Hillary Clinton’s Primary Challenge
Jonathan Tasini is mounting a primary challenge against Hillary Clinton, building his campaign primarily against her vote for the war on Iraq. His goal is to turn the primary into a referendum on that one vote and her consistent support for the war.
Obviously, this is something of a quixotic run for office, and it would be easy to dismiss Tasini as a kook who rides a bicycle to campaign rallies. Tasini, though, has won David and Goliath battles in the past and more to the point, he is generating some early party support.
Despite the strange obsession Conservatives have for her, Clinton is not much loved on the left. She’s a right-leaning centrist, much like her husband, willing to make almost any compromise to get a deal done. That probably makes her an effective legislator, but it doesn’t make her a candidate that leftists get excited about. Clinton has been moving to the center since taking office. She’s angered a lot of people who thought they were electing an activist progressive senator.
It will be interesting to see how far Tasini can ride the anti-Clinton left. Likewise, I’ll be watching as Ned Lamont challenges Joe Lieberman on much the same basis.
June 5th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
So, if Hillary were to lose the primary, what would that do to her Presidential plans?
June 5th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I don’t know that she has presidential plans. The only people who mention her having presidential plans are conservatives scared out of their minds at the prospect of 8 more Clinton years. It’s that weird obsession thing again.
Clinton is a very polarizing figure, which is odd because she’s a centrist who has never really done much so I’m not sure why people feel strongly enough to hate or love her.
At any rate, she’s not going to lose the primary. At worst, this guy can make it interesting and force her to spend some money and power to beat him off. Any incumbent who loses a primary challenge would have to be so weak that a presidnetial bid would be laughable.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:06 am
Remember her medical plan? The one she developed when she didn’t have to answer to any voters? I don’t think she’s centrist. I think opportunist is a better description.