NPR: Sen. Clinton Tries More Personal Approach

Sen. Clinton Tries More Personal Approach

In Hillary Clinton, one senses a longing for that Sally Field's moment, when she can cry out loud, "You like me, you really, really like me."

But as NPR's David Greene reports from the Clinton campaign in Iowa, that likability factor is weighing heavily on the minds of the candidate and her top organizers. So Clinton is crisscrossing Iowa, trying to reintroduce her "real" self. Clinton has toned down her message of "experience counts the most" and is going for "I want you to see my real side."

Her campaign has launched a new website called "The Hillary I Know." She has old friends traveling the state, talking about her. And in Johnston, Iowa yesterday, she talked to a crowd about how she wanted them to get to know who she was and what she does "when no one is listening, or taking notes and recording it."

David says that what you hear from a lot of people who have seen Clinton is that she has won them over, and that they think that she's the smartest and most experienced Democratic candidate. But they worry she won't get many cross-over votes from Republicans. Even if Iowans "like" her, they worry she can't win the presidency.

10:21 AM ET | 12-18-2007 | permalink

Comments

I sympathize with such an obviously intelligent and accomplished candidate being blindsided by this "likeability" thing, but even her closest friends and advisors should have anticipated this problem and been working on it before she announced her candidacy.

Sent by George de Man | 12:45 PM ET | 12-18-2007

Hi, I'm the 'Hill' Clinton and I'm here to show you just how human I am.

I've your everyday average woman whose husband was president and got caught having an affair and I thought I'd run for president just to teach my cheating husband a lesson.

You average women of cheating husbands can relte to average old me.

Being really human, I went out and insulted just about every minority groups the Democratic party relies on for voters....only because humans make mistakes........and now I'm going to show how human I am by extending my hand in friendship and saying, "Hey, fellos, let bygones be bygones."

In a very human way, I've sent Democratic voters scurrying in every direction looking for someone to vote for. Think of it as the 'Day after Thanksgiving store sales' scramble.

I don't want everyone to think of me as just another corporate shill politician like the men. I want everyone to think of me as a woman who can survive if there are no more corporations and we all go back to living in trees. I want everyone to think of me as your role model of future hunter-gatherer mother image.

Oh, and that silly war the men started, I'll simply replace the Joint Chiefs of Staff with all women. We'll show those 'boys' who to play nice in the world.

And when you voters get down to realizing I'm just a woman, stop to think. Wouldn't you really rather vote for 'just a woman' than vote for 'just another of those minorities?'

And when all you voters get doned deciding between Kucinich and Paul and Huckabee and Abbot and Costello who you want to be my vice president ...
...because the last Democratic vice presidential candidate we had is backing a Republican...... I'll have for you a really, really human, average team for the elections.

By the way, America...does this dress make me look fat?

fred camorra call

Sent by fred camorra call | 12:54 PM ET | 12-18-2007

I really dislike clinton. She is in many ways the democratic equivalent of bush jr. Why do we elect these dynasties of corrupt leadership? Maybe we're not.

Sent by Jody Sol | 1:49 PM ET | 12-18-2007

Fred, where do you come up with this stuff?

Man, that's funny! ! !
I love paragraph 2.
True, but funny!

Sent by Harold | 4:58 PM ET | 12-18-2007

And then one day the more intelligent voters say "We've been having white men run the country all this time and if we vote Republican we'll just be getting more of the same, plus that party will learn nothing from the mistakes of the last eight years because they didn't have to pay much of a price at the polls. So voting for a member of the GOP will only encourage them to be MORE like Bush/Cheney et al. On the other hand, we do have a white woman or a black male to choose from. Hmmm ... well, change has got to start somewhere.

Sent by John R. Otten | 6:35 PM ET | 12-18-2007

Sent by Harold: Fred, where do you come up with this stuff?

I owe everything to Don Juan Matus and the Yaqui way of knowledge...and to the loving poodles who raised me.

fred camorra call

Sent by fred camorra call | 7:44 PM ET | 12-18-2007

If you want change, vote for Obama!

Sent by Anna | 9:34 AM ET | 01-02-2008

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