Archive: Mandy Grunwald
Democratic political consultant Mandy Grunwald has the answers to your questions. Grunwald served as media adviser and Director of Advertising for the Clinton/Gore ’92 campaign – the first woman to hold that job. She is now advising Hillary Rodham Clinton in her run for Senate. Veteran CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante brings a top political expert into the Smoke-Filled Room each week to answer your questions:
Plante: How close do you think the race will be between Mrs. Clinton and Mayor Giuliani?
Grunwald: I think the race will be extremely close – but I believe Hillary will win. I believe that the causes she has championed for the last thirty years of he life – children and families, education, health care – are very much the issues that New Yorkers want their next Senator to work on.
Plante: Reader Annette H. comments “There’s a lot of talk how many woman are NOT supporting Mrs. Clinton in her race for senate. That seems surprising considering they would be her natural allies. What are your thoughts on this?”
Grunwald: Women are often these days the swing voters in elections. They don’t tend to make snap decisions. They listen to the issues carefully and make their decisions quite late in the campaign. Hillary is actually ahead with women voters in most polls. The stories you are referring to tend to focus on her standing with white women. Interestingly, when Senator Schumer began his fall campaign against Al D’Amato in 1998, he also was behind with white women. He wound up winning their votes and I believe Hillary will too.
On key issues – health care, the cost of prescription drugs, the education of kids – I am very confident that New Yorkers will both agree with Hillary’s positions and be troubled by Mayor Giuliani’s record and positions.
I also think it will be important for women to know about Hillary’s life and accomplishments. This is a woman who was twice named one of the 100 most outstanding lawyers in the country. Someone who straight out of law school was chosen as one of only two women on the House Watergate Committee. Someone who by the age of thirty was the Chair of the Legal Services Corporation – America’s lawyers for the poor. And someone who led a four year commission to battle against sex discrimination and for equal pay in the legal profession.
Hillary’s had a thirty year career as a champion for children and families – from pioneering work she did on the legal standards for child abuse, to work on child care, teacher testing standards, early childhood development. In the White House, she worked to make adoption easier, to increase funding for research and treatment of breast cancer and to increase children’s health coverage. I think these are all important things for wometo know as they about what kind of issues they want their next Senator focused on.
Plante: What is President Clinton going to do once he’s out of office? Will he spend a lot of time in New York? Arkansas? Or Washington, if his wife should win the NY senate seat?
Grunwald: I don’t know what the President will do when he’s out of office. He has publicly said he will split his time between his home in Chappaqua and his Presidential Library in Arkansas. Beyond that, you’ll have to ask him or wait and see.
Plante: “How much does Mrs. Clinton now owe the government for her use of USAF aircraft for her campaign flights to New York? Who pays for those that accompany her? Are these records in the public domain; if not why not?” asks D. Maple.
Grunwald: Hillary travels on government aircraft at the strong recommendation of the Secret Service. I’m sure you would not want to second-guess their views of what is best for her security.
The cost of her travels is reimbursed according to the same rules that were followed by the Reagan and Bush Administrations. All of those rules have been followed and the reimbursements are all publicly filed as part of the campaign.
Plante: If elected, do you think Al Gore will retain any of the current cabinet members for his administration? Chris Ryan wants to know.
Grunwald: I really don’t know. I would imagine that he would want to choose his own team, but I’ve never heard him discuss the subject.
Plante: Another reader asks “Would it be appropriate for President Clinton to grant a pardon or immunity to himself, Mrs. Clinton and/or members of his administration, before leaving office? Would it be appropriate for VP Gore to do so if he is elected president?”
Grunwald: I think that question is absurd.
Plante: Scott Cooper wonders if “you think Pat Buchanan will take away enough votes from Gov. Bush that the democrats will again win the White House?”
Grunwald: I think with or without Pat Buchanan, Al Gore will win the White House. I know it will be a tough and close campaign, but I really believe that the American people will not want to jeopardize our current prosperity by taking a chance on George W. Bush. His economic plan would undermine the progress that’s been made in deficit reduction and not leave sufficient money to do a lot of what I think people care about – shoring up Social Security and Medicare, investing in education etc. I also think George W. is clueless about foreign policy (he is not his old man) and that when it comes to choosing a President, that actually matters.
I think by November people will both know that they can rely on Al Gore’s experience and judgment on both domestic and foreign policy. Pat Buchanan or some other third party candidate may chip away somvotes from Bush, but I think Gore can win a 2-way or a 3-way race.
Plante: “What happens if Sen. McCain decides to run a third party race?” asks Jerry Calcot.
Grunwald: I was fascinated to read the New York Times interview with George W. Bush in which he was cavalier and insulting about Senator McCain. He said McCain hadn’t taught him anything. Couldn’t have been more smug or more wrong.
McCain may not have taught George W. anything, but I think the rest of the country learned a lot from his candidacy. Certainly, Al Gore seems to have. Gore has made several serious proposals to George W. Bush about giving up soft money, foregoing soft money advertising, focusing on debates. I think George W. is making a serious mistake mocking both Gore and McCain on this front.
As to McCain as a third party candidate, certainly it would be interesting, but all indications are that he wants to reform his party within, not abandon it. I think the most likely scenario is that he continues speaking out for his beliefs, watches Bush lose this election and challenges President Gore in 2004. That will be the moment where after three failed presidential elections, the Republican party would be most likely to respond to McCain’s calls for reform.
Plante: And finally, Allen Smith asks “Do you think that the Libertarian and Reform candidates should or will be allowed to participate in the fall debates?”
Grunwald: The rules seem to be set. A third party candidate must have 15%. However, it would not surprise me if Buchanan is the Reform Party candidate that he manages to embarrass the candidates into agreeing to let him on the stage.
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