...and I witnessed Hillary's abysmal campaign in 08.
She simply refused to do anything but give large-venue speeches that were an impersonal slew of slogans and rhetoric. She never answered questions after or spoke with the people.
She had a helicopter that she toured around Iowa in. Her campaign coined it, "The Hill-ocopter." I'm not kidding.
She did hold one Q&A after she was roundly criticized for her failure to dialog with Iowans. An Iowa reporter discovered that all of the questioners were actually her staffers. They were plants. They asked her the questions she wanted to answer. Such a farce.
In my opinion, I don't think Hillary wants to campaign the way you need to in Iowa and NH. I think she's fine behind a podium, giving prepared speeches. I don't think she has any desire to diaglog or take questions. It's just not her style. I think she has a hard time connecting. Time will tell what she does in this caucus cycle.
The problem is--You have to campaign that way in Iowa. Every candidate--Democrat or Republican who campaigns here, mingles with the people, takes questions, talks with everyone. They show up at restaurants, diners and they have conversations with people. That's how it's done here. I've met so many politicians. I've seen the the lint on Evan Bayh's sweater, had conversations with John Edwards and Barack Obama called me at home when I was playing a board game with my kids--to discuss the issues because I had been to a house party and told someone I was undecided!
This year, thus far--Hillary has held mainly closed-door events with fewer than 15 people. She's had at least a couple of public speeches. I really don't know what her plan is. Bernie has already begun retail politicking here--answering questions and engaging in meaningful conversation. Iowa seems to fit his authentic, honest style very well.
No big surprise to me that he's up in the latest Iowa Quinnipiac poll. Sanders is a bit ahead of where Obama was--when Obama was campaigning to win the Iowa caucuses against Hillary. And we all know that Obama won and Hillary came in third. Interesting that Sanders is following the same trajectory as Obama. For sure.
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