Letters to the Editor
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Allow me to demystify Hillary's appeal
Why is Hillary the frontrunner? This is an easy one.
1) She's a woman. How may women, frustrated by the male-dominated atmosphere in Washington, will vote for her based solely on this fact? Personally, I know many women who support her for this reason alone, including my own mother.
2) Her last name. Remember those "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For BUSH" bumper stickers during the Clinton years? This sentiment gained enough momentum to put Bush Jr. into the White House. Conversely, during these dark days of the Bush Administration, many of us have been pining for a return to the Clinton years. Even those of us who didn't really like him that much when he was in office (myself included). Hillary is capitalizing on this.
That's it. Sorry. It really is that simple.
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What I wish
Hi, fellow Salon premium members -
Sorry I haven't yet had time to read any of the comments to this thread; will do so when I can.
Meanwhile, I wish someone would start a perhaps modest series of articles analysing the data base of polls themselves. At this stage of the Election Politics Game, wouldn't that information be quite as useful (or irrelevant) as the poll ?"statements"? themselves?
Just wondering "outloud".....
salonmarte
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No more ammo for Hillary
I'm for Edwards, myself, but Clinton has one huge advantage in the general election -- the VRWC (a term she coined, remember) has already thrown at her everything they had on the farm. What's left to Swift Boat?
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@ sorenreport
I'll assume you question is meant in good faith. The explanation is staggeringly obvious. The polls in which Hillary is ahead, or judged the most electable, are polls of Democratic voters.
The polls that show Edwards beating all Republican candidates are polls of ALL voters -- Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Democrats like Hillary. No real surprise. Independents don't like her. No real surprise here, either. Independents really like John Edwards. This shouldn't be a surprise, but it does surprise some. Finally as to the few moderate Republicans left, Hilliary is anathema to them. Edwards might be someone that they can vote for.
In other words, Hillary had not support outside of hardcore Democrats. Edwards, and to a somewhat lesser extent Obama, have broad based appeal to all kinds of voters who have had a belly full of the Republican over the last eight years, but voted for George Bush. And this may seem paradoxical to those who really are politically aware in Democratic circles as Clinton is the most conservative and corporate of the Democrats running!! Ask a Democrat who the most conservative Democrat running for the Presidency is and many will (correctly) name Hillary. Almost all Republican and many swing voters will (incorrectly) instead tab her as the most liberal.
And remember, that populist Democrats ran very well in 2006, and no one is natively more populist than a trial lawyer. That is one reason that I think Edwards is so popular with swing voters right now. They are, thank God, for once in an anti-corporate, anti-authoritarian mood.