WHEN ROVEBOTS FOCUS:

Letter from Washington: The faltering Clinton campaign (Albert R. Hunt, 12/09/07, Bloomberg News)

The focus group was moderated by an expert on such forums, the Democratic pollster Peter Hart. The participants were informed and enthusiastic about their party's prospects, had no interest in the Republicans or third-party candidates and were about equally balanced between the front-runners, Clinton and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. [...]

The concerns about Clinton, 60, a New York senator, are that she is devious, calculating and, fairly or not, a divisive figure in American politics.

Those are a lot tougher to overcome.

It was revealing, too, when Hart pushed them to envision these senators as leaders of the country or, as he put it, their "boss." Obama, they say, would be inspirational, motivating, charismatic and compassionate. After praising Clinton's experience and intelligence, they say she would be demanding, difficult, maybe even a little scary.

Candor and authenticity were repeatedly cited. "I don't feel like I look at her and see someone who's telling me the whole truth," said Allison Lowrey, a 30-year-old human resources consultant from Philadelphia. "I'd like to see her approach a problem without the polls" helping her make a decision," said Andrew Alebergo, a 39-year-old tanning-salon operator.

Even strong Hillary supporters acknowledged the electorate's deep-seated concerns. "She is walking a fine tightrope now because she is such a divisive personality," said Lynda Connelly, a 58-year-old Red Cross manager.

She plans to vote for Clinton while fearing that, if elected, "the right-wing noise machine is going to do everything it can to derail her." [...]

There are political strains with her greatest asset and surrogate, Bill Clinton. The former president was quoted last month as saying he had really opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. He later claimed he was misquoted.

Top Clinton campaign officials were privately furious at the former president, saying he had revived the complaint that the Clintons lack credibility, unfairly tarnishing his wife in the process. For his part, the former president, one close associate says, is bouncing off the walls at the campaign's ineptitude in the past few weeks. (It is not known whether the Clintons shared any of these sentiments with each another.)

Odd how a closed room full of Democrats makes so much rightwing noise.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 9, 2007 8:47 AM