Hillary Having Fun On The Campaign Trail (HILLARY SUPPORTERS GROUP)

If the stresses of dealing with tightening polling numbers, Joe Biden’s potential run, the looming Benghazi hearings or the never-ending email server story was starting to get to Hillary Clinton, you wouldn’t know it from her demeanor on her trips through Eastern Iowa and Council Bluffs this week. At her four events, voters saw a Clinton who seemed relaxed, confident and just plain having fun as she fielded questions and tore into Republican policies.

After just eight minutes of introductory remarks in Davenport, Clinton jumped right into questions, much quicker than she’s done at almost any event. She took twelve questions in all, taking a good mix of both serious and fun queries.

“Put him to work!” Clinton replied immediately to one questioner who asked what she would do with Bill in the White House. It was one of many moments where she appeared quick on her toes and was really enjoying interacting with the crowd.

She got laughs in Muscatine when she told the crowd how she essentially trolled the entire Republican field by mailing them copies of her book, Hard Choices, so they could read up on her accomplishments as Secretary of State.

It’s not just the candidate, however. The voters are getting in on the fun too. One man in Davenport asked Clinton to do her Trump impression (“Uhh, you’re a loser,” she obliged – it wasn’t as good as the one from Saturday night, but it was still funny). A woman in Muscatine introduced herself as an actual “Val,” showing Clinton her drivers’ license as proof. Several others there brought Val-related signage or pictures to sign. And the Davenport crowd got a touching moment when a clearly-struggling woman insisted on standing to ask Clinton a question, saying, “I’m addressing the 45th President of the United States.”...

It all seems like a smarter approach. At times in the past – both this cycle and in 2008 – it felt like the campaign worried too much about the perception she could come across as too harsh or unpleasant. That resulted in “softening” efforts of her persona that never really felt genuine. This is a woman who’s sat across the table from dictators and despots to negotiate tough cease-fires and security deals. She’s taken every personal criticism and attack in the public eye from Republicans for decades and is still standing.

Is she very pleasant and fun in person? Absolutely, and she’s nothing like what you’d expect from some of the national media narrative that portrays her as cold and ruthless. But playing up being a grandmother as the main thing that defines this former First Lady and Secretary of State always seemed off.

I don’t think it worked in part because we’re not electing someone who we’d like to have a chat with over coffee or who we’d trust to babysit our kids. We’re choosing someone to be the next Commander-in-Chief, who directs where missiles are fired and where American troops go to fight terrorists, and there’s arguably no one with better experience to handle that than Hillary Clinton.

Right now she seems to be striking the right balance between funny and personable, while still tough and ready for a fight. She’s less scripted and less cautious, quicker to take a stand on controversial issues, game for a funny moment and is better energizing crowds with direct and forceful messaging....

If this re-energized Clinton continues, the process started in plenty of time to right the ship for the early states. But these re-calibrations have taken many candidates significant time to undergo, finding their inner fire only after months of slogging through countless small town Iowa events. What’s particularly surprising with this transition is how quickly she seems to have flipped the switch to “OK, let’s do better.”

http://iowastartingline.com/2015/10/08/hillary-having-fun-on-the-campaign-trail/ via Iowa Starting Line