In Debate, Hillary Clinton Will Display Skills Honed Over a Lifetime (HILLARY SUPPORTERS GROUP)
..."Whenever we would say, ‘Well, who could speak up for this or that for us?’ it was always, ‘Well, let’s get Hillary to do that,’” said Ernie Ricketts, known then as Ricky, a childhood friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton does not possess the retail political skills of her husband, nor can she easily rouse a crowd with a lyrical speech like President Obama. But on the debate stage, she displays an unusual talent and focus, and appears at ease and comfortably herself.
The first Democratic primary debate Tuesday on CNN will provide Mrs. Clinton with an opportunity to present her policies to voters — policies that have been largely overshadowed in the news media by developments over her use of private email at the State Department and by the rise of her insurgent opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
But more important, the debate — perhaps more than any late-night appearances or social media gambit — will provide Mrs. Clinton with the largest platform yet to make a connection with voters and show off her genuine passion for policy.
“It’s who she is at her core,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who was an aide to Mrs. Clinton from 1991 to 2008 and managed her last presidential campaign. “She’s an avid studier. She does her homework. She’s a massive preparer.”
The characteristics that viewers will see in Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday are in many ways the same ones that Mr. Baker spotted in his ambitious high school student a half-century ago. “I loved to hone my debating skills with friends,” she wrote in her memoir “Living History.” “I would press poor Ricky Ricketts into daily debates about world peace, baseball scores, whatever topic came to mind.”...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/us/politics/in-debate-hillary-clinton-will-display-skills-honed-over-a-lifetime.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news via NYTimes
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That is absolutely right on! 