Hillary Clinton: If she ran, could she win?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately, and now I’m wondering if anyone else has any opinions on this.
There has been much talk lately about the candidate the Democrats will put forth to run against Bush, and several names have been mentioned. Nobody really believes any of them have a chance, for some reason. So I’m led to wonder, if Hillary Clinton emerged as a possible candidate, could she become the first female president?
There are several things going against her, first of all, she is a woman. Many people in the country unfortunately have very bigoted views against the idea of women in power (insert random PMS related nuclear war joke). Her husband did create a vast amount of controversy while he was in office.
But then again she could have a lot going for her. She seems very family oriented, what with staying with her husband through the infidelity situation. She seems very independent and intelligent. The complications about the Bush Administration’s dealings with CIA information, so on and so forth.
So I wonder, if Hillary did decide to run, would she have a chance? What would be some of the issues that would weaken her chances? What would help her?

-foxy

2

Does she have good sneakers? Running is all about the shoes, you know.

Plus, doesn’t it depend on who’s running in the next lane?

Oh. Wait…
She won’t be a candidate for '04, and if by some miracle we manage to overcome the Bushies with terrorist blood dripping from their jowls right now, she’s not going to be screwing up the Dems reelection bid in '08.

However, if W ends up not having to move out of 1600 Penn. on 1/20/05, I think she’s got a shot in '08, yeah.

3

I don’t think anybody - even many Democrats - trust Hillary. Gore had the same problem, only I think it’s worse for her. Gore had the ‘invented the internet’ thing. Hillary had Whitewater and Vince Foster. :stuck_out_tongue:
I say that semi-facetiously, but I do think a lot of people view her as power hungry and amoral. She gets points for being an independent, powerful woman I guess, but I’m not sure that overcomes her flaws. And I don’t think a woman could get elected in 2004 either. Also - though I guess this is irrelevant if you don’t trust her - she’s said she won’t be running.

4

“She seems very family oriented, what with staying with her husband through the infidelity situation.”

You’re joking, right? Almost everyone knows the only reason she stayed with this Womanizer was that if she left, she would be leaving her political career behind also. The Clinton ‘mariage’ was one of the biggest lies in Washington, which alone is enough to destroy her credability. There are a lot of people out there (like me) who wouldn’t vote for her unless she was running against Sadaam Hussein. I wouldn’t vote for her for dog catcher, let alone President of the United States.

5

Cite? No, seriously. I’m aware leaving him would have done damage plenty of damage to her career, but stating it as a fact that “everyone knows” strikes me as a bit presumptuous.

6

OK, maybe its not a proven fact that she stayed with him for her career, but in my opinion, and probably in the opinion of many of the peope in this country, that is why she stayed with him. This is one case where opinion is worth more than fact because the opinion is what is going to cost her votes. I actually would be more likely to vote for her now if she HAD left him.

   What is going against her?  She has 2 and a half years of experience as a US Senator and no other experience as an ELECTED public official.  First lady, important as it is, does not count.  And what exactly has she accomplished as a Senator that makes her more qualified than 99 other Senators to be President?

This is the biggest sticking point for me. Other than having the last name Clinton, what has she really done that would qualify her over many other long time public servants to be President?

     Do Democrats really believe in HER or would an attempt to put her on the ticket be just an excuse to get Bill Clinton back in the White House and in the public eye in some capacity?  Do they really want her or him?  I think its the latter, personally.   This sort of name recognition game is similar to capitalizing off the Bush name by W and the Republicans and could come back to haunt the Democrats if they chose her.

     Winning a national election is much tougher than winning a hand picked state election against a virtual unknown opponent.
7

Oh, sorry for the double post, but another thing that bothers me about her. I did not read her book and don’t know what she said about Clinton’s affairs in it, but on talk shows I have yet to see her answer the question about why she stayed with Bill. She gives an “answer”…sort of. “I did what I thought was best for my family,” or some such soundbite. That is not a real answer. That is just restating what she did. The question is WHY she thought that was the best for her family.

8

The only way Hillary would ever get the Dem’s nomination is if whoever she was running against was impeccable/unbeatable, thus they could placate her oversized ego and let her run as a “nod” to all of the contributions she has made to their party and plus be able to say “Hey look everyone, we’re progressive, we nominated a woman!”. There is no way they are going to give her a nomination if they have a chance to run someone who has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning – which she doesn’t.

I personally would like to see her run because it would be fun to see that fire breathing she-devil get her ass stomped into the ground. I doubt she could even take California much less any of the other “important” states. The landslide she’d create in Texas for the opposition alone would be worthy of an all-nighter in front of the tube, watching Dan Rather throw a temper tantrum. Fucking beautiful.

IMHO, of course.

9

The thing that makes me lose respect for any BIG name democrat is the fact that none of them will put themselves out there yet.
They’re sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see how things play out (in my opinion) with GW, Iraq, the economy etc.

Al gore should be all over GW if he had any balls. Especially on the deficit issue.

10

All of which is probably related to her comments that she won’t run in '04. She’s not even the senior Senator from her state, big one though it is. She’s been pretty low-key in her first term thus far.

I’m not sure they DO want her to run. That seems to be getting overlooked. A lot of people on this board speculate about how she could do, but I’ve never heard on the news that she’s considering making a run or anything that might even indicate that possibility. Maybe she really IS that power-hungry, I don’t know, but Senator from New York isn’t chopped liver.

True true, although she probably would’ve beat the known opponent (Rudy Giuliani) she was supposed to face had he not dropped out.

11

I like Hillary, but I think it’s too early for her to run for the Presidency. Too many folks are still saddled with negative bullstuff about her (see above messages for examples) that any campaign would spend a lot of time fighting a battle overcoming those misconceptions.

Give her five or six years in New York, both to build up a record on her own and for the dolts to get a clue, and maybe we’ll talk.

12

That is true for me. If she had dumped the sumbitch, I would have respected the hell out of her. I was dissapointed she didn’t.

13

I hope Hillary doesn’t run - I don’t think she would win, she has alot of negatives that she has to overcome.

14

There’s something much bigger working against her than being a woman- her personality. Now, I’d like to see a woman as president, but I’m picky. There’s no way in hell I’d want a woman like that in the White House. (I’d love to see her act in a production of MacBeth, though, she and Lady MacBeth have so much in common!) Some other women would vote for a woman merely because she is one, but I hope I’m not in the minority to have additional requirements in a canidate.

15

No way. I don’t think she has enough proven experience, plus an awful lot of people hate her. I’m a woman and a democrat and a native New Yorker and I’m not all that crazy about her myself. A lot of “swing” type voters would probably gleefully vote against her (versus for the other guy).

As I’ve stated numerous times before, IMHO the first woman president will be Chelsea Clinton, in 2020 or later. No one hates her (yet) and she’s been groomed for it. Going to Stanford was a master stroke as far as building consituency (born in the South, grew up in DC, went to college in Cali… she’s an insider, and an outsider… all things to all people, just like Dad). She probably knew more about foreign policy at 13 than GWB ever will.

And, although this sounds bad, she’s fair looking but not “too pretty” for people to take her seriously. Much as I hate to admit it, this WILL be a factor in the election of the first woman president.

16

My credentials as a Clinton opponent are in order, aren’t they? Good.

While I’d never vote for Hillary, I DO think that IF she ever wants to be President, she should enter the race now. She has many assets, NONE of which will be more valuable 4 or 8 years from now, and several of which are likely to fade away.

Obviously, if she just doesn’t WANT to be President, the point is moot. But if she DOES have Presidential ambitions, it makes no sense for her to wait until it’s “her turn.” The single biggest thing she has going for her is memories of peace and a strong economy under Bill’s administration. She’d be able to ask Ronald Reagan’s famous question, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago,” and score points with it. But if she were to wait 4 or 8 years to run, people’s memories of the Clinton years would start to fade.

She has other assets, but they too come with an expiration date. Right now, she has 100% name recognition, something NO Democrat currently running has. She also has a slew of worshippers in Hollywood, who’d be happy to donate and raise money for her. If she waits 4 or 8 years, those show biz backers will start to drift to other candidates.

Her husband proved in 1988 that if you want to be President, you have to grab your opportunities and make the most of them. Remember, in 1991, George Bush the Elder looked unbeatable, and loads of prominent Democrats were too chicken to take him on: Mario Cuomo, Bill Bradley, Lloyd Bentsen, Sam Nunn, Dick Gephardt and Al Gore, among others, decided it would be safer to wait for years and take on Dan Quayle!

Waiting for “her turn” could mean waiting forever. IF Hillary wants to be President, she should enter the race now. She’ll never have a better chance of winning.

17

IMHO, the only person that conservatives hate more than Bill Clinton is Hillary. Her adamant refusal to be the sort of plastic little woman with the rictus smile that Laura Bush is just galls the right, many of whom still believe that a woman’s place is anywhere but in politics. The conservative press excoriated her for everything from the baking cookies non-event to her hairdos, all of which were completely apropos to nothing.

On the other hand, when I asked her (in a greeting line during a presidential visit to Uganda) if she was going to “run” in 2000, she replied, “Only for the county line”. This turned out to be completely disingenuous, which is not something I like in a politician.

Does she have a chance? Hell, anybody has a chance. Look at Jimmy Carter’s nomination and subsequent win. He worked hard to get himself in a good position for it, but I don’t think anyone gave him much of a chance. But the problem is still going to be the resistance to a woman in the presidency. If she runs, the press will hound her, the right will try to discredit and smear her, and the left will probably distance themselves while giving lip service.

18

Hillary Clinton: If she ran, could she win?

That really depends on who would want to see her naked because I know a LOT of people who would want to paintball her ass.

19

I can’t believe how many people are still so rabid about Bill Clinton. Geez, he put a dick in an intern’s mouth.
Bush has put the US into an unwinnable war and made us internationally hated and the target of terrorists for the next 100 years…but hotdamn, he ain’t had sex with an intern!

But back to Hillary…I personally would love to see her win simply to see Republican heads implode from rage.

Could she win? Well, if the Dems can fire up enough people to get off their lazy asses to vote (younger voters, minorites, working mothers) I think it is very possible, and even probable that she would win. People may hate her for a lot of reasons, but I don’t think anyone considers her politically inept or stupid. She could certainly do better than the current yahoo in office.

20

Since this is in IMHO, I’ll just give my opinion and stay away from GD topics.

No, I don’t think she would win.