Hillary Clinton’s Challenge in Iowa
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:41pm Geraldine
In the latest must-read political story of the week, Adam Nagourney chronicled Hillary Clinton’s plans for her run for President. However, in the New Hampshire heavy article, one paragraph stood out,
“Mrs. Clinton has less experience with presidential politics in Iowa than in New Hampshire because in 1992, when her husband ran the first time, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa was also seeking the presidential nomination, so other candidates steered clear of the race”
This misses one of the big challenges that Hillary faces. Rogue polls aside, she has next to no traction among Iowa caucusgoers. Vilsack has been Governor for eight years, Edwards still has a formidable base of support left from 2004 and Obama is not only seen as a political rockstar but, as a Senator from Illinois gets local television coverage in much of Eastern Iowa as well. In contrast, Bill Clinton never had to campaign in the Iowa Caucuses and Hillary has no hometown advantage in Iowa.
Hillary will have none of these advantages and right now is clearly running fourth in Iowa. Although she may have a lot of money, media is secondary to field in caucuses and among Democratic activists, all the candidates have high name ID. It’s still early and as Chase pointed out recently, the Iowa Caucuses are still wide open. But, Hillary is clearly starting behind the eight ball and it would not be a surprise if she doesn’t compete in the caucuses at all and tries to build up New Hampshire and South Carolina as firewalls.
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Entry Filed under: President 2008, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Tom Vilsack, Hillary Clinton
Related Searches: senator tom harkin, iowa caucuses, tom harkin, hometown advantage, democratic activists
3 Comments Add your own
1. 2008: Can Clinton organiz&hellip | January 4th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[…] Geraldine over at Iowa Progress is becoming one of my favorite regular posters over there and this post about Senator Clinton’s Iowa problems is definitely worth a read. What is highlighted is the fact that she, nor her husband, have ever really had to fight for Iowa. In 1992, they got to skip the state because of Harkin’s run. In 1996, Bill was the incumbent and essentially won the caucuses by default. So now, over 10 years since the last Iowa Caucus where Bill Clinton even had to show up, and in a state she hasn’t been to in three years, Hillary Clinton now has to organize an Iowa campaign without any kind of leftovers from past cycles. Thankfully for Sen. Clinton, she’s got Bonnie Campbell’s support, which can get you some organization and early support here in Iowa. […]
2. Dave Michaels | January 7th, 2007 at 1:20 am
A new IDP/TIPP poll shows John Edwards is stronger than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in head-to-head matchups against Republicans, including a statistical tie with McCain: http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&issue=20070105
3. Iowa Progress » Hil&hellip | January 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
[…] Now that Hillary Clinton has declared that she’s going to run for President (and ruined Sam Brownback’s day too). We thought it would be worthwhile to revisit some of our past coverage of Hillary and the caucuses. This includes one post on the challenge that Hillary faces in Iowa and why the caucuses are still wide open. But for now, my biggest concern is how it looks when I have to explain that the url www.brownback.com is in my history and why it’s totally non-sexual. Hillary Clinton may be getting the attention today but Sam Brownback will still have a hilarious last name tomorrow. […]
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