Subject: Correct The Record Sunday October 19, 2014 Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 13:44:26 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

Correct The Record Sunday October 19, 2014 Roundup:

 

Tweets:

 

President Bill Clinton @BillClinton:Good to be back in my birthplace, Hope, AR, helping #ArkDems@MikeRossUpdates,@PryorForSenate, @JamesLeeWittAR[3:47 p.m. EDT]

 

 

Headlines:

 

Associated Press: “Hillary Rodham Clinton to Campaign for Kay Hagan”

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will campaign for Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan at an early vote event in Charlotte. Hagan's campaign said Saturday that Clinton will participate in the early vote event Oct. 25 at the Charlotte Convention Center. Early voting begins two days earlier, on Thursday, Oct. 23.”

 

Telegraph: “American Way: Hillary must explain why a second Clinton presidency would be good for America”

“It became a symptom of the Hillary problem – everyone knew she had experience, money, name recognition and desperately wanted the job, they just weren’t too clear on why she wanted it, and what she’d do when she got it. This time around Hillary operatives say privately that they are determined not to repeat the same mistake, and over the last two weeks the first fragmentary elements of a message have been audible as Mrs Clinton hits the campaign trail for November’s mid-term elections.”

 

Courier-Journal: “If elected, Grimes would owe the Clintons”

“And while Reid’s Senate Majority PAC has spent nearly $2.4 million on television ads propping up Grimes, it might not be to Reid whom she owes her biggest debt in Washington if she can upset McConnell, the Senate’s minority leader. That’s because of the stepped-up effort that former President Bill Clinton and possible future president Hillary Clinton have put into Kentucky on Grimes’s behalf and what they appear willing to do over the next two weeks.”

 

The Hill: “‘Clinton Democrats’ falling flat”

“Clinton allies also insist that both Bill and Hillary have the sort of innate understanding of Southerners that has become increasingly rare within the Democratic Party. While more of the party’s base increasingly lives urban areas, they are among the few surrogates who can reach blue-collar and rural voters.  Paul Begala, a Texan and former Clinton adviser, said the Clintons ‘love Southerners, and I think that is reciprocated.’ ‘It's as simple as that,’ Begala wrote in an email. ‘They don't view us as some kind of weird alien being. They see us as their friends and neighbors and cousins and friends - because we are.’”

 

Washington Post: “Post-ABC News Poll: Absent Mitt Romney, who can claim the 2016 GOP banner?”

“On the Democratic side, there are no surprises. It’s still Clinton vs. all others. In the latest survey, 65 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they favor the former senator and secretary of state for the nomination. Vice President Biden is second at 13 percent, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), who has said repeatedly she has no intention of running, at 10 percent.”

 

Hollywood Reporter: “Hillary Clinton Flying Monkey Banners Removed from L.A.'s Brentwood Neighborhood”

“Banners satirizing Hillary Clinton's supporters as flying monkeys were either removed or painted over Saturday in anticipation of the former Secretary of State's appearance at an ultra-exclusive Democratic fundraiser at Brentwood's Tavern restaurant on Monday. The artist SABO, the conservatives' answer to Shepard Fairey, placed the banners — depicting a Wizard of Oz flying monkey holding a "Hillary 2016" sign — on utility boxes, power lines and utility poles early Friday.”

 

Associated Press: “Foust-Comstock House Race Closely Watched in Va.”

“Yes, it's an open seat in a swing district. But a big reason the race for Virginia's 10th Congressional District is drawing attention beyond its borders is a candidate with a lightning-rod past who has a special knack for getting under Democrats' skin and has been labeled a ‘professional Clinton hater.’”

 

 

Articles:

 

Associated Press: “Hillary Rodham Clinton to Campaign for Kay Hagan”

October 18, 2014, 04:48 p.m. EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will campaign for Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan at an early vote event in Charlotte.

Hagan's campaign said Saturday that Clinton will participate in the early vote event Oct. 25 at the Charlotte Convention Center. Early voting begins two days earlier, on Thursday, Oct. 23.

Tickets are required and are free. They're available at various campaign offices in the Charlotte region.

Hagan is locked in a tight race for re-election with Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis.

 

 

Telegraph: “American Way: Hillary must explain why a second Clinton presidency would be good for America”

By Peter Foster

October 18, 2014, 10:51 a.m. EDT

It is one of the axioms of modern American politics that winning campaigns are built around a core message that can ultimately be distilled onto a car bumper sticker.

This is not as superficial as it sounds, but about finding a maxim that encapsulates a candidate’s vision for how they will either reinforce or restore the American dream, depending which point in the economic and political cycle they find themselves making their pitch.

Ronald Reagan asked “are you better off than four years ago?” and then pledged to make it “morning again in America” four years later; then Bill Clinton popped up to remind everyone it was “the economy, stupid”, promising a new era of tech-driven economic growth.

After Monica and impeachment, George W Bush vowed to restore “honour and dignity” to the Oval Office, while Barack Obama, of course, offered “hope and change” – change that, judging by his rock-bottom personal approval ratings, too many Americans feel has never arrived. No matter that all these aspirational messages end up being hollowed out by reality, every recent presidential campaign (that is not a re-election battle) has had one.

Which brings us to the question of what Hillary Clinton’s big theme will be when – barring some unforeseen circumstance – she announces early next year that she’s having one final tilt at the White House?

It is often noted that one of the most fundamental failings of Mrs Clinton’s 2008 campaign was that she didn’t have a message. It was telling that while Mr Obama’s yard signs were emblazoned with “hope and change" hers carried only her name: “Hillary”.

It became a symptom of the Hillary problem – everyone knew she had experience, money, name recognition and desperately wanted the job, they just weren’t too clear on why she wanted it, and what she’d do when she got it.

This time around Hillary operatives say privately that they are determined not to repeat the same mistake, and over the last two weeks the first fragmentary elements of a message have been audible as Mrs Clinton hits the campaign trail for November’s mid-term elections.

She has spoken about a “fresh start” for America, about investing in the middle classes, ending the education cuts she says are a “down payment on decline” and, of course, she’s talked about women’s rights and “equal pay for equal work”, with an obligatory reference to the future she wants to create for her new granddaughter, Charlotte.

But slogans are not the same thing as a campaign message. Slogans are froth on the water, the real message is the deeper intellectual current that carries the candidate forward and explains what she can do for America. And that’s where it gets tricky for Hillary.

Her first problem is the Obama legacy. If a salesman knocks on the door and sells you a package marked “hope and change” and you open the box only to find it empty, you would be forgiven for not buying a box marked “fresh start” from the same company, no matter who the salesperson was.

An alternative strategy for Mrs Clinton would be to focus on her unique selling point of being “first woman president”, but here again Mr Obama has muddied the waters. Eight disillusioning years after electing its “first black president” America is unlikely to be captivated by the prospect of yet another a new electoral first, at least not for its own sake.

Which brings us back to experience, the trump card that didn’t play so well for Mrs Clinton in 2008. According to one prevalent narrative among Hillary acolytes, the US electorate is now ready for experience, having been badly burned by both of its last two decisions.

It’s a seductive theory, but in practice experience is not a sexy sell. Americans are fed up with the political establishment, and no one is more of an establishment figure than Mrs Clinton. Furthermore, America's stagnant middle class incomes are rooted in global economic shifts that even the most experienced leader could not fully control.

To rectify these things, as Mrs Clinton knows, the US needs long-term investments in education and infrastructure, and a more productive work force. Unfortunately, while “No Quick Fixes” fits on a bumper sticker, as a campaign message it will depress, not inspire most Americans.

It is conceivable that if Republicans cannot find a candidate to coalesce around, Mrs Clinton could win without a strong message, grinding to victory through the combination of brute electoral force and the absence of an effective opposition.

However, history suggests otherwise. In modern times, successful presidential campaigns have all had a big message at their core, with George H W Bush proving the exception to the rule by running essentially for a Reagan third term.

Unless Mr Obama’s numbers dramatically improve, running for a ‘third’ Obama term will not be an option for Mrs Clinton – and even if by some miracle they do improve – it’s sobering to reflect that Mr Bush was the first sitting vice-president to be elected since Martin Van Buren in 1836.

The likelihood is that Mrs Clinton will need to find a message – to offer a fresh vision for a jaded nation - but eight years after she last tried, it is still hard to see what that might be.

 

 

Courier-Journal: “If elected, Grimes would owe the Clintons”

By Joseph Gerth

October 18, 2014, 12:15 p.m. EDT

Sen. Mitch McConnell is fond of drawing a connection between Alison Lundergan Grimes and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, and suggesting that she will do his bidding for him if she gets to the U.S. Senate.

And while Reid’s Senate Majority PAC has spent nearly $2.4 million on television ads propping up Grimes, it might not be to Reid whom she owes her biggest debt in Washington if she can upset McConnell, the Senate’s minority leader.

That’s because of the stepped-up effort that former President Bill Clinton and possible future president Hillary Clinton have put into Kentucky on Grimes’s behalf and what they appear willing to do over the next two weeks.

There is little doubt that while Reid’s PAC is off the air and has been since the middle of last month, it’s the Clintons who are trying to close the deal for Alison Grimes, the daughter of their dear old family friend, former state Democratic chairman Jerry Lundergan.

It may also be the clearest sign yet that Hillary Clinton will make another run for the presidency in 2016 — as the two Clintons are hard at work to make sure she doesn’t enter office with a Senate run by McConnell.

“I think that President Clinton was right when he was here,” Grimes said Wednesday during her speech before Hillary Clinton spoke in Louisville.

“Mitch McConnell just doesn’t think that Kentuckians know how to do math. You see, this election is not about who’s in the White House now, the president has two more years. This is a six year term. It’s about the senator who will work the next four years with whoever is in the White House, no matter who he or she might be,” Grimes said to thunderous applause.

Despite erosion of the Democratic brand in the state — begun decades ago but accelerated by the presidency of Barack Obama — the Clintons still carry some cache in the state nearly 14 years after Bill Clinton left office.

He was the last Democrat to carry the state in a federal state-wide race of any kind and still enjoys a 53 percent favorability rating here according to the Bluegrass Poll.

Hillary Clinton carried Kentucky in the 2008 Democratic primary by a vote of 66 percent to 30 percent over Obama, despite the fact that it was clear by then he would be the Democratic nominee.

McConnell, himself, appears to be of a divided mind about Bill Clinton.

In Monday’s Kentucky Educational Television Debate, he said that “there’s not a dimes’ worth of difference between a ‘Clinton Democrat’ and an ‘Obama Democrat’” but in a speech to the Young Professionals Association in Louisville, he noted what he thought was a key difference between Clinton and Obama.

Said McConnell, when Democrats lost control of Congress under Clinton, Clinton moved to the center and worked with Republicans to achieve welfare reform and to balance the budget.

In the past year, the Clintons — especially Bill Clinton — have put in a tremendous effort in the state.

In July, Bill Clinton was out of the country when Grimes did her official campaign rollout but he found time to make a video that was played on a huge outdoor television screen at the event.

In February, he came to the Galt House in Louisville for a massive fundraiser and speech that drew national attention to Grimes and her campaign.

In August, the Big Dog was back with campaign stops in Hazard and Lexington.

Last week, it was Hillary in Louisville, along with 4,500 screaming fans.

Bill Clinton is coming back on Tuesday for rallies in Owensboro and Paducah.

And there is even talk of having them both back in the state for other events in the final days leading up to the election.

“I am a Clinton Democrat and that’s the kind of Senator I will be,” said Grimes.

Given the role President and Secretary of State Clinton are playing in the race, as well she should be.

 

 

The Hill: “‘Clinton Democrats’ falling flat”

By Peter Sullivan and Bernie Becker

October 19, 2014, 10:31 a.m. EDT

Self-proclaimed Clinton Democrats are struggling this election cycle, and not even their powerful namesakes may be enough to save them.

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have tried to turn on their charms to help centrist Democrats in Kentucky and Arkansas. But as candidates in both states are slipping, help from the party’s preeminent power couple is falling short. 

In Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes has clung tightly to both Bill and Hillary Clinton as she tries to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell(R).

The former president has already campaigned with the Democratic hopeful  twice and will head to the Bluegrass State again next week. The former secretary of state held a rally with Grimes on Wednesday, coming as Grimes kept emphasizing she was a "Clinton Democrat through and through” after flatly refusing to say whether she voted for President Obama.

The former president — a master of the retail politics central to places like Arkansas — is the featured guest in his native state this weekend. There, Democrats are trying to save vulnerable Sen. Mark Pryor (D) and push former Rep. Mike Ross (D) into the governor’s mansion. Pryor even took a selfie on stage with Clinton this month, in an attempt to illustrate how close he is to his state’s favorite son.

Despite their close ties to the Clintons, their efforts to distance themselves from a deeply unpopular current president may not work. 

That raises questions not only for Hillary Clinton as she ponders a 2016 White House bid, but also for the Democratic Party as it finds itself increasingly unsuccessful in the Deep South and Appalachia.

‘I’m constantly puzzled when other people are surprised that there hasn’t been this Democratic revival in the South,” said Thomas Schaller, a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who has argued that Democrats need to make the South less of a priority. “My feeling is that the underlying fundamentals in the region work against the Democrats.’

Clinton allies and longtime observers of the 42nd president and his wife say that if anyone can make Southern states a battleground in 2016 – and at least force the GOP to use valuable resources to keep the South red – it’s Hillary Clinton.

There’s plenty of reason to believe the Clintons view the situation the same way. The former president will follow up his three-day swing through Arkansas this weekend with a trip to Louisiana to stump for Sen. Mary Landrieu on Monday, in another attempt to help the vulnerable Democrat. Hillary Clinton will campaign with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) next Saturday.

"These appearances are really the beginning of their campaign to redefine the Democratic Party in their own image, [to] a party that can carry states like this," said Al Cross, a veteran journalist and University of Kentucky professor. 

"I think the Clintons believe they can carry Kentucky and I think that's one reason why we'll see them here again," Cross added, also pointing to the Clintons’ longstanding friendship with Grimes’ father, Jerry Lundergan.

Clinton allies also insist that both Bill and Hillary have the sort of innate understanding of Southerners that has become increasingly rare within the Democratic Party. While more of the party’s base increasingly lives urban areas, they are among the few surrogates who can reach blue-collar and rural voters.

Paul Begala, a Texan and former Clinton adviser, said the Clintons ‘love Southerners, and I think that is reciprocated.“

"It's as simple as that,” Begala wrote in an email. ‘They don't view us as some kind of weird alien being. They see us as their friends and neighbors and cousins and friends - because we are."

Hillary Clinton even leads some potential GOP rivals in very early presidential polling in states like Georgia and Kentucky, and could expect a higher, more diverse turnout in a presidential year.  The South’s changing demographics – eight of the 10 states with the fastest-growing Hispanic populations are in the region – would also help a 2016 Clinton campaign.

But the problems facing incumbents even like Landrieu and Pryor, who come from perhaps the preeminent Democratic families in their respective states, underscore the difficulties Democrats face in the South.

Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran challenging Pryor, has tried to downplay Clinton's role to focus on Obama.

“I’m not worried about Bill Clinton’s support for Mark Pryor," Cotton told ABC News. "I’m worried about Mark Pryor’s support for Barack Obama."

Obama captured as few as one of every 10 white voters in some Southern states in both 2008 and 2012. Even in his overwhelming 2008 victory, Obama captured fewer votes than the Democrats’ 2004 nominee, John Kerry, in dozens of rural counties in places like Arkansas and Kentucky that were both overwhelmingly white and with comparatively few college graduates.

Since then, Democrats in Arkansas lost control of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. In Kentucky, voters are also now more likely to call themselves Republicans than Democrats.

Bill Clinton carried Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky in his 1992 and 1996 presidential wins, at a time when many more voters remembered the days of Democratic dominance in the South before the Civil Rights movement and after Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

That gives some Clinton backers hope that Hillary could combine the support her husband found among white working-class voters in those states with the coalition – highly educated, often suburban voters – that Obama used to capture Virginia and Florida twice and North Carolina in 2008.

"You put a Democrat with 20 percent of the white vote in Mississippi and it becomes in play," said Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and a longtime friend of the Clintons.

Schaller agrees that no Democratic candidate is likely to do better than Hillary Clinton in the South in 2016. But he also stressed that even if Clinton does well in the South in 2016, that doesn’t mean a broader Democratic renaissance is coming below the Mason-Dixon line.

 "I think she’s a good test case for how competitive the Democrats can be in the South, because she can pair her husband’s appeal in the more rural South and presumably draw support in the places where Obama did well,” Schaller said. “If she can’t start flipping states, then who is?”

 

 

Washington Post: “Post-ABC News Poll: Absent Mitt Romney, who can claim the 2016 GOP banner?”

By Dan Balz

October 19 at 12:01 a.m. EDT

When Mitt Romney managed to get about 25 percent support in the early polls against his 2012 Republican rivals, everyone asked, “What’s wrong with Mitt?” He was, after all, the presumed front-runner. Today, with a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showing something similar about 2016, the question could be, “What’s wrong with all the others?”

The survey tested Romney against the prospective field of 2016 GOP presidential candidates. Ann Romney told Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times last week that she and the Romneys’ sons are “done, done, done” with presidential politics after two failed campaigns. But for now, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 nominee is at the top of the heap in the eyes of rank-and-file Republicans.

The Post-ABC poll found that 21 percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents say they favor the Romney as their 2016 nominee. That was almost double the 11 percent who named the person in second place, former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Romney benefits as much or more from the fact that no one among the likely candidates has yet filled the vacuum he left behind. That he enjoys top billing among prospective 2016 GOP candidates says something about Romney but much more about the others in the unsettled field.

Romney enjoys a warm glow today in part because of what’s happened to President Obama since 2012. Remembered are attributes or statements that look better in retrospect than they did at the time. Forgotten or dismissed are some of the mistakes Romney made in that campaign, from “self-deportation” to “47 percent.”

Question marks

With the assumption that Romney would not run again, the 2016 race always was going to look different than past Republican nominating contests. For the first time in a long time, there is neither an heir apparent (George H.W. Bush in 1988, Bob Dole in 1996, John McCain in 2008, Romney in 2012) nor a dominant first-time candidate (George W. Bush in 2000).

Republicans assumed their 2016 field collectively would be far stronger than the group who competed in 2012, which is now regarded as one of the weakest in modern times. That could still turn out to be the case, but so far no one has begun to break from the pack.

The Post-ABC poll highlights this. Taking Mitt and Ann Romney at their word that a third campaign is not in their future, this race is as wide open as it could be, at least in terms of early popular support.

Absent Romney, Jeb Bush leads with a mere 15 percent, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) is second at 12 percent, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is third at 11 percent — all within the five-point error margin.

After that, in descending order, are the single-digit candidates, all bunched between 8 and 6 percent: Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ben Carson and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Coming in below 5 percent are Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and, at 1 percent, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Bush’s support is fairly even through various demographic and economic groups. Huckabee is stronger among women than men, while Rand Paul is the opposite. Paul Ryan does better with Republicans who have college degrees or incomes over $50,000 than he does with those without degrees and making less.

On perhaps the most important divide within the GOP, Bush does significantly better among Republicans who say they do not support the tea party, as befits his establishment pedigree. Huckabee and Paul do better with the much larger group of Republicans who say they back the tea party movement.

Any analysis of 2016 polls comes with the obvious caution: Given the number of candidates and the absence of a clear front-runner, these early measures are far from predictive. Beyond that, they can’t measure the fundraising wherewithal or the political staying power each candidate could bring to a campaign. Because they are national surveys, they don’t take into account strengths or weaknesses in the early states that winnow the field. Most significantly, they don’t measure the quality of campaigning skills.

Examples abound from past campaigns to underscore those caveats.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, but his campaign was always crippled by lack of money. Hillary Rodham Clinton had great national numbers in 2007 but always looked vulnerable in polls of Iowa Democrats. Perry is Exhibit A of the difference between how a candidate looks on paper and on the campaign trail.

If he decides to run, Bush should be able to raise the money needed, but he is at odds with his party’s base on some key issues, and according to a recent Des Moines Register-Bloomberg Politics poll of Iowa Republicans, he comes in with just 4 percent support in the state whose caucuses kick off the process. The biggest question mark is whether he will even seek the nomination.

Others in the prospective field have even bigger question marks behind their names. Simply put, how many of the prospective candidates look better as this midterm election nears its conclusion than they did in the months right after the 2012 campaign? Readers can draw their own conclusions based on what they’ve seen so far.

Ready for Hillary

On the Democratic side, there are no surprises. It’s still Clinton vs. all others.

In the latest survey, 65 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they favor the former senator and secretary of state for the nomination. Vice President Biden is second at 13 percent, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), who has said repeatedly she has no intention of running, at 10 percent.

Although Clinton’s support is strong through all demographic and economic groups, there are some variations of note. She enjoys far more support among women than men and stronger support among Democrats 50 or older rather than among those younger.

Clinton also wins demonstrably more support among white Christians than among those who say they have no religion. And she does better with white Democrats who do not have a college degree than with those who do. In that way, her profile differs from that of Obama, who has generally done better with voters who have college degrees and post-graduate degrees than those without.

That could prove significant in a general election. If that profile was to translate into her capturing a higher share of the white vote in a general election than Obama managed in 2012 while retaining the Obama coalition of minorities and well-educated whites, Republicans would be in trouble, unless they can offset it by doing better among non-white voters. First, however, they will have to find a candidate.

 

 

Hollywood Reporter: “Hillary Clinton Flying Monkey Banners Removed from L.A.'s Brentwood Neighborhood”

By Tina Daunt

October 18, 2014, 2:28 p.m. PST

Banners satirizing Hillary Clinton's supporters as flying monkeys were either removed or painted over Saturday in anticipation of the former Secretary of State's appearance at an ultra-exclusive Democratic fundraiser at Brentwood's Tavern restaurant on Monday.

The artist SABO, the conservatives' answer to Shepard Fairey, placed the banners — depicting a Wizard of Oz flying monkey holding a "Hillary 2016" sign — on utility boxes, power lines and utility poles early Friday. Two weeks ago, the guerrilla street artist papered Gwyneth Paltrow's neighborhood with "Obama Drone" signs before an appearance by the president at a fundraiser there.

"What happened to art being loved and appreciated and never censored?" the artist told The Hollywood Reporter. He also expressed outrage that the anti-Clinton signs that had been glued to power boxes were covered with dark gray paint. "They didn't even try to remove them, and they made it look as ugly as hell. They would rather have this mess than anti-leftist art. Says a lot about them."

He noted that there was still one banner, attached to a power line, visible, but it appeared that Edison had dispatched a cherry picker to remove it.

Clinton is set to arrive in Brentwood on Monday for a $32,400-per-person fundraiser benefiting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The event is being hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Alan Horn and other top industry execs.

 

 

Associated Press: “Foust-Comstock House Race Closely Watched in Va.”

By Matthew Barakat

Oct 18, 2014, 2:01 p.m EDT

Yes, it's an open seat in a swing district. But a big reason the race for Virginia's 10th Congressional District is drawing attention beyond its borders is a candidate with a lightning-rod past who has a special knack for getting under Democrats' skin and has been labeled a "professional Clinton hater."

Republican Barbara Comstock may not be well known to the average voter, but to political observers she carries status far beyond her short career in elected office as a three-term state delegate. She made her name in political circles in opposition research, digging up dirt on Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al Gore as a Capitol Hill staffer. Her work included aggressive investigations of the Clintons under GOP House committee chairman Dan Burton, and later for the Republican National Committee.

Her opponent, John Foust, a two-term Democrat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, has made an issue of her past, calling her a partisan political warrior, the opposite of what is needed in Washington in an age when partisan sniping has led to constant gridlock.

"It's a part of the process that attracts some of the most extreme partisan members," Foust said of Comstock's work as an opposition researcher. He described her efforts as a chief investigator for Burton as "some of the most ugly things in American history, trying to demonize and personally destroy the president and his family and the people around him, and she led that effort."

In fundraising emails, former Clinton political aide Paul Begala called her a "professional Clinton hater" and said "she will no doubt practice the same politics of personal destruction she and her ilk practiced in the Clinton days" if she wins.

Comstock points to her record in the Virginia General Assembly, where she says she focused on bread-and-butter issues such as promoting telework, combatting human trafficking and pushing legislation to support northern Virginia's technology and business communities.

"They're stuck in the '90s," Comstock said in an interview about her critics.

Nationally, Republicans have suggested she is the kind of candidate who can help the GOP appeal to women. Gender issues have been a big part of the campaign. Comstock's campaign has attacked Foust for a remark that he doesn't think Comstock has ever held "a real job," portraying it as sexist.

Comstock pointed to her time as a working mother on Capitol Hill and later as a spokeswoman for the Justice Department as the kind of jobs that many voters in the 10th District hold.

"It shows his lack of understanding of the workforce in the area, and it's insulting and demeaning," she said. "It stems from his lack of ability to talk about anything he's done. He's spent his entire campaign attacking me personally."

Foust acknowledged "a poor choice of words," but says his comments were taken out of context, and that he was speaking in the context of job creation.

"I think you can have real jobs in the political world. She has had some high-level jobs that were clearly real jobs," he said in an interview.

Given Comstock's history as a Republican partisan, eyebrows were raised during her primary campaign when it came out that she had voted in the Democratic primary in 2008 — for Obama, no less.

Comstock says it was part of a strategy to boost Obama into the general election, where she felt he would be a weaker nominee than Hillary Clinton.

"I was wrong," she said.

Comstock said she sees nothing wrong with crossing party lines to cast a strategic vote in the other party's primary, which is allowed under Virginia law.

"People do it all the time," she said.

Bill Shendow, a recently retired political science professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester, said Foust's campaign has committed ground-game resources to the district that have been absent in previous Democratic campaigns. Yet he said a Foust victory would still be an upset, given that the district has sent a Republican to the House for the last 30 years in Frank Wolf, who is retiring and in recent years has been increasingly seen as a maverick within in his party.

The seat, in fact, hasn't been open since it was created in 1952. The district stretches through northern Virginia from inside the Capital Beltway out to the Shenandoah Valley.

President Barack Obama carried the district by 3 percentage points in 2008, and Republican Mitt Romney won it by a point in 2012.

 

 

Calendar:

 

Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule.

·  October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico)

·  October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Senate Democrats (AP)

·  October 23 – MN: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Gov. Mark Dayton (AP)

·  October 24 – RI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo (Politico)

·  October 24 – Mass.: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Mass. gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley (CNN)

·  October 25 – NC: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Sen. Kay Hagan (AP)

·  October 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton speaks at the launch of The International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (CNN)

·  November 2  – NH: Sec. Clinton appears at a GOTV rally for Gov. Hassan and Sen. Shaheen (AP)

·  December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of Conservation Voters dinner (Politico)

·  December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW)

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