Hillary Clinton's choice: high road or low road

If Hillary Clinton's head is spinning as she goes into this evening's eagerly anticipated debate with Barack Obama , it's easy to understand why. Talk about getting conflicting signals!

There was data aplenty this week showing that, as the slings and arrows have intensified in the Democratic presidential contest, her image has suffered. But then there was this advice from an ally closely linked to her now-deposed chief strategist, Mark Penn: Go on the attack, relentlessly.

First the data:

The new L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll that focused on the next three primary states -- Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana -- found her credibility suffering in each among likely Democratic voters. Obama trounced her when the voters were asked which candidate had more honesty and integrity. Here are those results:

Pennsylvania -- Obama, 47%; Clinton, 26%

North Carolina -- Obama, 51%; Clinton, 16%

Indiana -- Obama, 51%; Clinton 20%

(To peruse the complete poll, go here.)

Nationally, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll found that her favorability has taken a hit. Among all those surveyed -- Democrats, Republicans and others -- Clinton's positive ratings now stand at 44%, down from 58% in January. (Obama's image also declined over that period, but not by as much. His favorability numbers went from 63% in the year's first month to 56% now.)

Reflecting on the nasty turn the Democratic contest ...

has taken over the last few days, an editorial in today's New York Times said of Clinton: "What she has yet to figure out is that she ends up hurting herself -- feeding her negative image -- by attacking too long and with too much relish."

The editorial, with the witty headline "Guns and Bitter," argued for a more high-minded approach from both Clinton and Obama.

We won't look for that to happen, in part because of the pithy op-ed piece by Doug Schoen in today's Washington Post.

Schoen -- who with Penn founded a well-known political consulting firm and, with his partner, helped guide Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection -- got right to the point in his piece. Hillary Clinton, he wrote, "took an important step Monday toward winning the Democratic nomination by launching an ad targeting Barack Obama's recent comments about working-class voters clinging to 'guns or religion.'"

In the second sentence, he offers this: "For Clinton to capture the nomination, she needs to completely abandon her positive campaign and continue to hammer away at Obama."

She must do so, Schoen sums up quickly, because "it almost certainly represents her last chance" to win the race.

The merits of his argument can, and perhaps will, be endlessly debated. But we've got to give him this: No one can accuse Schoen of hedging.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Allan]

"Hillary" + "positive campaign" = the ultimate oxymoron :)

[Emmanuel Davis]

Check out Clinton's comments about working class. Check it out; it is serious.
.

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

I don't think I have ever heard the term "High Road" and Clinton used in the same sentence

[Julio]

Hillary Clinton goes negative because she IS a negative person. I just watched part of tonight's debate, and you can see that she all about personal attacks. Then sometimes she pretends to care about issues. But it's clear that she's more comfortable when she's trying to tear somebody's head off. And for this reason, no matter how hard she pretends to care about the issus, her heart will give her up. There is no way for her to hide the fact that she has been bought and paid for by lobbysts. Her husband Bill Clinton collected last year $800,000 for thatactsupporting CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement). Another agreement that will send hundreds of thousands of our jobs to central america, making us even more bitter. Barack Obama is the only common man in this debate, he deserves our vote. Hillary Clinton has not written a mortgage payment check in her life. She’s been living like a queen for the last 30 years, all expenses paid for by taxpayers, first in Arkansas, then Washington, New York. Now she’s set for life all expenses paid on our backs. She has no idea what the common person feels like, regardless of how many shots of whiskey she takes in the company of regular people. She is a fake, and it’s time for us to free our country from the Bushes and the Clintons. Let’s give Obama our support. He’s our only hope in this election.

[D. Mayo]

Wake up America!!! Forget the sexism and mysogeny...just listen to tonight's debate, which once again, establishes that ONLY HILLARY actually knows the players, the positions, the logistics, along with the right ideas to actually IMPLEMENT solutions our problems and bring prosperity. Obama was pathetically ignorant---he'd be great, no doubt, in 4-8 years---but he thinks he can just bring advisers in from outside to fill in his ignorance gaps. It doesn't work that way. THINK! It's nominate hillary now, or be prepared for a disasterous McCain administration!!!!

[Frank]

What amazes me is that some people will vote for Clinton no matter what she says or does. How in the world can anyone vote for someone who fabricates a story for the sole purpose to deceive people for their vote? We all know how deceptive and liar Bush is. Do we really need another liar in the Whitehouse?

[goldenstate]

Hillary has a lot of flaws, but she is the most knowledgeable of the three. I trust her on the economy, health care, and national security. Obama is arrogant and cocky. He reminds me too much of President Bush. I don't trust Obama because of his associations with people like Rev. Wright, Rezko, and Bill Ayers. This shows poor judgment on his part. Hillary lied about Bosnia and Obama lied about Rev. Wright. To say Obama is more truthful than Hillary is false. Before Bush became President, people thought he was more truthful than Kerry. Look how that turned out. Bush said he was going to unite the country. That didn't happen.