Monday, December 10, 2007

HILLARY CLINTON

Team Hillary, Used to 1992-Style Political Coverage

It is an article of faith in politics that every candidate, and his or her supporters, believe that press coverage is skewed against them. I have yet to see an elected official who has said, "boy, the press took it easy on me. They were really tough on my opponent."

Still, as I discussed with Hugh Hewitt producer Duane Patterson on Captain Ed's show on Friday, I think the national press largely preferred Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, that their clear preference was reflected in their coverage, and that since then, the Clintons have gotten used to awfully generous press.

I would also note that the Clintons have not faced a contender like Obama, or even on par with Edwards, in a long time. In 1992, the Democrats had a weak field, with heavyweights like Mario Cuomo and Bill Bradley sitting out. Iowan Tom Harkin made his home state a non-factor, and Paul Tsongas was Bill's toughest competition. (We now know his health was worse than everyone thought.) Bill had no competition in 1996, and in 2000, Congresswoman Nita Lowey was dissuaded from challenging Hillary for the Democratic nomination for Senator Moynihan's seat. We don't know if Rudy Giuliani would have beaten Hillary that year, but he probably would have been tougher competition than Rick Lazio. And the guy who ran against her in 2006 didn't even amount to a speedbump.

The Clintons are very used to having the wind at their back in terms of their coverage and their opponents. When Al Hunt's column amounts to telling Team Hillary to quit whining, it's a sign that they've gotten spoiled in their expectations of how they'll be treated by the press and rival Democrats. Hunt:

After falling behind in the Iowa polls, Senator Clinton, who earlier condemned attacks by other Democrats, turned negative on Obama. Fair enough. Except her attacks were neither focused nor effective. This strategy raised more questions about her than Obama.

And her campaign has a near-obsession with what it perceives as a hostile press. They were incensed at a New York Times story that reported skepticism about Hillary's contention that her proposal to overhaul health care would help a lot more people than the plan of her rival. The best advice to them: Get over it.

Before the blogosphere, Bill Clinton's "I opposed the Iraq war from the start" would have gotten limited coverage from a press corps not eager to point out his... well, lies. Today, with the Clintons taking flak from both the left and the right, his statement becomes a much bigger story. It ain't 1992 anymore, or even 2000; it's not clear Team Hillary understands that.

12/10 12:31 PMShare