Rocky Mountain News, CO
05-11-07
A kinder, gentler Clinton in Iowa
Dem hopeful uses 'conversations,' still makes points
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
May 11, 2007
RED OAK, Iowa - The visitor feigned a surprised facial expression when she
popped into the small, hilltop museum and found a few hundred people waiting
for her in the atrium.
"My goodness, I thought I was coming to have pie and coffee with a few people,"
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said with an aw-shucks grin, introducing herself at a
Sunday night event in rain-drenched Red Oak.
Clinton doesn't get to do that stereotypical Iowa caucus coffee klatch stuff. She's
too famous.
But her campaign keeps scheduling events at these tiny venues in tiny towns,
letting her try to reintroduce herself to the country in a lower tone of voice.
This is the famous "Conversation" tour with the Democratic presidential frontrunner, when she says hello, gives a five-minute version of her family's humble
beginnings, then weaves references to her husband, "Bill," throughout her talk on
why U.S. foreign and domestic policy needs to change.
"I was born into a middle class family in the middle of the country . . ." she starts
saying in Red Oak, where the pies were unguarded in an overflow room of
hungry, out-of-town journalists.
Her pitch begins and ends with humility.
"I come before you as someone who is frankly grateful that I was given the
chances that I had," she says. "I didn't pick my parents . . . I was lucky that way. I
didn't pick to be born in the United States of America. I was really lucky that way,
too. And I believe we've got to get back to having a country that sets goals . . ."
Chat, with messages
This event is meant to be a chat, not a lecture. But a communications expert
detects a method that school teachers - not to mention advertising pitch artists use to connect with the kids in the chairs.
On changing course in Iraq, she says: "I can't stand here tonight and tell you
what the president is going to do. He's proven to be pretty dug in on this, hasn't
he?"
On the need to use diplomacy, even with unfriendly nations, she says: "I agree
with Bill, 'He said, 'You don't make peace with your friends,' do you?"
On education, she says: "You can have the greatest teachers in the world, but if
the family doesn't support education and the children don't believe school is their
work, it's not gonna work, is it?"
These unanswered questions, used in folksy places such as Red Oak, Council
Bluffs, Marshalltown and Newton, act as a hook to pull people closer to Clinton, a
former first lady trying to get off the pedestal and appear less distant, said Jeff
Stein, a professor of mass communications at Wartburg College in Waverly,
Iowa.
"The technique is a variation of call and response," Stein said. "When she poses
a question, it's something we do as teachers . . . Even if you don't expect
somebody to answer it, they are answering it in their minds. When you engage in
a conversation like that, they feel a greater connection."
It's used in mass marketing, too, since people are conditioned to answer
questions, even if it's silently, he says.
Stein said Clinton needs to do this because of the reputation she has gained,
rightly or wrongly, with so many years in the partisan spotlight.
Fame and scrutiny
That same spotlight has made her known everywhere. It gives her a historical
point of reference - and photographs from trips to 82 countries around the world to make the case that she is the best-qualified person to repair the country's warbattered image.
"I'm prepared on day one to begin to reach out to the world again," she said.
"We've got to start building alliances and end the alienation that unfortunately
has been the biproduct of some of the policies of this administration."
And that spotlight also means scrutiny and notoriety.
While many rival Democratic contenders all voted for the 2002 war-powers
resolution that set the stage for the war in Iraq, she's the one who still gets
blasted by anti-war factions in her own party.
While the others have the same abortion-rights stand that she does, Clinton is
the one who draws abortion protesters at some of her events.
Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois, draws crowds that could cover a football field.
Former Sen. John Edwards, of North Carolina, can pack a hall, and others like
Sen. Chris Dodd, of Connecticut, Sen. Joe Biden, of Delaware, and New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson also are drawing bigger audiences that candidates usually
get nine months from Iowa's first-in- the-nation caucuses in early January.
Front-runner and target
Clinton is the target. After the first, nationally televised Democratic debate in
South Carolina last month, she is the clear, national front-runner now, based on
polls released this week. Last month, Obama had surged to within five points of
Clinton in a USA Today-Gallup poll, but after the debate it's back to a 15-point
gap - Clinton leading Obama 38 percent to 23 percent.
With nine months to go, Clinton's challenge in places like -Iowa is to stay on
message, keep doing what she's doing, and avoid making big mistakes, said
Steffen Schmidt, an Iowa State University political science professor
known on the state's radio airwaves as "Dr. Politics."
"I'm not sure she ought to do anything way too differently," Schmidt said.
"Everyone knows Hillary Clinton, knows her name. She needs to keep identifying
policy positions, continue making the case that she's not a supporter of the Bush
policies - never was."
If anything, Clinton's softer talks around Iowa are a testing ground for her national
act. Schmidt compares it to producers of a Broadway play testing their
productions in up-state Connecticut before premier night under the bright lights.
"In those small venues, people ask you questions and follow-up questions. You
can't (fool) people who've been going to political events for years," Schmidt said.
Since Clinton has limited time and gets to pick who asks the questions, it's hard
to say how spontaneous the conversation sessions really are.
Downplaying gender
At these forums, Clinton barely mentions one big elephant in the room: her
gender.
She has drawn worldwide attention for being the first, pack-leading White House
contender who is a woman. Some people compared her candidacy to that of
Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal in France. But on Sunday, when
Royal conceded the election to conservative Nicolas Sarkozy just minutes before
Clinton's appearance in Council Bluffs, Clinton made no reference to the news.
She didn't mention it in Red Oak either, and in the following days her staff was
dismissing journalists' questions about what Royal's defeat meant.
Meanwhile, on the stump, Clinton reminds people of her gender while reminding
them why it's not important.
"I am very excited and proud to be running for president as a woman. It is a great
adventure," she said to thunderous applause at Sunday night's event. "But I'm
not running as a woman. I'm running because I believe I'm the best qualified and
experienced person to do the job."And as she runs around -Iowa, she's literally
trying to level with people. For these "conversations," she doesn't go up to any
stage. She doesn't use a podium. She just stands on the same ground where
they're standing or sitting all around her, and she tries to laugh with folks on their
level.
Take her riffs on energy independence and the need for alternative sources of
energy.
"Denmark uses a lot of wind," she said, and the Red Oak audience began
laughing before she reached the punchline. "We're starting to see a lot of wind in
-Iowa and other places. Maybe if you could just figure out a way to harness all
these presidential candidates."
sprengelmeyerm@shns.com