Kirsten Gillibrand's Failure to Launch

[DonViejo]

She’s tough and smart. The New York senator seemed like a top-tier 2020 contender. So why is she crashing?

By TIM ALBERTA May 31, 2019

HAMPTON, New Hampshire—Kirsten Gillibrand is only asking for a dollar.

It’s not that she couldn’t use more money. In the first quarter of 2019, the junior senator from New York raised just $3 million for her presidential campaign, the weakest haul of the six senators running at that time and arguably one of the most disappointing totals of anyone in the sprawling Democratic field. Given her anemic polling since entering the race, Gillibrand’s feeble fundraising performance fanned skepticism about her viability to earn a nomination that Democrats believe will require close to $100 million in hard money raised. But at this point, Gillibrand isn’t focused on winning the primary. She’s worried about surviving the next few months.

Despite a soaring national profile in the U.S. Senate, Gillibrand has failed to achieve liftoff as a presidential prospect. She has not broken 2 percent in a single national poll since officially declaring her candidacy in mid-March, and her 0.4 percent average in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of surveys places her behind the likes of Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard and even geeky long shot Andrew Yang.

Her bigger problem is fundraising. To secure a spot in the first double-header of Democratic primary debates in late June, candidates must meet two thresholds: surpassing 1 percent in three recognized national polls and collecting 65,000 unique campaign contributions. Gillibrand has checked the first box, however unimpressively. Yet the second mission remains unaccomplished. With the debates closing in—and with even quixotic candidates such as self-help guru Marianne Williamson hitting the 65,000-donor mark—Gillibrand is under the gun. The Democratic National Committee is limiting the total number of participants to 20. She could (and likely will) qualify by meeting the polling threshold only. But given the late gusher of contenders entering the fray, her place on stage can be guaranteed only by growing her donor ranks—and quickly.

more
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/31/kirsten-gillibrand-2020-democratic-campaign-president-primary-podcast-227032

[LakeArenal]

1. The Franken effect.

Don’t think we have forgotten her or the others.

[blueinredohio]

5. I was going to say the same thing. Well said.

[MrsCoffee]

13. Yeah, pretty much all the others got a pass.

37 got a pass and one woman will pay the price for all of them.

[LakeArenal]

17. Yes. Harris and Booker.

Last edited Fri May 31, 2019, 12:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Edit to add: Bernie Sanders.

[MicaelS]

42. Someone has to.

And the fact she keeps defending her actions via Franken is not help at all. I hope she withdraws soon.

[USALiberal]

43. She chose to be the leader, thought it would help her, it didn't. nt

[Baltimike]

67. She chose to fall Roger Stone's SUCKER BET and expects accolades for it. nt

[MoonRiver]

58. She initiated and led the charge. nuff said

[Trumpocalypse]

61. By 5 minutes?

Any one with not blinded by bias and with half a brain could see that the whole Franken thing was a highly co-ordinated effort orchestrated by leadership.

[wellst0nev0ter]

62. She owns it

tough shit

[PatSeg]

19. The article said:

"Her bigger problem is fundraising", but I'd say it is more likely the Franken effect as you suggest. Gillibrand is her problem, not money. She was never really a strong candidate, except in own eyes perhaps.

[EveHammond13]

29. I think she is an excellent Senator but not a great public speaker

she's a fine public speaker but not rising to the level of inspirational, IMO

if she runs again the town hall experience she is getting now will help her

[PatSeg]

36. Definitely not inspirational

and sadly, few are going to forget her leading the charge to get Al Franken to resign, not to mention throwing the Clintons under the bus after they had helped her get elected. I think Democrats have a low tolerance for that kind of politics these days, especially when we have so many excellent candidates to choose from.

[wellst0nev0ter]

63. And it was someone in her OWN camp

that got accused of harrassment, she covered for him

[PatSeg]

66. Ah yes

And there's that as well. Clearly everything she says or does is blatantly political. Of course, I know a politician IS going to be political, but there needs to be some core values there that voters can trust.

[zeusdogmom]

40. This!

[Butterflylady]

21. I'm never getting over that.

And I'm not alone!

[Mme. Defarge]

54. Ni moi non plus!

She seized an opportunity to take out a political rival and others jumped on the bandwagon.

I WILL NOT FORGET.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Yep. Gillibrand, Harris, Warren, Sanders, Booker. But not Klobuchar.

Klobuchar did not sign on. The only adult in the room.

[LakeArenal]

50. Exactly why his removal should have been by constituents.

Not a bunch of baited Democrats with presidential aspirations.

[kimbutgar]

30. Yes

[brooklynite]

48. Yawn!!!

It’s only been 2 weeks since the last “I hate Gillibrand” thread.

I’d say the average Democratic voter hasn’t spent a minute thinking about Franken as an issue.

[LakeArenal]

51. Yawn...

Same ole dismissive post by someone in the minority opinion.

[brooklynite]

53. ...and the majority is always right...

[LakeArenal]

55. Not at all. But on this post it was

I just don’t see why such bore required your attention.

But that’s what we can expect..

I however have a life outside DU and don’t spend much time here commenting on things that bore me.

Bye for now. I’m pretty sure of what I expect.

Go catch some sun yourself.

[wellst0nev0ter]

64. Yes we are

None of the accusations are credible. Tweeden is a proven liar, two women are known trumpanzees who voted for a pussygrabber, Dupuy posted on social media initially praising her encounter with Franken, and the other accusations are anonymous, can't be proven either way, and are garbage.

[Celerity]

70. +1

[Trumpocalypse]

59. It's more than that

She's a boring candidate. No where near as dynamic as some of the others. She's the female version of Tim Kaine.

[Gothmog]

68. I also hold Gillibrand responsible for this

[BeyondGeography]

2. This field is too big for generic candidates

There’s nothing exceptional about Gillibrand, other than the Franken saga which has turned into a big negative for her.

[mtnsnake]

3. Karma comes back to thump her, not just for railroading Al Franken out

but for her anti-immigration stances in the past, her pro-gun stances in the past, and how she threw the Clintons under the bus after they pretty much got her going in big-time Senatorial politics.

[yardwork]

20. I suspect that she's alienated a lot of powerful people.

I don't know much about her but I think it's interesting that she's been blamed for railroading Franken when Chuck Schumer was responsible.

[LoveMyCali]

44. Yup

Franken is not the first time she proved herself to be a backstabber, just the most recent example.

[dalton99a]

4. She helped Republicans achieve something they couldn't do on their own

Silence one of the most effective Democratic voices in the Senate and destroy his reputation in the process

[Polly Hennessey]

6. Will be happy to see her leave the stage.

She was lost to me after Franken. After hearing her spiel early on I knew she had no chance even taking Franken out of the mix. She has no new ideas, seems weak to me, and insincere.

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet,

the Senate is pretty damn important. Gillibrand dealt a tremendous wound to Democratic power and effectiveness by doing the republicon job of getting rid of Al Franken.

I also don't know what the hell is going on with everyone wanting to run for president and nothing else - a lot of these "generic" candidates would be GREAT senators. The DNC puts its thumb on things anyway, why isn't the DNC putting a strategy into place to get the SENATE back in 2020? It seems they've just ceded it to McChinless and only care about unseating tRUmp.

[PatSeg]

37. I agree

We need strong people in the senate, as well as in local and state offices. Not everyone can be president and a great Democratic president will not have much power without a Democratic controlled congress. We need to focus on down ticket races and mid term elections if we want positive change.

[snowybirdie]

39. I agree

We need to keep and add all the Senate seats we can. Are all these Pres. Candidates so unhappy with their current, and important, jobs?

[monmouth4]

8. Easy, most people, including me, just don't like her..n/t

[vlyons]

9. My impression is that her candidacy is more about her ambition

and herself than about doing something for people. She should have done a lot more for Clinton, given that they are both New Yorkers. Her gun and immigration record sucks, and I haven't forgotten how she stabbed Franken in the back. As far as a female candidate goes, I'd vote for Warren, Harris, of Klobachar B4 I'd vote for Gillibrand.

She a few more of the candidates, who don't have a shot should quit and get busy supporting a candidate, who does have a shot.

[MBS]

15. yes to all points. n/t

[hay rick]

10. Maybe she thinks the "Franken effect" is unfair.

What she should realize is that, fair or unfair, the effect is real and has relegated her to also-ran status in this very deep field of contenders. Her continued presence in the race testifies to her ego overriding her understanding and judgement.

[LakeArenal]

11. Exactly.

[Little Star]

12. Why is she crashing?

Al Frankin is why many of us do not trust her judgment. She has no one to blame but herself.

[brooklynite]

49. But we can still vote for Sanders, Warren, Booker, Bennet, Harris.....

[wellst0nev0ter]

65. "Woe is me"

is not argument. We said in real time that she shivved Franken to boost her presidential ambitions, and she basically proved us right.

That was her choice to betray Franken, she should live with it.

[mn9driver]

14. Al Franken was the most dangerous Democrat in the Senate, to the GOP.

He is not only a famous and very watchable entertainment personality, he is massively intelligent and educated about how our American political system functions. And he was way too good at nakedly exposing the GOP and Trump in front of the cameras, every time an opportunity arose.

Does anyone seriously think that Franken all by himself, wouldn’t have had a LOT of airtime and influence on how Americans perceive the Mueller Report? He was THE person responsible for Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation. He was target number one for the GOP ratfcking machine. And make no mistake, this was 100 percent a GOP ratfcking.

Gillibrand had a lot of influence in the Senate about how Zero Tolerance and MeToo would play out in this case. If she had played it differently, Franken might still be a Senator. There’s no mystery about why she can’t get any momentum.

[Blue Owl]

16. My thoughts exactly

[question everything]

24. But, as others pointed out - Harris and others conveniently hide behind her

Unless one of them is the nominee - they will not get my vote.

Was Harris ever asked about that, they way Gillibrand was?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. I will never get over what happened to Al Franken.

It's curious that the article in the OP doesn't mention Franken at all, but Gillibrand's leading the charge against him has to be a major factor in her lack of success. If she were to get as far as Super Tuesday, I doubt she'd get a single vote in Minnesota.

My pipe dream is that whoever gets the nomination (and wins the election) chooses Klobuchar as their AG, opening up a Senate vacancy, which Walz fills with - Franken. Eat that, Kristen Gillibrand.

[LakeArenal]

46. Sounds good. Klobuchar is great.

No Franken baggage.

[quickesst]

18. When someone builds their career....

.... on being a professional opportunist, it will eventually catch up and smack them with a huge dose of karma. It is one thing to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Sacrificing other people's name, character, and reputation in order to create an opportunity is something else altogether. The Clintons, and Al Franken or just two prime examples.

[Honeycombe8]

31. I'd like to think so. Doesn't always happen. But this time it did. I thought it would. Good.nt

[LakeArenal]

47. As in the current Prezdent.

But his time may well come!!!!☠️💀☠️

[BlueStater]

22. I doubt she'd be doing any better even without the Franken travesty on her resume.

Way too many senators are running and they're having a lot of trouble standing out from each other.

[Honeycombe8]

32. She's one of the few who had some name recognition.

She made the national tv rounds, after she ousted Franken. To capitalize on her newfound fame, after what she'd done. She kicked it off with a press conference, followed by guesting on several talk shows.

I predicted at the start that she would never be the nominee. It was shameful what she had done.

[question everything]

23. On the other hand $100 million to be elected

I remember when Obama raised several millions - don't remember how - and I was thinking then how much this amount could have used for the homeless, teachers, nurses, hungry kids..

[Hekate]

26. Odd way to look at it, as that is not how money gets distributed to the needy...

As I am sure you are aware.

[Hekate]

25. I hope she is not giving up her Senate seat for this presidential run...

Aside from the glaring Franken blunder, she seems to have a good career there.

[Honeycombe8]

27. Good riddance. Who gave her $3M? Is her family that large? (Franken says "Bye!," Gillibrand) nt

[DarthDem]

34. "Soaring National Profile in the U.S. Senate?"

I must have missed that. She's not someone I detest but she certainly has been, in the last decade, a poor replacement for Hillary Clinton in the Senate. After her current campaign collapses, I have a feeling she'll quietly decline to run for reelection to the Senate in 2024, and perhaps the voters of NY will elect a better Democrat.

[bunny planet]

35. This too from Gillibrand

Does anyone remember this too, on top of Gillibrands initiating the thing with Franken. She also threw the Clintons under the bus to polish her own star of ambition. What she needed to say this for, after Hillary had lost and our party was demoralized and watching in growing horror at the spectacle of the pussy grabber in chief. I’ll never know....https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/politics/gillibrand-bill-clinton-sexual-misconduct.amp.html

[MineralMan]

38. She never seemed like a "top-tier" candidate to me.

Never mind the Franken thing. Most people don't remember that, really - just some of us who are really interested in national politics. For everyone else, she's not a name they recognize, really.

I mean, think about it: Would you know who she was if it hadn't been for the Franken business? No? Then you're like most people.

Once again, those of us who follow politics closely know the names of a lot more politicians than that average person.

Frankly, nobody knows who Kirsten Gillibrand is, nor do they care that they don't know.

Politico knows who she is, and it's their business to write about that stuff. But, do you know how many people read politico.com? It's not as many as you might think. Only those people who care a great deal about politics even know what politico.com is.

The real world is its own place.

[TreasonousBastard]

57. Agreed. I am quite happy with her as one of my Senators, but...

I don't think of her as presidential material.

We're political junkies around here, so we obsess over the small stuff and if there is little to talk about, talk about it anyway. The "Franken Affair" happened too fast to believe there wasn't something in the background that didn't come out. It just seemed too organized, and maybe Gillibrand was chosen to drop the hammer because she was already so deeply involved with women's issues.

Lots of unanswered questions-- like with over 200 announced candidates, how did one self-help guru get in the top 20's?

[trueblue2007]

41. So sorry Senator Franken that you disappeared from the US Senate.

[LisaL]

45. Franken could have been a presidential candidate this time around, if this didn't happen to him.

[DavidDvorkin]

60. That was why Gillibrand and others wanted him out of the way.

[no_hypocrisy]

52. Senator Gillibrand, you made a choice.

You felt both impelled and compelled to speak out for victimized women or those who thought they were. That's impressive.

However, you also chose between "Me, Too!" and the constitutional right to due process which you summarily denied your colleague in the Senate, Al Franken. Both ideals are precious and it's really a shame when you can't have both. And you chose one over the other.

If you had chosen both, maybe -- just maybe, you'd be higher in the polls, collecting more donation money, and . . . . . Al Franken could have remained in the Senate and making political speeches on your behalf.

Live and learn!

[customerserviceguy]

56. I read that article

and there was only one faint passing mention of Al Franken. This writer just doesn't get it.

[LakeArenal]

69. Lots of people don't get it.

Including folks here and those same candidates that hold steady with their support numbers.

Should have let MN deal with their elected official. Not a mob.