Would Clinton As VP Help Or Hurt Obama?

N.Y. Senator Would Bring Political Plusses And Minuses To Democratic Ticket

(AP)  Lots of Democrats love Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yet plenty of Republicans, conservatives and all-important independents can't stand her, suggesting possible pitfalls for Barack Obama should he make her his vice presidential running mate.

The intense dislike for Clinton suggests that besides support from women and others she could bring to the ticket, she might make it harder for Obama to win over some independents, a pivotal swing group in the November election against Republican John McCain. It also means she might push some Republicans and conservatives to vote against the Democrats - or donate money to the GOP - who might otherwise lack motivation to do so because of tepid feelings toward McCain.

A substantial 32 percent of independents strongly dislike Clinton, 10 points more than say so about Obama, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. Independents, a group that both Obama and McCain won during their party primaries this year, comprised a quarter of voters in the 2004 election and have been closely contested in every presidential election since 1992.

In addition, 67 percent of Republicans have very unfavorable views of Clinton, 24 percentage points more than feel that way about Obama. Among conservatives the spread is similar - 58 percent say they feel very negatively about her, 18 points more than say so about Obama.

Few conservatives and Republicans are going to vote under any circumstances for Obama, the Illinois senator who clinched the Democratic presidential nomination last week and already has advisers culling possible running mates. But both parties will be trying to discern whether putting Clinton on the ticket might in some ways backfire.

“I don't think I'd like the idea of Hillary Clinton attached to anything,” said Kym Williams, 33, of Knoxville, Tenn., a Republican who's not decided how to vote in November. “I'm not for a lot of the things she stands for.”

Other groups with significantly stronger negative feelings about Clinton than Obama include whites under age 30, male college graduates, white men and whites earning at least $100,000 a year.

On the other hand, Clinton is popular with other voters, which could make her an asset to Obama. According to the AP-Yahoo survey, the New York senator is viewed significantly more favorably than Obama by many white Democrats, Hispanics and Catholics. She carried all those groups decisively against Obama in this year's Democratic primaries, exit polls of voters showed.

The AP-Yahoo poll shows little difference in how favorably the two are viewed by several other groups Clinton won during the primaries, including working-class whites, people over age 65 and women.

A comparison in the AP-Yahoo survey of how the two Democrats would fare against McCain yields similar patterns in their appeal.

Clinton does 23 points better than Obama against McCain among Hispanics, 18 points better with Catholics and 14 points better with elderly whites. Obama is far stronger among blacks, the young and college graduates.

While Clinton has told fellow Democrats she'd be open to being the vice presidential candidate, Obama has said he will take some time to decide.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres guessed Clinton would hurt Obama, but said he doubted she would have much impact drawing voters to the polls to oppose the Democratic ticket.

“Obama is plenty energizing enough for Republicans and conservatives,” he said.

History shows that vice presidential nominees don't always work out as planned.

Gallup polls showed that when Rep. Geraldine Ferraro became the first female major party vice presidential candidate in 1984, over half said she made them likelier to back the party's ticket, headed by Walter Mondale. By October, after much of the campaign ended up focusing on questions about her husband's taxes, more people said her presence made them likelier to vote against Mondale than for him.

Four years later, public reaction was initially mixed when George H.W. Bush picked little known Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana as his GOP running mate. Opinion turned negative within a month, after his Vietnam-era service in the National Guard was challenged.

Bob Beckel, Mondale's campaign manager, said Ferraro had little impact on a race Mondale lost badly to President Reagan. He said Clinton might prompt some people to vote against Obama, but mostly in GOP-dominated states Democrats would likely lose anyway.

“Mostly you don't vote for vice president, you vote for president,” Beckel said.

For now, there is no definitive answer whether Clinton would help or hurt Democrats. Gallup and CNN polls last week showed the Democratic ticket doing slightly better against McCain with Clinton on Obama's ticket than when Obama and McCain were paired without running mates.

Polls do make clear how divided Democrats are over adding Clinton to the ticket. Half or more Democrats liked the idea in recent polls, but Obama's supporters are less enthusiastic than hers.

[citizenusa-2009]

Doesn''t the fact that the Republicans hate Hillary and like Obama say ANYTHING to you folks? The Repubs NEVER want Hillary in the White House to assist Obama in navigating those murky waters. If she''s not there, they can have a field day with his inexperience. He has all the traits of a wonderful President, however, he will need all the support he can get. Put her on the ticket and he WILL be the NEXT PRESIDENT. Goodbye Neocons!!!!

[rufisgufis]

What really disturbed me was Hillary''s foreign policy experience: She makes a corkscrew landing in to Bosnia, dodging sniper bullets all the while. Then upon landing, she has to run to the hangar dodging more snipers. The worst aspect of the entire episode is that for a backup she only had her then twelve-year-old daughter, a guitar player and a comedian. She could have at least had a drummer with her, any fool knows
That.

[rufisgufis]

PAULA JONES AND JENNIFER FLOWERS ARE SELLING SALACIOUS BITS OF THEIR ESCAPADES WITH BILLY BOY ON LINE FOR $1.99 A POP. I GUESS THAT MAKES THEM TW0 DOLLAR *****, WITH A PENNY DISCOUNT. THEY ARE ALSO COLLABORATING ON A TELL-ALL BOOK. I BELIEVE HILLARY CAN FORGET ABOUT BEING SELECTED FOR VICE PRESIDENT. I%u2019M SURE THE DEMOCRATS DON%u2019T WANT ALL THAT KRAP BEING CIRCULATED ALL OVER AGAIN.

[hp32970c]

In my opinion putting Clinton on the ticket is a bad idea. That will draw out more conservatives for McCain than the marriage amendment did for Bush in 2004. Hillary needs to deliver her voters to Obama with her all out, whole hearted campaigning for him. If he loses because of her voters her political career will be done so I suspect she will be campaigning hard for him.

[renonv5]

Who succeeded JFK and why/how? Posted by pianoman42

Lyndon Baines Johnson, VP under JFK, because JFK was assassinated. He finished Kennedy''s term and went on to win his own presidential election.

[renonv5]

The very fact that Hillary obfuscated the truth about the votes - that she was ahead in the popular vote (which she was not - and you don''''t even have to cut into the caucus votes that Obama won handily), that she was more electable (quite questionable), that Obama played the race card (when it was actually Bill Clinton who played the race card in S.C.) and that she somehow convinced the minions that she was one of them, when she is actually the ultimate insider and the richests of any of them.

Not sure why people are mad at Obama. I mean really. Just because they think Hillary was entitled to it. Or is it that Hillary said that Obama did not have enough experience. Is that the kind of experience that makes you vote for a bogus war and then never even appologize for it?
Posted by Vet_Sk

It is this kind of closed-minded ignorance that scares me more than anything else. I guess however you see it, that''s the way it is.

[renonv5]

Without a doubt she would help his cause, but we don''t want to see her associate with him in any way, shape or form. Let the almighty Obama do this all on his own. She endorsed him, that''s enough. Now let''s see if he can win over ALL the people that wanted to see her in office. Should be interesting.

[aldon61]

Hell no! Hillary Clinton supporters weren''''t going to vote for Obama anyway...and his ruse to offer her the VP slot to get her votes won''''t change that!

Hillary needs to stay away from his trash! Far Far away! Let the republicans have at him!


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Posted by TiredofObama at 10:27 PM : Jun 09, 2008


How''s it going Rowdy? Stay on those meds girl!

[aldon61]

She brings a lot more baggage to the ticket then he needs. The few votes he may gain among the crazier Hillary supporters would be lost by moderate independents who just plain don''''t like her. To say nothing of the ultra conservatives who may not want to vote for McCain and might stay home, but will jump at the chance to vote AGAINST her.


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Posted by SgtRDS-E4 at 09:19 PM : Jun 09, 2008

You''ve given quite a bit of thought to this position and you could be right on dead center. My biggest concerns are Ohio and Pennsylvania. We may well need them, and at present, they seem unwilling to vote for Obama, but Hillary does well with them. Don''t get me wrong, I DO NOT want Hillary on the ticket, there are entirely too many negatives and she is a huge polarizing personality. Maybe the best thing right now is to step back for a little while and see if the political landscape becomes clearer; we can always use Hillary as a trump card later.

[greatdrivew]

Obama should quickly name his VP and Cabinet. Doing so would accomplish two things: First, it would end all this counter-productive speculation. And second, it would force McCain to name his VP and Cabinet. McCain will undoubtedly fill those positions with neocons, which would be a terrific point of comparison. And if McCain won''t name his VP and Cabinet because he fear public backlash, then we can point that out too. IN other words, you know what you''re getting from Barack, but do you really know what you''re getting from McCain?

So I look forward to Barack naming these people soon.

[shingles1]

Apparently f4rt is a dirty word here on CBS.

[shingles1]

Hillary would hurt the ticket.
Period.

1. She''s a magnet for negative news coverage and news stories. The fact is that the press hates the Clintons, in which every burp and *** gets blown up into a scandal.
2. Obama is already going to have a hard enough time w/right wing smears (some false, but some based on truth - like Rezko) that adding Hillary into the mix, who has a satchel full of "scandals" from the past, just doubles the amount of time and money that the campaign will spend on the defensive. Whether or not these scandals amounted to anything is irrelevant - it''s the PERCEPTION of scandal that counts.
3. Bill is a disaster waiting to happen. First, the man can''t shut up. Second, his post-presidential dealings, particularly with all the dirty money and dirty donors involved with his Presidential library, will indeed become a scandal.
4. The Clintons are the best fund raising tool the Republican party has ever had.

The only reason you would even want her on the ticket would be if you WANTED the Democrats to lose.

[barocalto]

I got a question, will Obama take away my SUV (I''ve got six children) in Portland last month he said "you can''t have your SUV''s and your thermostats set at 72, because I''m not going to let that happen, that''s not leadership".

OK so is he going to outlaw SUV''s and is he going to move out of his mansion. With only two children he doesn''t need a house that big and I wonder what he has his thermostat set at??

[kaesean]

I really think the Hillary would hurt the ticket. We all agree that Hillary ran a good campaign the last couple of months. Obama needs to focus un getting a running mate that is about change. His platform is about change nad If he chooses Hillary he would be a hypocrite in the eyes on many Americans. The media needs to start focusing on the issues that we Americans face everyday rather than who Obama will choose as his running mate.Hillary lost, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with Superdelegates. She lost 11 states in a row and at that time she knew should could not catch him in delegates mathematically. So in her effort to raise money she continued and used all these woman in thinking she had a real chance. While I applaud her efforts I don''t think her concession was genuine and grom the heart.

[craigh9]

Most certainly Hillary nor Bill are second fiddle people. Placing her on the ticket would create a 3 ring circus amongst them all. We need someone to assume the presidency that can direct the country - not a committee of 3 that would muddle issues constantly.
Make a clean break Obama - it is by far the best thing you can do for yourself.

[jack3213]

Obama said :" "At a time when we''''re fighting two wars, when millions of Americans ca''''t afford their medical bills or their tuition bills, when we''''re paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, the man who rails against government spending wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for Exxon Mobil," Obama said. "That isn''''t just irresponsible. It''''s outrageous."

AS A DEMOCRAT OBAMA RAISING TAXES IS OUTRAGEOUS!
AS A DEMOCRAT OBAMA MEETING UNCONDITONALLY WITH TERRORISTS IS OUTRAGEOUS!
AS A DEMOCRAT OBAMA IRRESPONSIBLY LEAVING IRAQ IS OUTRAGEOUS!
AS A DEMOCRATIC OBAMA, PART OF A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS MAKING PROMISES THEY NEVER KEPT- THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!
AS A DEMOCRAT, OBAMA WHO HAS ATTENDED A USA HATING CHURCH FOR 20 YEARS- THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!
AS A DEMOCRAT OBAMA, INEXPERAINCED AND UNQUALIFIED IS OUTRAGEOUS!
THEY REPORT- YOU DECIDE.

[vet_sk]

It would HURT both of them because Obama-Clinton ticket would be the biggest mistake. If they will pursue with this ticket, they are giving thw White House to McCain.


I agree. Obama is going to have to pick a vice to get the Hillary vote. Someone like Ed Rendell. But if he picks Hillary that will alienate the cross-over republican (Obamacans) vote that Obama is getting.

[vet_sk]

The very fact that Hillary obfuscated the truth about the votes - that she was ahead in the popular vote (which she was not - and you don''t even have to cut into the caucus votes that Obama won handily), that she was more electable (quite questionable), that Obama played the race card (when it was actually Bill Clinton who played the race card in S.C.) and that she somehow convinced the minions that she was one of them, when she is actually the ultimate insider and the richests of any of them.

Not sure why people are mad at Obama. I mean really. Just because they think Hillary was entitled to it. Or is it that Hillary said that Obama did not have enough experience. Is that the kind of experience that makes you vote for a bogus war and then never even appologize for it?

[pianoman42]

Who succeeded JFK and why/how?

[a-ji]

It would HURT both of them because Obama-Clinton ticket would be the biggest mistake. If they will pursue with this ticket, they are giving thw White House to McCain.