Des Moines Register
01-28-07
Yepsen: Caucus win could make Clinton No. 1
By DAVID YEPSEN
REGISTER POLITICAL COLUMNIST
Hillary Clinton worked hard to maximize her assets and minimize her liabilities as
she moved through Iowa this weekend.
On balance, the New York senator seemed to be doing herself some good as
she opened her first big campaign foray into the state that holds an important
early test of strength for presidential candidates in 2008.
When I sat down for an interview with her Friday night at the Drake Diner in Des
Moines, some of the questions I had were the "first woman" issues: How does
she deal with voters who may not be ready to back a woman for president,
particularly one who elicits such hostility from her foes? What does she say to
caucusgoing Democrats who might be for her, but for their questions about her
electability because of these gender and polarization issues?
I got part of my answer before the trademark milkshakes and french fries arrived.
A stream of people, including many younger women, stopped by to shake hands,
get an autograph and wish her well.
Clinton said they were evidence of how "there's a very big upside" to her gender.
"It's a big plus, but I've got to demonstrate that I'm the person who should be
president. I'm not running as a woman, but I'm proud to be one.
"I want people to vote for me on my merits, but that includes who I am as a
person. I'm a woman, I'm a mom, and I've been through a lot of the same
experiences that (other) women have been through. I think a lot of women have a
feeling that maybe in their lives and their mothers' lives they were told they
couldn't do something like this," Clinton said.
Now "there's lot of excitement and eagerness to be part of a campaign to elect
the first woman president. I sense that. I'm getting so much feedback from people
all over. I had a man at the airport say to me, 'I'm so glad you are doing this,
because I have two daughters,' " she said.
If Clinton can attract these new people to vote or caucus for her next year, it
could provide an important counter to her opposition.
Another potential problem facing Clinton's candidacy in Iowa is her vote to
authorize the Iraq war, something that is troublesome to many anti-war activists
who think she should formally admit it was a mistake, as John Edwards and
others have done.
"If we knew then what we know now, the president would never have asked for a
vote, Congress would have never given him the authority, and I wouldn't have
voted for it," she said.
"I take responsibility for my vote, and I am in the Senate still today with a
responsibility to try to figure out what we're going to do going forward," she said.
"That is what I have focused on. I don't think you get do-overs in life. You take
responsibility, and there are enough mistakes to go around for what was done.
What's important now is staying focused on where we go from here."
She added: "I want to try to be responsible in how we can resolve this, ending the
Iraq war in the right way."
She said something similar Saturday morning at a meeting of the Democratic
state central committee when activist Jim Hutter, an Iowa State University
political science professor, asked her about it. He said he accepts her answer
and it should be enough to quiet her critics.
We'll see. It's also not the red-meat rhetoric many anti-war activists want to hear though it might be more palatable to a broader electorate later if she wins the
nomination.
She acknowledges she has work to do in Iowa. She said she's stayed away from
the state because she had a re-election campaign to run in New York. She said
she will campaign in Iowa like she campaigns in rural upstate New York, which is
home to many small towns and villages.
While her initial swing through Iowa was scheduled to take her through Des
Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, she said her next visit would include trips
to smaller communities to talk about rural economic development. She has also
hired a talented Iowa operative, JoDee Winterhof, a Walnut native who is a
former top aide to Sen. Tom Harkin, to run her campaign here.
"When I started running in New York, everybody said exactly the same things. I
couldn't win, I couldn't overcome the many problems that existed, so I set out to
earn people's vote and their trust, and that's what I'm going to do in this election."
The weekend blitz indicates Clinton and her operatives understand that a
Hawkeye State victory, as the first in a compressed series of nomination
contests, could be enormous.
Here's why: While she leads in early polls among Democrats around the nation,
she trails in Iowa. Edwards is the early front-runner here, followed by Barack
Obama, Tom Vilsack and Clinton.
That means if another Democrat wants to slow her down, Iowa is an opportunity
for them to do that at the starting gate. Such a setback for a front-runner would
give all other challengers a shot of oxygen as the race heads into other early
contests.
But if Clinton can come from behind in Iowa and beat her challengers here, she
could cement her status as the national front-runner and perhaps cruise to the
nomination, as John Kerry did in 2004.
Which is why we're likely to be seeing a lot more of Clinton, nibbling fries and
sipping shakes in the cafes of Iowa.
Columnist David Yepsen can be reached at (515) 284-8545 or
dyepsen@dmreg.com