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Clinton Isn't Lacking For Advice

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By NANCY BENAC, The Associated Press

Published: February 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Ask a dozen die-hard Democrats across the country what Hillary Rodham Clinton can do to beat Barack Obama and win the presidential nomination and they have plenty of ideas - some of them contradictory.

The question generates strong sentiment, though, that Clinton simply can't compete on charisma, that there are forces at play beyond her control.

Going negative could backfire, they warn. Laying out nitty-gritty policy details isn't enough, they say.

There's no shortage of advice, but also no shortage of head-scratching. Add it all up, though, and there doesn't appear to be a secret plan to save her candidacy.

A sampling of Democratic voices from the field:

Show Passion: "The challenge for Hillary Clinton is to be seen as an agent of change, to recapture the passion that the people who support her really have for her," says Kari Chisholm, a political consultant in Oregon who blogs at www.blueoregon.com.

Chisholm said Clinton should hit her universal health care message harder, stop using Washington insiders to defend her on cable TV and "find a way to communicate some excitement."

It's The Economy. Again: Chris Lehane, a political consultant in California and former aide to President Clinton, says, "She is the candidate who the public, press and pundits by instinct, temperament and history believe is the best on the economy at the exact time the economy is the brooding, omnipresent force hovering over both the primary and general electorate."

Go Negative: Judy Carpenter, a third-grade teacher from Delaware, Ohio, who turned out at a Clinton rally at Ohio State last week, said, "I don't like vicious attacks. But gosh darn, she needs to call him on some things."

Maybe Not: A candidate goes negative "at great risk," says Mitch Ceasar, the party chairman in Broward County. "You can alienate people." Clinton, he says, should "talk about the distinctions" between herself and Obama on the issues.

Definitely Not: Going negative "positively would be the absolutely wrong thing to do," says Ed Treacy, a former county party chairman in Indiana. "Democrats do not want to see them fighting at all."

The Force: "The most important thing is that the force is with Obama," says Glenn Browder, a former Alabama congressman and now professor emeritus at Jacksonville State University. "The election seems to be moving in his favor, and I don't believe that issues have much to do with it right now.

"It's not as if she could all of a sudden start pointing this or that out about his positions or his votes, and that would change things very much. He is a movement that goes beyond issues."

Going negative could backfire on Clinton, Browder says, but it might help if the media or independent groups took on Obama.

Remember Iraq: "If she could come up with a more specific war plan," says Marcia Mainord, president of Texas Democratic Women. "That's what I hear people talking about: Who's going to end the war."

Be Yourself: "She's a very engaging, very warm person if she lets that side of her be seen," says Warren Tolman, a former Massachusetts state senator. "There's a very warm, compassionate side that isn't often enough seen." Three things Clinton should do, according to Tolman: "Be yourself. Show compassion. Look like she's having fun."

Ready To Deliver: "There is a narrative to be told that she hasn't quite put all together," says Tom Swan, who directs a citizen action group in Connecticut. "But she's close, on health care and her experience and her scars make her the one who can deliver now."

Steady As She Goes: "You've got a strategy, stick with the strategy," says Jim Crog, a longtime party operative in Florida. "Ride it and make it work. One of the most detrimental things a campaign can be involved in is a what-if campaign: What if we do this? What if we do that? You'll be literally bouncing around the room and off the walls."

McCain Factor: "She's got to convince Democrats that, contrary to what the polls now show, that in the end she's going to be a better candidate against John McCain," says Garry South, a longtime Democratic operative in California.

"Unfortunately, I don't think there is a secret formula," South says.

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