Hillary Clinton for President - 2008

Bill: I didn't hear Hillary 'whining'
Posted: Thursday, April 17, 2008 5:13 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Clinton

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
ST. MARY'S, PA -- Bill Clinton has been talking all day about how great he thought last night's debate was. At his most recent stop, he pushed back at some of the complaints coming from the Obama campaign, saying his wife didn't whine when she took some hits.

Source: Hillary TV Ad Campaign Is Now 100% Negative In Most Pennsylvania Markets

TPM
By Greg Sargent
April 16, 2008

Here's a glimpse into Hillary's ad strategy in the final stretch of the Pennsylvania primary:

In most of Pennsylvania's markets, the only TV ad Hillary is running right now is a negative one -- the spot hitting Obama over his "small town" comments, a political ad buyer who tracks buys in Pennsylvania tells me.

The buyer says that as of this morning, that ad -- and no positive spots -- are running in the Pittsburgh, Erie, Johnstown/Altoona, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton markets.

Meanwhile, the buyer says, in the Philadelphia and Harrisburg markets, Hillary's ad campaign is 50% negative -- she's running two spots, the new spot hitting Obama over oil companies, and another spot touting Hillary's plans to right the economy that doesn't mention Obama.

According to the buyer, the Philadelphia and Harrisburg markets add up to a bit over half the state's households.

Upshot: Nearly half the state's households are right now seeing only the "small town" spot, and the remaining half are seeing her economy spot and the oil spot hitting Obama, the buyer says.

Of course, this could still change at any time. Asked for a comment, Hillary Pennsylvania spokesperson Mark Nevins would only say: "We don't discuss our ad strategy. The colonel never gives away the secret recipe."

Late Update: There's still more: Ben Smith has obtained the script of a new ad hitting Obama that the pro-Clinton third party group American Leadership Project is set to run.

Quote:

Source: Hillary TV Ad Campaign Is Now 100% Negative In Most Pennsylvania Markets

I'll have to bookmark this for later on when the usual suspects come out and claim that only the Republicans use negative ad campaigns.

Clinton aims Phila. talk straight at working people

Philly.com
Fri, Apr. 18, 2008

Under a nearly full moon and against the neon green backdrop of the Mayfair Diner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night spoke to the heart, soul, and thinned bank accounts of many workers in the Northeast.

Using the last of her spent voice at a rally, Clinton hailed the power of unions, pledged solidarity with the truck drivers, autoworkers, veterans and teachers, and promised that as president, she would not allow tax breaks "for any company that sends a single job out of Pennsylvania and overseas."

They loved that. But they really went wild when she recalled dealing with detoured traffic on I-95 a few weeks ago and asked, "Wouldn't it be better if we put hardworking Americans back to work building roads and bridges?"

"She's for the working person," said George Dolbow, a 45-year-old glazier and member of Local 252 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. He came to the diner with his 16-month-old, 140-pound St. Bernard, Jagger, who sported several Hillary stickers.

[..] The Colbert cable-TV show, which was taping its final appearance in Philadelphia, afforded a bit of comic relief for Clinton in the closing days of her Pennsylvania campaign [..].

At the Annenberg Center, Clinton waited off stage as the show's host, Stephen Colbert, noticed that the set's backdrop picture showing the Liberty Bell failed to appear.

Colbert called out for help but was told that all the technicians had left. In stepped Clinton, offering to lend a hand.

"Are you using a digital or analog truck?" she asked in a series of technical queries. "Try toggling the input," she instructed, and the picture returned.

She nodded in approval, and as she turned to leave, Clinton quipped: "Call me any time ... Call me at 3 a.m." [..]

Clinton attended the Haverford event with her daughter, Chelsea, and mother, Dorothy Rodham. [..] Many women in the audience had their daughters with them, including Kerri Wilkerson, an accountant, and her 4-year-old daughter, Sonya. The Clinton campaign spotted them holding posters supporting the senator at the National Constitution Center on Wednesday and invited them to attend the Haverford event and introduce Chelsea.

Holding her daughter on her hip, Kerri Wilkerson tried to coax Sonya to announce Chelsea Clinton's name. Sonya balked, then tried to lick the microphone. Her mother gave up, then announced Chelsea herself.

The senator spoke on issues that included experimenting with paid family leave, funding research to find a cure for breast cancer, immigration reform and literacy education.

During the question period, only one was asked by a man, Samuel Leath, a sophomore at Haverford. He wanted to know what to say when he canvasses voters on her behalf.

Said Clinton: "Oh, just knock on the door and say she is really nice ... or you could say she is not as bad as you think."

I happened to come across another story that Michael Duffy and I had written for dead-tree TIME the week before Penn was (actually) fired from Al Gore's presidential campaign in 1999. It included this tidbit, which I had forgotten:

While a bloated, imperial operation could hardly be expected to pick up on warning signs, Gore insiders particularly fault Mark Penn, the lead among Gore's half a dozen pollsters. Penn shares his energies with the President, Hillary Clinton and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. Over and over, Penn told the Vice President that Bradley posed little or no threat, that Bush was not as far ahead as public polls suggested and that most voters were confusing the Texas Governor with his father. At one point, when Penn was insisting that Gore was no farther than 10 points behind Bush, a campaign official quietly asked another pollster to check Penn's work. The number came back: Gore down by 18. Penn declined to be interviewed but let it be known through an intermediary that his position is secure.

That was a cute break here on this thread

But joining Soz back on topic: did you know that in half of Pennsylvania now, the only ad the Hillary campaign is broadcasting is an attack ad? In the other half, it's airing two ads, one positive and one an attack ad.