WEST CHESTER, Pa., April 10, 2008
Chelsea Clinton Finds Her Voice
Washington Post: Former First Daughter Evolves From Quiet Supporter To Self-Assured Campaigner
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Play CBS Video Video Another Touchy Lewinsky Query "CBS News RAW": Chelsea Clinton is asked why she refused to answer a question about whether the Monica Lewinsky scandal affected her mother's credibility.
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Video Chelsea's Special Rules Sen. Hillary Clinton's daughter campaigns for her, but sets limits on questions and doesn't talk to the press. Harry Smith talks to Sally Quinn from the Washington Post.
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Video Chelsea Dodges Lewinsky Query Speaking at Indiana's Butler University, Chelsea Clinton reproached a student who asked if the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal had damaged her mother's credibility. Harry Smith reports.
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Chelsea Clinton, left, addresses the audience at Radio City Music Hall during a Democratic fundraiser for her mother, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, Thursday, April 9, 2008. (AP)
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Chelsea Clinton campaigns for her mother, Democratic presidential hopeful. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Tuesday, April 8, 2008, on the campus of Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis, Ind. (AP)
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Photo Essay Hillary Clinton A look at a life and career full of firsts.
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Interactive William Jefferson Clinton Follow the ups and downs of President Clinton's years in office, see photos and learn about his life before and after the presidency.
From Our Partner:
With little fanfare the other day, Chelsea Clinton did what no one around her is ever supposed to do: She voluntarily brought up the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Speaking to a packed crowd of college students and recounting her mother's history of working with Republicans, the youngest Clinton talked for a minute about Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who as a House member during the impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton was "one of the people who prosecuted my father in the 1990s," she said. Not "someone you would think would be an ally for someone with the last name Clinton," the 28-year-old added wryly.
Nor someone her audience would expect her to mention. But if her self-assurance was a surprise, it was also part of a rapid evolution by Clinton, who has gone from a behind-the-scenes supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to her mother's most effective surrogate, capable of engaging in detailed policy discussions as well as explaining how the senator from New York "misspoke" in describing landing once in Bosnia under sniper fire.
She bristled the first time she was questioned about Lewinsky, telling a college student last month, "I do not think that is any of your business." But since then she has learned to handle even that subject, refining her answer every time it has come up. "If that's what you want to vote on, that's what you should vote on," she said when asked about the impeachment during an appearance at Purdue University on Monday.
In light of a string of setbacks for her mother's campaign, including impolitic remarks by her father, Chelsea is arguably the most seamless part of the struggling Clinton operation. After spending the first year of the presidential campaign watching quietly from New York, and after a lifetime of relatively little public exposure, she now maintains a schedule of public appearances to rival her parents' -- an event at Villanova University on Thursday will be her 100th college campus appearance.
The once and perhaps future first daughter is branching out in ways that the Clinton campaign -- which practically had to beg the candidate to allow her to appear in Iowa late last year -- never imagined. She regularly calls donors to thank them for contributions, an important task usually reserved for her parents; she records automated telephone calls to voters; and this week she posted a "welcome note" on her Facebook page, launching her first real effort to use the networking Web site on her mother's behalf.
"Please check in to see when I will be in your area," it reads. "My event info should be posted on my page going forward. I would also love your help in building my Facebook network, so please suggest me as a friend to all of your friends!"
Yet a certain tension persists between the high school and college student of the 1990s, whose private life was zealously guarded while her father was president, and the accomplished professional woman courting pulicity and playing a familiar role in American politics: enhancing a candidate's image as a parent and an embodiment of family values.
Clinton has declined interviews; only a few authorized insiders are allowed to talk about her; she is even shielded by her mother at difficult moments as the campaign has tried to use her wattage to attract votes without exposing her to the rigors, such as talking with the news media, that most adult public figures expect. That has produced some hostility between her and reporters, and led to criticism that she is trying to have it both ways.
Tagg Romney, who with his four brothers played a prominent role in the unsuccessful campaign of their father, Mitt Romney, recalled that when his father was entering the Republican race, outside advisers warned the grown children: "If your dad is going to run, you're the collateral damage." He thinks a certain amount of scrutiny is inevitable.
"I don't know if it's fair to go deep into candidates' children's personal lives, because I'm not sure that really affects the way the candidate makes decisions," said Romney, 37. "But if you're willing to put yourself out there, then you need to be able to answer questions."
In public, Clinton displays her mother's memory, wit and mannerisms -- and can look and act so much like her that audience members frequently call her "Hillary." Privately, she shows the same sharp instincts as her father and the same seemingly inexhaustible capacity for campaigning.
As a measure of how fully formed her political world is, there are now distinct "Chelsea people" -- two longtime Clinton loyalists, Bari Lurie and Philippe Reines, who travel with her and handle everything from media requests to the unwieldy "Hillblazers" banner she hangs at appearances; an advance staffer, Paige Fitzgerald, who arranges her increasingly crowded events; her scheduler, Kyla Pollack; and Capricia Marshall, who manages the unit from campaign headquarters along with adviser Minyon Moore.
This week, as members of the group traveled around Indiana, they had their own plane.
By Anne E. Kornblut
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 66 CommentsThat way she would be showing that she has complete confidence in herself and her campaign and this in turn would encourage other donations.
However, she loans instead of gives to her own campaign because she knows she is going to lose so she would rather lose donors money in her futile campaign and keep all her millions nice and safe; so she can sleep in a solid gold bed with a mattress stuffed with 100 dollar bills. And solid gold pant suits for herself and Chelsea !!
This girl promotes her Dirty Family and very surprised to hear about that dirt?
How about spending millions and donate to clinton foundation for tax release?
Shame on You , Chelsea.
Your mother did not have a pride and trade it for White House suit.
What You are trading?
Maybe it is time for You to go and work AT LAST.
And use US troubled airlines .
Ar last at least ONE clinton will work.
Shameless American Disgrace.
Posted by erasmus6 at 06:09 PM : Apr 10, 2008
Until next time then............keep safe and may life smile on you and yours.
Posted by AJMarine1
Haha, that was funny when someone said that.
I guess I should go and do something, I have been sitting here for awhile. Talk to you later!
Posted by erasmus6 at 05:14 PM : Apr 10, 2008
I''m sure you have alot of fun with it.
You hooked me when someone said something about pe*ing standing up and you said you were showing your superior female intellect by doing it that way when you used public restrooms...........that to me, sounded like a pretty smart cookie.
Well girl, have you had enough or should we wait until they start throwing cold water on us and telling us to get a room?
There are times when I have stated that I am a female but mostly I keep quiet and let people think that I am a male. I can be very BLUNT and people seem to accept it better if they think it is coming from a male. haha
The problem with changing my name is finding one that hasn''t been taken. I tried quite a few before I used erasmus and I originally tried erasmus8 (I like the number 8) but it was taken.
I will think of some names and when I speak to you again I will run them past you.
Posted by erasmus6 at 05:14 PM : Apr 10, 2008
Like minds think alike?
A girl''s name would be alright too; it would alert people that they are talking to a female, that could be to your advantage or not depending on who you are talking to or keep Erasmus if you might want to pass as a male if you want that cover, choice is yours.
If you want a vote from me on which one you should choose, you will have to run some of the new names by me.
Yes, when I first heard the name something clicked in my brain, I liked it instantly.....just like yours.
I was going to change it to a girls name but maybe I will keep it!
I was looking at it and was wondering how it would like to be called "Erasmus"?
You have to admitt, the name has character.......You Canadians.
"I saw a cat the other day and thought of you."
That pleases me very much.:)
Posted by Hober_Mallow at 04:20 PM : Apr 10, 2008
Thanks for sharing. You''ll no doubt be happy to learn that he''s not running for reelection.
Its time to take the power of money creation from the swine who have so abused it!
A couple of months ago, I would''ve told that I''d likely be voting for Hillary Clinton if she was to become the Democrat presidential nominee.
Now, I''m beginning to doubt that. I just don''t want to have to deal with ANY Clinton.
P.S. I''m sick of anyone named Bush, too.
In a since what this school girl thinks about anything is irrelevant. We have wars based on lies, we 9-11 lies, we have the importation of dangerous narcotics into this nation by the people and agencies that are supposed to prevent such attacks!...
We have a paper dollar--raw buying power!--created out of nothing by a gang of bankers at the FED for their own pleasure and profit.
We have de-industrialization, open borders, the most people in prisons of any nation in the world and an assault on our natural rights by a Regime headed by a man who says our Constitution is just "a God D*amned piece of paper"....Is is really time to talk to Chelsea?
WE have a Demopublican Regime that is allowing elements in the CIA and DEA to import tons of drugs into this county.
We have the outstanding murder of 3,000 Americans on 9-11 that still needs investigating...The Official Story is a Worldwide Joke!
We have two wars based on lies and hundreds of thousands dead and hundreds of billions squandered.
And CBS wants us to talk about Chelsea...
Good afternoon,....I saw a cat the other day and thought of you.
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