# Hillary Clinton's Presidential Campaign Discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873 "2016-05-04T11:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 60
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1181 "2016-09-10T22:56:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Not sure what you’re referring to here, but to be clear, [the report of Hillary’s comments was real](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/index.html) as was Pence’s response. It was a tweet purportedly sent by Donald Trump calling one of Clinton’s advisors (a Mexican or Hispanic woman, I believe) a chihuahua. It turned out to be from an impostor. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1182 "2016-09-10T23:05:20Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > You will see. What… How the hell is this an answer? You post constantly hyperventilating about Hillary losing all those precious fragile white voters, and when someone asks you to go into detail on your beliefs, THIS is your completely dismissive reply? Humor us. Tell us the blindingly obvious. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1183 "2016-09-10T23:12:25Z")
> [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](#): > > I’m about 50% convinced that this whole thing was a troll by the HRC camp - in her “apology” where she said that it was probably wrong to say “half”, she brought up that whole litany of stuff again - hiring the Breitbart guy, birtherism, attacking Judge Curiel and the Gold Star parents, and so on. So far it’s been Trump’s MO to double down on all that stuff when challenged on it; this feels like just a stab at getting Trump to bring up all his greatest hits once more after Labor Day. I pretty much feel that anyone who feels like they were just called out by HRC wasn’t ever going to vote for her anyway and there’s not much downside for her here. She left a pretty big out to Trump supporters by commenting on their legitimate economic grievances. Good point, and if you are right then I think it worked. When pressed on these comments, the standard response by Hillary and her surrogates has been to admit that “half” maybe wasn’t the best word to use but then double down on the assertion that Trump is empowering bigots, xenophobes, etc., using facts and logic. I was dismayed that her “Alt-right” speech in Reno a couple of weeks ago did not seem to get the attention it deserved and become part of the national dialogue, but this second attempt seems to be more successful. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1184 "2016-09-10T23:17:43Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > You will see. Come on, give us a hint! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1185 "2016-09-10T23:38:37Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’m not freaking out but I am admittedly worried about her chances. She should have slammed the door shut on Trump in August, but instead she went on a fundraising binge while ordinary white Americans in Denham Springs, Louisiana were drowning in water and financial loss. … I realize that you remain fixated on Louisiana but first - no she could not have slammed the door on him at any point. The lead she had after the one-two of a very successful convention and then Trump’s self-inflicted harm caused by attacking the Kahns was not sustainable. The media’s focus on raising “questions” about her is where her unfavorable rise comes from; not from her lack of photo-op handing out Play-Do. I know I keep repeating this but the race is fairly stable. Aggregators like 538 call it currently Clinton +3.7 in polls-only and 4.0 in Nowcast. Wang not much different with a meta-margin of Clinton +3.6. Heck, Rasmussen’s latest was Clinton +4. Closer than Clinton +5ish that I see as the long term stable center? Yes but not so far off. Nothing that Clinton can do will “put it away” in any lasting way much more than that. Trump could push it some transiently with particularly egregious comments but even then it will settle back. Poll numbers will be fickle going up and down around that stable center. Clinton doing one more or less campaign appearance that the media does not report on discussing another aspect of her plans and why she is the best choice has little impact. So what to do? Every action you take is an opportunity cost of the action you do not take. To no small degree the actual margin will be based on who comes out to vote on election day. Trump is depending on non-college educated White males voting in greater numbers than ever before, and it could happen. Clinton is spending bookoo bucks on her state of the art get out the vote infrastructure in critical states. So in addition to her many appearances, and preparing hard for a solid debate performance, she is raising the money to fund that GOTV infrastructure. Don’t raise the money and you don’t have that as extensively or as completely developed. That infrastructure being fully formed and completely implemented does not impact her poll numbers right now but it can, fairly reliably, deliver a couple of points in those potentially close states on election day. So yes, she needs to spend some significant time raising the money that allows for that. That is how she is trying to “put it away” … by methodical execution of a complete game plan. As to the “deplorables” line … she said that the half of Trump’s supporters who are bigots are deplorable. What? Bigots are not deplorable? Those who are “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it” are not deplorable? They are hard-working Americans who deserve respect? No. They are not. Yeah, half may be the wrong number. Maybe it’s 80%. Maybe 60%. Probably not less. I think she was being too politically correct in portraying half of them as _not_ bigots, as good people, “people who feel that government has let them down … desperate for a change … people we have to understand and empathize with” … but her call. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1186 "2016-09-10T23:58:34Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’m not freaking out but I am admittedly worried about her chances. She should have slammed the door shut on Trump in August… Says who? Name one president who slammed the door in August. Not even the Reagan landslide was apparent in August. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1187 "2016-09-11T00:02:27Z")
Eh, I’m somewhere between **asahi** ’s hyperventilating panic\* and some of y’all’s blithe dismissals\*. Was this a backbreaking mistake that is going to cost her the election? Nah, I doubt it. But IMO it _was_ a stupid blunder that helps her in no way, shape or form. I think it will cost her more than it helps. Hopefully not by much, but it was best avoided - honestly is _not_ always the best policy :). - Expressions used for effect, not intended to convey actual depth of feeling by posters involved :D. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1188 "2016-09-11T00:05:32Z")
The other aspect of raising and spending money now, beyond the massive GOTV machine, is pointed out in [this Forbes article](http://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2016/08/02/post-conventions-hillary-is-dominating-the-airwaves/#c15507038b3c) focused on the more traditional media campaign. Not talking about the commercials running right _now_ (although the bits in the article about which shows have gotten the big buys is interesting) but this: > [@Forbes](#): > > … the Clinton campaign and Hillary-aligned SuperPACs – principally Priorities USA – have already reserved $98 million in ads for the fall, including over $20 million in Florida and nearly $17 million in Ohio. This kind of saturation buying not only makes a dent in the inventory available to the Trump campaign and its allies, it also locks Team Hillary’s media costs in at a much lower rate than Trump, the master negotiator, will end up paying for last minute placements. … ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1189 "2016-09-11T00:15:00Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Eh, I’m somewhere between **asahi** ’s hyperventilating panic\* and some of y’all’s blithe dismissals\*. Was this a backbreaking mistake that is going to cost her the election? Nah, I doubt it. > > But IMO it _was_ a stupid blunder that helps her in no way, shape or form. Did you notice no one is talking about the email water torture any more? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1190 "2016-09-11T00:23:22Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I realize that you remain fixated on Louisiana but first - no she could not have slammed the door on him at any point. The lead she had after the one-two of a very successful convention and then Trump’s self-inflicted harm caused by attacking the Kahns was not sustainable. The media’s focus on raising “questions” about her is where her unfavorable rise comes from; not from her lack of photo-op handing out Play-Do. > > I know I keep repeating this but the race is fairly stable. Aggregators like 538 call it currently Clinton +3.7 in polls-only and 4.0 in Nowcast. Wang not much different with a meta-margin of Clinton +3.6. Heck, Rasmussen’s latest was Clinton +4. > > Closer than Clinton +5ish that I see as the long term stable center? Yes but not so far off. Nothing that Clinton can do will “put it away” in any lasting way much more than that. Trump could push it some transiently with particularly egregious comments but even then it will settle back. Poll numbers will be fickle going up and down around that stable center. Clinton doing one more or less campaign appearance that the media does not report on discussing another aspect of her plans and why she is the best choice has little impact. > > So what to do? Every action you take is an opportunity cost of the action you do not take. > > To no small degree the actual margin will be based on who comes out to vote on election day. Trump is depending on non-college educated White males voting in greater numbers than ever before, and it could happen. Clinton is spending bookoo bucks on her state of the art get out the vote infrastructure in critical states. > > So in addition to her many appearances, and preparing hard for a solid debate performance, she is raising the money to fund that GOTV infrastructure. Don’t raise the money and you don’t have that as extensively or as completely developed. That infrastructure being fully formed and completely implemented does not impact her poll numbers right now but it can, fairly reliably, deliver a couple of points in those potentially close states on election day. So yes, she needs to spend some significant time raising the money that allows for that. > > That is how she is trying to “put it away” … by methodical execution of a complete game plan. > > As to the “deplorables” line … she said that the half of Trump’s supporters who are bigots are deplorable. What? Bigots are not deplorable? Those who are “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it” are not deplorable? They are hard-working Americans who deserve respect? No. They are not. > > Yeah, half may be the wrong number. Maybe it’s 80%. Maybe 60%. Probably not less. I think she was being too politically correct in portraying half of them as _not_ bigots, as good people, “people who feel that government has let them down … desperate for a change … people we have to understand and empathize with” … but her call. Trump is the American Brexit. People will be saying until the eve of the election, “He can’t win.” They will be saying that his voters are a bunch of idiots and uneducated lowlifes clutching to religion and race." Trump may be oscillating somewhere between -5 and +1 throughout the rest of the campaign. The averages might put Clinton at +4. But guess what: if on November 8, Trump has the benefit of the last upswing in the vote…we’re living with it for 4 years, and we’re probably living with the consequences for 4 decades at minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1191 "2016-09-11T00:26:42Z")
So you’ve said. Repeatedly. Notwithstanding the fact that the “Brexit can’t win” was more public perception than polling reality, none of what you’ve said, again repeatedly, answers any of the specific questions on this page. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1192 "2016-09-11T00:28:40Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > It was a tweet purportedly sent by Donald Trump calling one of Clinton’s advisors (a Mexican or Hispanic woman, I believe) a chihuahua. It turned out to be from an impostor. This. (Thanks for clarification) Except it was Joy Reid of MSNBC, an African American. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1193 "2016-09-11T00:32:07Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > You will see. You’re going to wait until after the election to tell us, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1194 "2016-09-11T00:35:43Z")
Question now is her VP candidate, what with all internet buzz about what they say Kaine did to his brother. Nobody knows how these things get started. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1195 "2016-09-11T00:52:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Trump is the American Brexit. … > [@Leaper](#): > > … Notwithstanding the fact that the “Brexit can’t win” was more public perception than polling reality … Really. Polling on Brexit was pretty much [dead even](http://election.princeton.edu/2016/06/23/brexit-home-stretch-polling/). The numbers said it was close and often had Leave in the lead. The pundits and bettors were saying otherwise. In any case you seem to have missed the meaning of my post. While I am far more confident of a Clinton win than you are I am also very much of the belief that Team Clinton needs to execute in a manner that leaves as little to chance as possible. Locking up the critical state media markets for the critical time immediately before the election well in advance, having state-of-the-art GOTV infrastructure in place in those states, is more how you do that than having a few photo-ops. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1196 "2016-09-11T01:06:24Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > This. (Thanks for clarification) Except it was Joy Reid of MSNBC, an African American. Sorry about that, I looked at your post for about a millisecond, got distracted, and when I came back to the page again it was gone and all I remembered was a female name so I put myself in the shoes of someone trying to frame Trump for calling someone a chihuahua as an ethnic slur and came up with Amanda Renteria. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1197 "2016-09-11T02:08:45Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > “Gee, I just can’t make up my mind whether to vote for Clinton or Trump. There’s just no difference between them that I can see. Wait, you say Clinton insulted Trump’s bigot supporters? How rude. Guess it’s TRUMP for me!” > > Don’t really see that happening. The undecideds will decide this election. They are white, and they lean right. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1198 "2016-09-11T02:22:03Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Question now is her VP candidate, what with all internet buzz about what they say Kaine did to his brother. Nobody knows how these things get started. I went to Google news and couldn’t find a single thing about Kaine’s brother. Illuminate me? ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1199 "2016-09-11T02:31:43Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I went to Google news and couldn’t find a single thing about Kaine’s brother. Illuminate me? Book of Genesis. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873/1200 "2016-09-11T03:03:02Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The undecideds will decide this election. They are white, and they lean right. They are White. That much is true. The leaning Right part? _Any_ basis for that belief? Because as I’ve linked to [in another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19616124&postcount=27) as a group they are mostly “from a demographic — younger voters — that’s more inclined to back her, and in some surveys have a slightly less negative view of her than of Trump …” Of the possibilities: they vote and break for Clinton; they vote and break for Trump; they vote and vote for Johnson or Stein; they just stay home - the _least_ probable is that they vote and vote for Trump. I’d place they just stay home as the one the most will do but _if_ the polling appears close some will vote against the one they dislike more, and that is Trump. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873.md?page=59) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clintons-presidential-campaign-discussion/753873.md?page=61)