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New Hillary Ad Reaches Out To Indiana Blue-Collar Voters
Hillary Clinton has a new ad in Indiana, promising to keep defense-related factory jobs in America:
On the one hand there's no direct mention of Barack Obama or the "small town" comments, but on the other hand the overall tone and imagery are clearly an appeal to the same economically-distressed voters that Obama was talking about.
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what exactly is her plan? the majority of the parts and pieces of military hardware is already being manufacturered in China.....
April 16, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can we please stop mentioning "Obama's gaffe" in the posts which have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT? You guys are even more desperate than CNN to keep it alive.
April 16, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed, I'm tired of it. We had the same shit when the Wright thing went down.
April 16, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric - does everything have to be put through the lens of Obama's comments? Couldn't she just be going after working class voters? It's time to give the remarks a rest. They've turned into an embarrassment to pundits who were convinced they were a huge deal.
April 16, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
But don't you see? This commercial has Hillary meeting with PEOPLE! And who was offended by Obama's gaffe? PEOPLE!
It's so obvious!
April 16, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't really fault her for this ad.
Good, positive ad.
April 16, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed.
April 16, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
SCMadden and Greg Delassus-I do appreciate your being objective enough to not automatically trash everything Clinton does and to even compliment her.
What I have tried to persuade Obama supporters is not that his messages per se are bad or that he is bad. I think he is largely unknown and untested. As much of the nomination process plays out he seems repeatedly on the defensive and often mis-steps in his own calculations.
These is not good character traits for either the nominee or a president. Politics, like it or not, is in fact a game. Everyday it is a huge chess match played on local and global game boards. I'm not convinced that Obama has the experience or knowhow to play it yet. That he has succeeded thus far is a testament to his campaign management and charisma. I doubt that is enough to carry the day as nominee and/or president.
This is why even though many do not find inspiration in Clinton she is the better of the two candidates for president. Rove ran a masterful campaign and Bush's good-ol-boy charsma worked it's charm on the electorate. And look at what we got.
April 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fair enough. Your intuitions about Clinton's ability to win run totally counter to my own intuitions, which tell me the very opposite. The beauty part, of course, of American democracy is that we each get our own small say in this decision and the aggregate wisdom of the party carries the day. In the end, the best candidate will prevail.
April 16, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually you mean "the most popular candidate". "Best" assumes that people are both making an informed decision based on knowing all the facts and, they have a crystal ball that let's them know what we're in for.
Obama may be the most popular but Clinton may be best.
April 16, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me that when speaking of a candidate's "electability," "most popular" is the same as "best." That is, the "best" candidate (considered from the perspective of electability) is, by definition, the most popular one.
April 16, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ditto.
April 16, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent ad.
USA Today: Obama Is Surrounded By Lawyers From Lobbying Firms:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-15-obama_N.htm
In the debate, she should ask him why he can't tell the truth and if he thinks we are stupid to deserve to be disrespected with his lies.
April 16, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anytime he is asked those type of questions he comes back with a really strong punch. Be careful what you ask for.
April 16, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I ask for the truth and Obama can't deliver.
April 16, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
right. hillary. the pillar of trustworthyness.
April 16, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
The truth is lawyers who WORKED for lobbyists now work for him.
Not the same situation of McCain or Hillary at all, where lobbyists continue to do their work lobbying while working for a potential POTUS.
In my opinion, what Clinton and McCain are doing could be construed as a "conflict of interest."
Obama has no such problems.
Some quotes from your link:
My practice isn't going to be helped by this at all," said Harris, who said he got involved with Obama after his 14-year-old son interned in the senator's office. "I went to see him because of how nice he'd been to my kid, and I was captivated by his vision."
Katz, who got to know Obama over dinner, said his lobbying business "will be fine whether he wins or whether he loses."
Alderman said he was "just blown away" after meeting Obama. "This is not a business proposition for me," he said.
April 16, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is the most hilariously biased story I've ever read. It's the equivalent of suggesting that Obama is in bed with Boeing because the manager of a Boeing plant works for him. You realize these are all national law firms, with partners who are lawyers, as opposed to lobbyists, right? I am an attorney for the same law firm that gave the country Michael Chertoff; am I now a shill for Bush and the ineptitude at Homeland Security?
April 16, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently, someone over at the Clinton campaign wised up. For nearly a week, the campaign has hammered away at those comments, launching waves of explicit attacks - and yet the polling that's been publicly released shows no apparent effect. Given that many voters dissapprove of the comments, it's not unreasonable to suppose that Hillary undercut her own case here. That the vitriol and - dare I say - bitterness of her charges turned voters off as much as the original comments themselves.
This is a far more clever strategy. Hillary does well to rely on the media to stoke the controversy, with help from surrogates and staffers, and to confine herself to addressing the concerns of working class voters in more positive terms. It's something Obama figured out a long time ago - he almost never launches negative frontal assaults, preferring to speak positively in public and leave that to his staff. That's kept his own negatives relatively low.
We'll see if it's too little too late for Hillary to widen her margin in Pennsylvania or to prevail in Indiana (the nomination itself, of course, is already beyond her grasp). But it's a step in the right direction for her campaign.
April 16, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
huh? just on Monday she got boo'ed for bringing up the bitter stuff.
April 16, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good ad from her finally. No attacking and talking about real issues.
April 16, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bruuuce! IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
April 16, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except that here she goes again tearing down Bill's legacy.
Bill actually I think got the whole Military Industrial complex thing and he started shutting down bases, remember?
People bitched, but that's one thing that helped the economy in general because all those bases and defense plants are costing us a fortune.
April 16, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. I lived in southern Indiana during the Clinton administration and I remember when my friend's dad was laid off from the Crane Naval base.
April 16, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except, of course, he simply took that money saved through the BRAC and gave it directly to different contractors to build new weapons systems that we don't need.
He also didn't do all that much to curb military spending - it was simply shifted into different buckets. The outsourcing of active-duty military jobs to civilian contractors began under Clinton as well, costing us billions.
The only thing that helped the economy during Bill's tenure was am Information Revolution that he had nothing to do with, except to get out of the way.
April 16, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bill and Hillary pushed for NAFTA, and now
Bill is getting paid huge sums to push the Columbia Trade deal. Hillary still has Mark, Columbia Trade Deal, Penn on her staff.
Hillary Is Married To Unfair Trade Deals.
Nothing says pro labor like sitting on the board of Union Busting Wal-Mart.
April 16, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Honestly - this is Kay Bailey Hutchison territory - this is how Kay keeps doing it - she goes to every town in Texas that is someone dependent on a military base or defense plant and promises she'll keep them open.
Which is better? Closing these things when we are at peace, and finally trying to make a dent in this problem, or doing the Kay Fluffy Hutchison style thing and promise to keep them open forever?
April 16, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's also a youtube video of this that's a negative attack on Obama. Here's the transcript:
"Unlike my opponent Barack Obama, I voted to allow the President to drop laser guided bombs on Iraq in 2003 to help bring back bomb making plants to small towns in Indiana. Unfortunately, we haven't dropped enough bombs yet. Barack Obama wants to talk to foreign leaders rather than bringing back your jobs by bombing them.
As President I'll start droppping more bombs on many more countries and we'll get that plant up and running again. Yes we can! I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message and this war."
April 16, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Had she been running this way the entire time then Barack might be the VP right now instead of the odds-on favorite for the nomination.
April 16, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
So this is what it has come down to.
NAFTA and China Trade agreements, which the Clintons pushed and signed off on has left America with no manufacturing or textiles industries left.
What is Hillary's solution. We will build lots of war stuff.
Gee; thanks a lot O Great Queen of Peace.
April 16, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with the broad gist of what you are saying here, dear Liam. I find the idea that Sen Clinton was opposed to NAFTA all along rather hard to credit, so it ought to seem a mite too precious when I hear her say that she is committed to defending American manufacturing jobs, and yet this ad really appealed to me. Maybe I am just a boob being taken in by the martial music in the background and the shots of aerospace workers, but I really liked it, and if I (a very high information voter) liked it, then I dare say that its appeal to lower information voters should be even greater. In other words, reasonable or not, it is a good ad.
April 16, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
WOW - check out THIS breaking news... Obama PLEASE bring this up tonight
http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2008/04/supporter-in-cl.html
(credit to The Field)
April 16, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
My father (and every other male relative on both sides for three generations back) is a union electrician (IBEW local 1). American manufacturing jobs are probably my single biggest concern and so an ad like this one is exactly the sort of thing that a candidate needs to say in order to win my vote. If Clinton had run this sort of campaign early on, I might have voted differently than I did. This is a long way of saying that I think that this is a very good ad.
April 16, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
this is putting lipstick on a pig. and trying to set up for a hail mary at the last possible second at that.
April 16, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, I agree that all the good ads in the world cannot win it for her by now. It is too late. Still, while this may be a Hail Mary pass, it is a well thrown one (even if it will not result in the touchdown being made before the clock runs out).
April 16, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, let's sum up:
- Indiana workers were screwed by outsourcing
- It's George Bush's fault
- Clinton will "fight" to get the jobs back
Only thing missing: a track record for doing just that and a plan.
I guess I should just be happy that she's actually decided to run ads that say why she should be President and not why Barack Obama shouldn't.
April 16, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
so now every new ad has to be about obama's bitter comments even when they're not mentioned?
talk about the media drivign a story...
April 16, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Snipers.
Swilling down hard liquor.
Shooting Ducks.
Promising to build up a war based economy.
Holding hands with Rupert Murdoch, and the Puppet Master of "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy"
Having Barbara and George Bush call your Husband son, and a member of the Bush family.
Having The Big Fat Pillbilly urging his Ditto Head cult to vote for you.
In all honesty folks:
I do believe that Hillary Bittery Swillery Triggery Clinton still has a great shot at winning the Republican nomination.
April 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
This might be the first time I believed Hillary. I do agree that she will give the defense industry a big boost, which is probably why they love how hawkish she is and how much she supports them in the Senate, and why they love giving her money!
April 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kellog's. Hormel. Clinton.
As a mother, these are brands I trust in my cupboard.
April 16, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your avatar is snot-bubble inducing. Touché.
April 16, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it is a fairly good ad and is the type of thing she should continue to do. If Clinton wants to win the nomination and actually have a party to lead in November, she has to change her tone to a more positive message focused on what she can do rather than Obama's parsed words.
April 16, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
No need to worry about the fact that most consumer products, including electronics, clothing, and even those flag pins that we hear so much faux patriotic blather about, are all produced abroad.
No need to worry about our crumbling infrastructure, and creating the green technology jobs of the future.
Fear not folks. Hillary to the rescue. She promises to shift the American way of life to a sustainable guns and bombs economy. Boom Times the Hillary way.
Bread and Butter are so overrated. Hillary promised us all that we can live off of our fears.
Take that Senator Obama. Speeches are just words. They do not put guns and bombs on our tables.
April 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
No need to worry about the fact that most consumer products, including electronics, clothing, and even those flag pins that we hear so much faux patriotic blather about, are all produced abroad.
No need to worry about our crumbling infrastructure, and creating the green technology jobs of the future.
Fear not folks. Hillary to the rescue. She promises to shift the American way of life to a sustainable guns and bombs economy. Boom Times the Hillary way.
Bread and Butter are so overrated. Hillary promised us all that we can live off of our fears.
Take that Senator Obama. Speeches are just words. They do not put guns and bombs on our tables.
April 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
My goodmess, do you listen to her speeches or read her propsals?
You have to actually read past the headlines.
Her economic proposals give hope for your future. They are commmon sense ideas and reverses w's damage.
Put your hate aside and research.
At least, listen to her speeches that include her proposals.
BTW, in Obama's last divisive ad attacking her for politics as usual and taking oil money, he takes oil money and voted yes for cheney's energy bill. She voted no.
April 16, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd rather have a vote for Cheney's energy bill than Cheney's war!
April 16, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
So did McCain, but that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for him!
Look, it's about the person. Who do you trust? Who has the better judgement? Who has a better chance of passing health care and revising taxes on companies?
I think Obama does. You think Hillary does. That's what this election should be about, not the "gotcha" politics we've been fed.
April 16, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
No need to worry about the fact that most consumer products, including electronics, clothing, and even those flag pins that we hear so much faux patriotic blather about, are all produced abroad.
No need to worry about our crumbling infrastructure, and creating the green technology jobs of the future.
Fear not folks. Hillary to the rescue. She promises to shift the American way of life to a sustainable guns and bombs economy. Boom Times the Hillary way.
Bread and Butter are so overrated. Hillary promised us all that we can live off of our fears.
Take that Senator Obama. Speeches are just words. They do not put guns and bombs on our tables.
April 16, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a good ad.
April 16, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously, the reference to how this may be interpreted vis-a-vis Obama's "bitter" comments is really misplaced. While it's parochial, I think the ad is a very good one that hits the type of issues I would expect a Democrat to be emphasizing in the primary. Had she run her entire campaign on the strength of messages like this, I would have been first in line to support her after I took down my Obama signs in the event that she won.
April 16, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I want a President who can SLAM a shot, not sip it.
April 16, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
If all of the ads and other discourse was like this one, I would argue that the primaries should continue straight up to the convention. Putting out positive messages touting the Democratic agenda does nothing but good for our chances in November.
April 16, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a good ad. Too little, too late, but a good ad.
April 16, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not like any ad that conflates security fears with economic fears. To me it it smells too much of Rovian fearmongering. Look at the product that she is talking about. Smart Bombs. There is no such thing as a Smart Bomb.
Do you people grasp what they are used for. They blow men, women, and children to smithereens, from afar, by remote control. They are just as evil as cluster bombs, and IEDs.
Those so called Smart Bombs killed over a thousand civilians in a barrage that was aimed at taking out Saddam before the invasion. They did not hit him. They killed a thousand men, women and children. Define smart please!
We have shopped all our appliances manufacturing out of the counrty. Whirlpool and Maytag for example.
Hillary picked Smart Bombs for a reason. Listen to her pitch. It is as much about fear mongering as it is about jobs. She is saying that it is a national security issue. In other words, if national security was not involved, she would not care that the product was being manufactured in China.
This ad is wrapped around a fear mongering and war mongering chewy center.
April 16, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is B.S., she was a cheerleader for sending those jobs out of America. You cannot, just like time, get it back again.
April 16, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary to blue-collar voters: "screw 'em"
April 16, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does the ad close with her saying "Screw 'em"...?
April 16, 2008 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is Amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exsmFDYyK4U
Watch and forward to all your friends.
April 16, 2008 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink