It's becoming increasingly evident that Hillary Clinton's strategy to raise doubts about Barack Obama's candidacy is backfiring. Yesterday, the latest NBC/WSJ poll showed that while Obama's positive/negative rating has dropped a bit recently, from 51-28 earlier this month to 49-32, Clinton's has absolutely plummeted from 45-43 to 37-48 today. Who would have thought that during a period that involved the Wright controversy that it would be Clinton's approval that would be the one to dip.
We're also seeing Hillary Clinton's popularity drop in what her campaign considers Clinton country and one of the key pillars of their big state argument: California. A new PPIC poll of CA shows Clinton with a net negative favorable rating of 45-52, while Barack Obama enjoys a very high favorability rating of 61-34. The net effect: she polls worse against McCain in a general election match-up than Obama does. While Obama beats McCain 49-40, Clinton's margin of victory is within the MOE at 46-43. I have to agree with Frank Russo at CA Progress Report:
The findings in this poll show, that for the largest state in the nation with 55 Electoral College Votes (20% of those needed to be elected President), Obama is much better positioned to win in November--and why. It calls into question one of the central arguments of a Clinton candidacy--that she can win the big states in the fall--and that there is a correlation between Democratic primary results and performance in November.
This disapproval at Clinton's recent tactics is carrying over to the all important superdelegates as well, some of whom are expressing their concerns outwardly that Clinton is doing more harm than good to herself and the party.
At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good. [...]"In looking at the manner in which the candidates are campaigning, I think it would be best they focused their attention on the presumptive nominee and showed our party which one is better in campaigning against McCain," said Garry Shay, a California superdelegate, who announced his support for Clinton. [...]
But one undeclared delegate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the recent tactics are turning her and other superdelegates off.
"I don't think anybody's saying 'step aside,' but 'stop with the garbage' is what people want to say," the delegate said. "Just chill a little bit." [...]
"We like the fact that there is a candidate that has won so many states overwhelmingly," the delegate said. "We're feeling her advisors are leading her in a path that diminishes her as well as him." [...]
The final straw, though, were Clinton's comments Tuesday, when she said the Rev. Jeremiah Wright "would not have been my pastor." Several superdelegates saw it as a direct, personal attack on Obama.
"I think it's very dangerous for any candidate to constantly thrum on what they perceive as sensational criticisms of their opponent," said Debra Kozikowski, an uncommitted superdelegate from Massachusetts. "I would be more likely to respond positively to discussions of issues that effect Americans versus what might be perceived as character flaws."
While it may be too soon to tell, it certainly appears as though the Clinton team may be shifting away from the sort of tactics that are turning people off. Today, in response to Obama's economic speech, Hillary Clinton returned to the "real solutions" vs. "just words" frame to criticize Obama, an attack I think all would agree is fair game. Clinton also stepped up her criticism of John McCain in a speech in North Carolina.
Sometimes the phone rings at 3am in the White House and it's an economic crisis. And we need a president who is ready and willing to answer that call. But I read Senator McCain's plan which does virtually nothing to ease the credit crisis or the housing crisis. The phone is ringing and he would just let it ring and ring.Senator McCain is a friend of mine but he said himself, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." He'd rather ignore the credit crisis and mortgage crisis -- or blame middle class families instead of offering solutions on their behalf.
We've had enough of a president who didn't know enough about economics, and didn't do enough for the middle class. I don't think we can afford four more years. I believe we have to answer the call and act aggressively to deal with the housing and credit crises. That's the kind of president we need after eight years of George Bush.
More of this, please, Senator.
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