The postmortem examinations of the failed [Hillary lost!] Clinton campaign are already being written. Among the first is a piece by Jackie Calmes in the Wall Street Journal. Calmes attributes Mrs. Clinton's loss mainly to serious mistakes made by the candidate herself:
"Inside the Clinton campaign and out, the finger-pointing has begun. The bottom line is this: She called the biggest plays, and she got them wrong."
". . . Sen. Clinton is responsible for what one confidant called "grievous mistakes." Those help explain why Sen. Clinton -- the best brand name in Democratic politics, and an early favorite to be the first female nominee in U.S. history -- lost to a relative newcomer who would be the first African-American major-party nominee."
"The mistakes boil down to mismanagement, message, mobilization failures and the marital factor."
"Sen. Clinton's management choices, it is widely agreed, gave rise to fatal strategic blunders. The main one, in the eyes of many associates, was her message: She emphasized her Washington experience when voters wanted change."
"The campaign's most inarguable mistake was its failure to organize voters in states with caucuses rather than primaries. That left Sen. Obama to build what proved an insurmountable lead in convention delegates.
Many supporters blamed Ms. Solis Doyle and her deputies. But the failures started at the top with the Clintons' bias against caucuses and an ignorance of key party rules. Early on, the campaign figured she would lock up the nomination with Feb. 5's Super Tuesday primaries."
"Advisers point to a missed opportunity. Veteran Iowa organizer Steve Hildebrand had sought a job with Sen. Clinton in mid-2006. In a 45-minute interview, the senator talked about congressional elections but never mentioned the coming presidential race, Mr. Hildebrand says. Months later, he signed on as Sen. Obama's deputy campaign manager and oversaw his Iowa push."
""The issue became, 'If she can't control her husband in the campaign, who the h- is really going to run this White House?'" one adviser says."
Incompetent and thick-headed with no political instincts.
No surprises here. I have been writing similar things myself for some time. You can see for yourself here, here (that one helps explain Clinton's lopsided win in West Virginia too) and here (damn, I called the negative effect that Bill would wind up having on her campaign pretty early) and here from Sept. of last year I was dismissing the idea that Hillary was inevitable.
The nomination was Mrs. Clinton's to lose and she proved equal to the task.
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