Did Clintons Copy Republican Outreach Strategy to Secure Votes?

[amborin]

Bush-Cheney Campaign, 2004
Ralph Reed, former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, relied on stealth tactics throughout the nineteen nineties. He no longer needs to use stealth. As a senior official of the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, Reed attended the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention to ask pastors explicitly for their help in winning votes.

Mr. Reed delivered his remarks at a Bush-Cheney "pastors reception," paid for by the Bush campaign. The hosts were the departing president of the Southern Baptists and three other prominent leaders, and the reception was in a conference room of a hotel adjacent to the convention. As the pastors came in, a campaign aide collected about 100 signatures and addresses from ministers pledging to endorse Mr. Bush's re-election publicly


http://www.theocracywatch.org/taking_over.htm

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/10/hillary-clinton-asks-black-pastors-for-salvation.html

the Clintons are attempting to harden support among key African American influencers ahead of the South Carolina primary. Once again, black pastors are a key element of that strategy. Unlike Iowa or New Hampshire, the Palmetto State primary race is 56 percent black and nearly 56 percent of all South Carolinians attend church at least once a week. Home to Republican U.S. Senator Tim Scott, black evangelicals are a powerful force in state politics.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-builds-support-black-ministers-n507631

Clinton Builds Support from Black Ministers

by Monica Alba

DES MOINES, IOWA - More than half of the African-American ministers who attended a Philadelphia meeting with Hillary Clinton on Wednesday have endorsed the Democratic front-runner, her campaign confirmed Saturday.

Clinton met with 50 clergy members for a wide-ranging, two-hour discussion ahead of an investment firm fundraiser with rocker Bon Jovi earlier this week. Since then, 28 ministers have pledged their support to Clinton, with more endorsements coming next week, an aide said.
Iowa Voters Weigh Impact of New Clinton Email Revelation 3:30

Rev. Mark Tyler, who hosted the gathering at his church, said he went into the meeting not expecting to endorse Clinton but walked away with a positive impression.

"She was extremely warm and personable," Tyler told NBC News. "I think a lot of people in that room felt the same way.

Pastors from parishes across the country discussed criminal justice, income inequality, health care and environmental disasters with Clinton at Mother Bethel A.M.E. church in Society Hill, Philadelphia.

At one point, Clinton spoke forcefully about Flint, Michigan's water emergency, which several members of the meeting said compelled them to endorse her.

"She brought attention to the crisis in Flint, demanded action, and expressed her intent to bring to light the other Flints that occur in our country all too often," Maryland Rev. Zina Pierre said. "She is qualified and equipped to do the job and represent all Americans regardless of religion or color."

Tyler called the group of faith leaders - who traveled from Louisiana, Texas, California and beyond - "some of the most significant African-American clergy persons in the country."

"I want to be your partner, not just your president," Clinton told them.

Several of the meeting's attendees urged Clinton to hold a press conference, but the campaign decided against it because they didn't want to turn the meeting into a "spectacle."


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/eye-on-2016-clintons-rebuild-bond-with-blacks.html?_r=0

Inside Bright Hope Baptist Church, the luminaries of Philadelphia’s black political world gathered for the funeral of former Representative William H. Gray III in July. Dozens of politicians — city, state and federal — packed the pews as former President Bill Clinton offered a stirring eulogy, quoting Scripture and proudly telling the crowd that he was once described as “the only white man in America who knew all the verses to ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ ”


But it was the presence and behavior of Hillary Rodham Clinton that most intrigued former Gov. Edward G. Rendell: During a quiet moment, Mrs. Clinton leaned over to the governor and pressed him for details about the backgrounds, and the influence, of the assembled black leaders.

Since Mrs. Clinton left the secretary of state post in February, she and her husband have sought to soothe and strengthen their relationship with African-Americans, the constituency that was most scarred during her first bid for the presidency.

[onecaliberal]

1. You damn straight they did.

[JaneyVee]

2. Yeah all those black Republicans!

This place sometimes.

[leftynyc]

3. Yes - how DARE she

go to black churches. I mean it's EXACTLY what republicans do. This shit is getting embarrassing.

[LexVegas]

4. Yes, they utilized the GOP strategy of outreach to African Americans. Busted. nt

[CoffeeCat]

5. I don't think there is anything wrong with this strategy

I think you meet voters where they are. That's how you win their votes.

This is politics. It's not always 100 percent genuine. We could argue about that all day.

However, candidates have to figure out the best ways to reach constituents and spread their message.

Maybe I spent too many years in PR. But my view is--you craft a strategy, hone your message and take it to your target audience.

Clinton has done a much better job of this in the African American community. Plus, she has spent a great deal of time pegging Sanders as the candidate who cannot (or is unwilling) to connect with people of color. Never let your candidate define you. David Brock came out very early in the campaign and started defining Sanders as someone who could only connect with white people. All of the talk about, "Yes, he does well in Iowa and NH, but those are white states" was part of that devious messaging strategy, which was untrue.

We all learned from John Kerry--that you don't stand around hoping that decent people won't fall for Swiftboatting. They surely will. You need to be proactive. Obama was the expert at deflecting Hillary's Swiftboatting. She attempted to parlay his "Reverend Wright problems" into support for herself. Obama called a press conference and unleashed a heartfelt, solid speech that annihilated her dirty games.

Sanders did such a great job of courting the Hispanic vote. I spoke with a LULAC leader in Iowa who said that Hispanic caucus participation increased 300 percent and most of the support went to Sanders. He even said that Hispanics were instrumental in securing Sander's solid Iowa tie.

But it's not enough to reach voters--you have to continually define yourself and spread that message. And if you're running against someone like Hillary Clinton, who will work 24/7 to define you as something you are not--you have to work even harder to unravel those lies. Otherwise they become reality.

Sanders needs to do a better job going forward of getting his message out--and of playing defense and attacking these false definitions of himself. Because even the Clinton camp knows--that Bernie Sanders cares about everyone in this country. The attacks on him, he whispering and the negative messages are nothing but campaign strategy on her part.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Hillary reached out to black churches?

This is scandalous.

Maybe Trey Gowdy should form a select committee and investigate this!

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Yes, because no candidate ever reached out to ministers before 2004