING I DON''T LIKE ABOUT HER POLITICS: HER PERPETUAL LYING RE: NAFTA, NORTHERN IRELAND, TUZLA, HER THIEVERY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE OF SILVERWARE AND OTHER ITEMS, ONLY RETURNED WHEN IT WAS REVEALED. HER MOST RECENT LIE THAT OBAMA TRIED TO PERSUADE OTHERS THAT HILLARY SHOULD BE OUT OF THE RACE WHEN I SAW HIM SAY THE OPPOSITE ON TELEVISION THREE DAYS EARLIER. I HOPE THAT ENOUGH FOR STARTERS.

[dinkydog1]

I love to read the comments after a Hillary story. Like Halloween all the nut jobs come out and post thier emotion driven irrevelent hate stories usually involving Bill an a BJ. Can you people forget your silly stories for a while and think of one thing you don''t like about her politics.

[rufisgufis]

Bill Clinton: %u201CI did not have sexual relations with that woman - Monica Lewinsky. Ex-con, convicted of perjury and lying to a federal grand jury. Stripped of right to practice law. Found in contempt of court. Sued for sexual harassment, and loses. Paid off one of his victims to settle case of rape. Like his wife, known to lie at the drop of a hat. First to inject racism into the campaign. This is just for starters.

[blkpresident]

Larry Sinclair believes in the tooth-fairy, Santa-Claus and the Easter Bunny.

[blkpresident]

20 more days and the lil'' woman is sent packing all the way back to her kitchen stove in NY.

[jockh]

Here is a reminder of why people are reluctant to have the Clintons back in the White House:


President Clinton is a disbarred laywer.
Most convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates.
Most cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation.
Most witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify.
Most witnesses to die suddenly.
First president sued for sexual harassment.
First president accused of rape.
The first time a First Lady has come under criminal investigation.
Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case.
First president to establish a legal defense fund.
First president to be held in contempt of court.
Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad.
First president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a State Court.

Oh !! Now I remember why we don%u2019t want the Clintons back, they simply lie or %u201Cmisspeak%u201D far too easily.

Its time for a genuine change in our politics.

[nkgilb]

Hilary is Pro-Nafta. Now, she is against it because she wants to be president, she will say or do anything to be president but NOT my president!. No amount of spin will change this fact.

Hilary is a straight-face LIAR.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by b-easy63 at 10:33 AM : Apr 02, 2008

lol, Toots noor!

[b-easy63]

Posted by b-easy63 at 10:27 AM : Apr 02, 2008

You don''''t even know the history of NAFTA or the timeline, go read something once in awhile.

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 10:30 AM : Apr 02, 2008


"What''s that? Did you say something? Uh uh, YOU can''t ell me nothin'' Aha you can''t tell me NOTHIN!!!"

YOU are the consummate liar that posted, after the Bosnia tapes, that Hillary did not lie and that she did run to the cars. I don''t rely on the blindly loyal for info--thank you. 5 scheduled meetings on NAFTA, which were sucessful--but we should know--she hated every minute of it. She could have opted out of any policy she disagreed with. The fact is, Hillary is a phony and a liar and she attracts like minds...like yours. LMAO. Have a nice day.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by b-easy63 at 10:27 AM : Apr 02, 2008

You don''t even know the history of NAFTA or the timeline, go read something once in awhile.

[b-easy63]

Posted by b-easy63 at 10:25 AM : Apr 02, 2008

It was her job to promote her husband''''s legislative efforts, even when she didn''''t agree with them.

But the truth is, as a person, she never supported NAFTA.



Yep. That''s our Hillary: Publicly d1cking America, but privately saying she hated every minute of what she how she helped to screeew us. Phony as a 3 dollar bill. THAT ought to make Americans feel really great: She helped to screwwwwww the country--but gosh--she just felt terrible about it--just terrible. LOL

[b-easy63]

Maybe she does not even remember this,%u201D McEntee continued. %u201CThe day that they got the votes, Hillary Clinton called me and I was in California at a union meeting. She said, and this really sums it up, she said %u2018We lost. We lost, the votes were there for NAFTA.%u2019 So anybody who tries to hang it around her neck, is hanging it around the wrong neck.%u201D


Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 10:19 AM : Apr 02, 2008


YOU can go by what her friends and supporters say she said--the rest of us will go by her schedule--and what she actually DID. LMAO 5 meetings to promote NAFTA, numerous interviews where she touted the NAFTA BILL and her and Bill''s part in it. HOpe it haunts her to the day she dies. Just like her shoddy election. But she''s a sociopath, isn''t she--small chance her conscience will ever bother that one. lol

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by b-easy63 at 10:25 AM : Apr 02, 2008

It was her job to promote her husband''s legislative efforts, even when she didn''t agree with them.

But the truth is, as a person, she never supported NAFTA.

[rowdytexan2]

Go to factcheck.org sometime and read something B-easy.

[b-easy63]

We lost, the votes were there for NAFTA.%u2019 So anybody who tries to hang it around her neck, is hanging it around the wrong neck.%u201D


Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 10:19 AM : Apr 02, 2008


Fool. So she had 5 pro NAFTA meetings egging women and others on to sign up for it and crowed about it on several occasions. Hillary is probably for and against EVERYTHING. LIke the war in Iraq. That way--if it goes wrong--she can point to her (secret) opposition or comments...if it goes right--she can point to her work to push something through.

consummate liar and untrustworthy person --playing both sides of the fence. The name for that (or one of them) is TWO FACED. Yep--right up there with LIAR, PHONY , and backstabber.

[rowdytexan2]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080330_Obama_was_the_first_to_play_the_race_card.html

Here''s some truth about Mr. Obama and his total distortion and chaos.

Read up once in awhile.

[b-easy63]

HILLARY''S 3 AM CALLS: ALL BILL COLLECTORS WANTING TO KNOW WHEN SHE WILL FINALLY PAY ALL THE BILLS SHE HAS RUN UP. LMAO