The Fix: Hillary Clinton is pretty close to having a great campaign stump speech
Wondering when Hillary Clinton might hit the campaign trail to campaign for embattled Democrats? Well, after her speech at the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership forum event Friday, she might not have to.During a 20-minute speech, she name-dropped Mary Burke, Wendy Davis, Alison Lundergan Grimes, Staci Appel, Martha Coakley and Maggie Haasan -- to name just a few.
She went on at length about Burke, who is running against Gov. Scott Walker (R), saying that "she is offering a choice between more angry gridlock and progress that will actually make a difference for Wisconsin families. Better wages, better jobs, better schools."
Clinton's speech, and particularly the passage above,is significant not just for what it means for Burke -- we're sure Burke's consultants are already cutting a Clinton ad -- and other femalecandidates, but for what it reveals about what might be a key argument for a Clinton presidency when (oops, if) she runs in 2016.
"When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out far and wide. Weren't you proud when a coalition of women senators broke the logjam during last year's government shutdown?" she said. She then quoted Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who told her that politics comes down to compromise and building relationships: "You work together and you get the best outcome that you can."
In talking to pollsters who hold focus groups and try to get at how voters view women candidates, they say that often voters tend to look at women as better at compromising and at bringing people together. Yes, it's a bit of stereotype: Woman as kumbaya nurturer. And, most candidates who run for national office, male or female, tend to focus on "bringing people together."
But it could also be that voters might believe women candidates a bit more when they say it.
Of course, Hillary Clinton isn't just any other candidate. And in 2008, she ran probably more than Obama did as a fighter who had trained in the Clinton war room. She's alsobeen among the most polarizing political figures of the past two decades.
Over the last few days, with her Iowa-I'm-Back speech, and now the two on women's issues, this much is clear: Clinton has the makings of pretty good campaign stump speech. She has found a way to adequately praise President Obama (he signed the Lilly Ledbetter law), but framed herself as someone who can get beyond the partisan gridlock and harness a new type of politics that doesn't look anything like a bunch of guys fighting in Congress.
The trick will be how she captures the it's-time-for-a-woman-president vibe without playing the gender card too obviously.
One thing might make it pretty easy: If no other women run, then it will be Hillary Clinton against a field of men saying she is a candidate of the past -- an argument that in large part would be blunted by her gender.
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The Fix: Hillary Clinton is pretty close to having a great campaign stump speech