It's About Image, Youth Vote

As I have said, I find negative campaigning very distasteful. However, I also see its uses on many levels, chiefly for its potential to frame debates. Negative campaigning is palatable so long as they stick to facts or clearly labeled opinion. The Clinton campaign has launched a negative ad in Wisconsin, a gamble considering the same tactic backfired in January and opened the door for Obama to heap criticisms on Clinton, free form. This time, Clinton is calling Obama to task on character and substance, something she is certainly free to do considering the attacks on her own. She is also effectively drawing a line in the sand, saying, "Bring it."

Obama came out of the pre-Super Tuesday "image war" smelling like roses. The net effect was that Obama attracted impressive face time in the media, and his campaign targeted the Internet, Land of the Young, early. For the first time in memorable history, the untapped voter bloc of Twenty Somethings heard something they cared about, and the person saying it was Barack Obama.

The Clinton campaign figured in the African American vote, but the youth surge? Not so lucky. No doubt, Barack Obama represents a sensation in politics, and his voice is hard to ignore. His position is liberal but realistic, he appeals to a broad audience. He quickly became a media darling over the more stoic Clinton. On February 5th, the vastly popular NBC comedy, Will & Grace re-ran an episode where a black man is running for election and both main characters enthusiastically supported him. Obama's rise in the pop audience won him more and more face time, and he has capitalized on it well.

Clinton needs to attract the youth vote. She won't sway the hardcore Obama supporters, but she can capture the ones who are still listening. A quick search on the Internet will show you what the youth demographic is concerned with. Generation X (my generation) gave birth to Generation Green.

Educated, interested, and connected youths who were nursed on liberal beliefs. Some of them are young enough to think that Al Gore's greatest achievement was winning an Oscar. America's youth are concerned about the environment. Hillary Clinton has an excellent position on the environment, but she hasn't talked about it enough. Bill Clinton was also excellent with environmental concerns; it would be a breath of fresh air in the lingering question of what "another Clinton era" would be like. Hillary has offered promises of no more scandal, and shown that Bill can be reigned in, with his near invisibility in the last 2 weeks. Criticisms and comparisons to Bill's presidency are plaguing the Clinton campaign -- they should at this point fight fire with fire by reminding everyone of Bill's successes, which were considerable. Also, stresses on Bill Clinton's record for peace time during his presidency should be getting a lot more attention. And, Bill Clinton's reported $559 billion dollar budget surplus at the end of his presidency should be getting tossed like beads at Mardi Gras.

The Clinton campaign has deployed Chelsea on the youth issue, but Chelsea alone is not enough. The issues youth want to hear about need to come from the candidate, first hand. With a debate on the horizon, in just under two weeks, Clinton has time to ramp up her Internet presence, make a few strategic jabs at Obama, win a primary, and get some oratory coaching. The Clinton campaign needs a makeover and candid pictures of Clinton getting her makeup touched up released this week seem like a symbol of just that. There is time for Clinton to regain some ground in popular opinion. She is solidly placed as the "underdog" now, and has an opportunity to retake control if she shapes the rest of the month of February right.

Money is an issue as well, but the Clinton campaign hasn't spun it right. They're working on it now, so we'll see the result. By popular sentiment and erroneous claims of the Obama camp, supposedly Obama has raised more money than Clinton. From all sources I can find, this is not true, and Clinton has raised more money by quite a bit. They also showed a massive donor turnout after Feb 5th, raising $10 million in 4 days. The Obama camp is also trying to call foul play on Clinton for refusing to disclose her tax records, in spite of the fact that Clinton's campaign funds are far more disclosed than Obama's at 90% whereas Obama has only fully disclosed 78% of his. And then there's the Rezko problem -- which is a big image problem for Obama, or should be. The Clinton campaign should be all over that. Another fund raising issue that the Clinton campaign should be beating like a drum is the amount of small contributions that have made up the Clinton fund, versus the Obama donations which are reportedly 60% donors who gave more than $1000 each. If Clinton wants to take some of the "grassroots" feel off Obama and onto herself, that would be a very smart way to go. Clinton's website, http://www.hillaryclinton.com is keeping a very public daily total of contributors in February, but this may not be enough. A little mention to the press here and there couldn't hurt. The $5 million dollar loan strategy seems to have backfired, but perhaps not. It did draw attention to the money issue, and used right, it could open more doors.

Lastly, the Florida and Michigan fiasco is heating up again. Traditionally, the DNC has allowed shut-out state's delegates to be seated once the primary season is over, and proportional delegate awards to be counted from all states. With the press shouting at the top of its lungs that the superdelegate process is "undemocratic" you'd think they would be avoiding any talk about excluding a state from the process. That is what is undemocratic. Florida in particular should not be ignored. In Michigan only Clinton was on the ballot, but in Florida that was not the case. No one campaigned in Florida, although all three candidates at the time did run ads in the state. Florida should not be penalized for voting its conscience, when they had the opportunity to support any candidate they wanted. Just because Obama is ahead now does not make Florida's landslide victory for Clinton invalid, nor does the timing of the event. Obama is riding a popularity wave like a pro surfer right now; why should we take away a victory for Clinton when she was doing the same?

In the last two days, Hillary Clinton has thrown down the gauntlet. She has challenged Obama who appears reluctant to face her in a debate. She has stated that her campaign is doing just fine. We've seen a major makeover inside the campaign. And, Hillary has stated that she will not concede no matter what -- sounds a lot like what Obama was saying not too long ago. He's parroted her actions on the campaign trail, right down to grabbing a news spot showing him carrying coffee and donuts into a campaign event (hello, Chelsea side swipe?). Now it's time for the Clinton campaign to blaze the trails, which is exactly what is going to happen in the coming weeks. If Hillary can retake control of the media spin, she will have won more than half the battle.

VOTE HILLARY!