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The national press has been assuming, whatever happens in Iowa's caucus, that Hillary Clinton will still get the Democratic nomination even if she loses Iowa. At least that was the Saturday night talk at Centro, the Des Moines press and campaign after-hours hangout. And if she's the nominee, then she's the next president of the United States "because there's no Republican who can beat her," to quote a well-known staffer from another campaign. The wag considered it for a moment and then corrected himself, "Of course she's a Democrat, so there has to be a way she can lose, even though I can't see it right now."
Actually, Hillary the loser has been on display in small towns across Iowa for the last few days. This Hillary, the "kinder, gentler" version, is already not playing as well as when she first appeared on the scene weeks ago. Day before yesterday in Council Bluffs, Hillary failed to connect with her audience, mostly older folk, about 500 of them, who responded to her talking points either with polite silence or tepid applause--and this despite the efforts, usually successful, of local volunteers to initiate enthusiasm. Of course, the Iowa Democrats among the crowd (many were Nebraskans curious to see her) may caucus for her anyway. Far western Iowa doesn't seem much like Obama Territory. This is not the point--which is that her remarks, particularly on foreign affairs, were lost on that particular group. The note of worry in her voice, conveyed in the way she has taken it down a register, sometimes to a whisper of concern, meant to convey the subtext "I will take care of you," in case the older folk don't get it from Hillary's speech itself, was the wrong one for the tough, resilient folk of the western plains.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/snap-out-of-it-hillary-_b_79428.html
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