Shift at Top May Mean Shift in Tone for Clinton: "less negative," no "thermonuclear climax"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Shift at Top May Mean Shift in Tone for Clinton
By JOHN HARWOOD and JEFF ZELENY
Published: April 8, 2008


(Doug Mills/NYT)
The pollster Geoff Garin in his Washington office on Monday, his first day leading the Clinton campaign’s strategy team.

....The question is whether (Geoff) Garin, in succeeding Mark Penn, his Harvard classmate, can make life different for a candidate with dwindling opportunities to overtake Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination before the August convention. By all accounts, from outsiders as well as Clinton loyalists, it is a long shot. “I’m operating on a shorter time horizon,” Mr. Garin said in his office at Peter D. Hart Research Associates, the polling firm where he has worked for three decades. “The immediate imperative is to win and do well. For the next few weeks, we have to do that. If we do that, the weeks after that will take care of themselves.”

For now, Mr. Garin is helping to provide a cathartic moment for a Clinton team riven for months by infighting and antagonism. Low-keyed, he stands in some ways as the antithesis of his predecessor — as easy-going as Mr. Penn is brusque, known for offering unvarnished analysis in contrast to Mr. Penn’s reputation for incorporating his centrist views in his advice to candidates. “Geoff Garin is the straightest shooter,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, one of many Democratic senators Mr. Garin has advised. “He doesn’t try to shift the numbers or slant the numbers to buttress his argument.”...

***

Mr. Garin, 54, joined the Clinton campaign several weeks ago to augment strategy. His elevation could herald a less negative tone as the candidate tries to catch Mr. Obama. Inside the Clinton team, Mr. Penn advocated increasingly sharp attacks on Mr. Obama as Mrs. Clinton’s best option. Long before he joined the campaign, Mr. Garin argued that her route to success lay more in presenting her strengths than in assailing her opponent. “The sweet spot a campaign needs to hit is the intersection between what makes the candidate special and what the voters feel they need,” he explained, praising Mrs. Clinton’s values, spunk and resilience.

Recalling a recent meeting with Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Garin said: “I had the same reaction so many people have: I wish everyone could see her this way. If we could help make that happen, that would be great.”...

***

An ardent fan of the Washington Nationals, Mr. Garin cast his campaign role as that of “the seventh-inning guy, instead of the starter.” But his genial relationships throughout the party may offer some reassurance that the endgame of the nomination fight will not prove as damaging to Democratic hopes in the fall as some have feared. “I don’t want there to be a thermonuclear climax,” he said. “Senator Clinton is committed to having a united Democratic Party at the end of this process. Senator Obama is committed to having a united Democratic Party at the end of this process. And we will have a united Democratic Party at the end of this process.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/us/politics/08clinton.html

[Lerkfish]

1. so, about 3 months later, Clinton realizes her negative campaign doesn't work?

Maybe by President Obama's inauguration, she'll realize she lost.

[MethuenProgressive]

2. At last she'll fight back against Obama's Swiftboating her on race!

:kick:

[politicalcenter]

3. The only way to win is to fight

While tone is always important, the problems lately have a lot more to do with the examples than the message. And they are always tied to mistakes of little moment but give the media a way to beat Hillary Clinton down, from landing zones to hospital services. Why in the world these real life settings are necessary, much less embellished, is undetermined. Does this make little or no sense? And what is this softer, gentler side anyway?

The answer to what the campaign needs is simple. It needs to show that Obama will lose. Faking the truth does no good whatsoever, and will lead to a Democratic Party defeat of monumental proportions in November.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Thanks for your post, politicalcenter -- welcome to DU!