As the Washington Post takes a look at the political consulting lineup behind Hillary Clinton’s presumptive presidential campaign, its time to take a look back at Hillary’s first campaign for office when she was working to get New York State ready for the idea of a Senator Clinton.
Just two years after Bill Clinton’s finger-wagging denials of an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky and her own counter-attack against a “vast right wing conspiracy” Clinton packed some baggage as she headed north to her adopted state of New York to seek a Senate seat in her very first race for elected office.
Clinton traded Air Force One for a Ford van and embarked on a multi-county “listening tour” of her adopted state to introduce herself to New York voters. While such a tour wasn’t a new tactic, she helped advance the state of the art and it is now widely emulated by other high-profile candidates looking to re-connect to regular voters.
She had some advantages beyond her universal name recognition and Bill Clinton’s legendary political network. New York had a history of welcoming carpetbaggers, particularly the famous and progressive kind. New York had elected Massachusetts native Robert F. Kennedy to the US Senate in 1964 just months after he first registered to vote in the state. And while the New York tabloids might have taken offensive at her “conspiracy” remarks, the establishment New York Times strongly endorsed her candidacy.
She was certainly also helped when then New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani dropped out of the race, which some polls showed he had been leading. Clinton went on to handily defeat Republican substitute Rick Lazio.
Just two years after Bill Clinton’s finger-wagging denials of an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky and her own counter-attack against a “vast right wing conspiracy” Clinton packed some baggage as she headed north to her adopted state of New York to seek a Senate seat in her very first race for elected office.
Clinton traded Air Force One for a Ford van and embarked on a multi-county “listening tour” of her adopted state to introduce herself to New York voters. While such a tour wasn’t a new tactic, she helped advance the state of the art and it is now widely emulated by other high-profile candidates looking to re-connect to regular voters.
She had some advantages beyond her universal name recognition and Bill Clinton’s legendary political network. New York had a history of welcoming carpetbaggers, particularly the famous and progressive kind. New York had elected Massachusetts native Robert F. Kennedy to the US Senate in 1964 just months after he first registered to vote in the state. And while the New York tabloids might have taken offensive at her “conspiracy” remarks, the establishment New York Times strongly endorsed her candidacy.
She was certainly also helped when then New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani dropped out of the race, which some polls showed he had been leading. Clinton went on to handily defeat Republican substitute Rick Lazio.