PRIMARY POST-MORTEM THREAD 1: How Did Hillary Achieve "Frontrunner Status" So Early?

[Bonobo]

This is a question that has haunted me for a while.

Looking back at the period before the primaries began, it seems to me Hillary had already been given the "frontrunner" status by the media and the punditocracy.

How did this happen? A one-time junior Senator? Why was she the "frontrunner", the "the one to beat", the "presumptive nominee" before the process even began.

I'll be honest, I have always believed that Hillary was thrust upon us by the media (maybe Obama too!) early on because it was a good storyline.

Can anyone offer any other thoughts to contradict the way I recall it?

[Red Zelda]

1. Media insanity

...the same way Giuliani was the chosen one, too.

[book_worm]

2. because she was a "Clinton"; had many early endorsements;

and the media was fascinated by the idea of another Clinton running for the WH and the GOP for four years pushed her because they have a ton of oppositional research they want to use against her. Nobody knew there was a Barack Obama waiting in the wings.

[meow mix]

3. Brand Name

and then some people realized she or bill never did one thing for the causes of the left.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. She made a deal with this man.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Name recognition and amnesia about her husband's Presidency.

[Nitrogenica]

6. No, I agree she was picked for us, because she has the most

abundant amount of things that can be twisted by those who enjoy swift boating candidates on the left.

It sucks, because I think Hillary is a brilliant lady and does not deserve it.

I hope America can move beyond swift boating someday, but for now that seems to be what the media enjoys.

[K Gardner]

7. Same reason that the media is keeping her dead campaign alive.. $$ and power.

[noel711]

8. Because they said so....

I always tell my daughter to do whatever I say,
because "I am the Queen of the World."

Saying so doesn't make it so,
but if you keep at it constantly,
many sheep will follow.

[KittyWampus]

9. The amount of money she brought to the fight. Also, the Clintons largely control party machinery

in the larger, deep blue states.

And that was her campaigns strategy and message, "Inevitable".

[screembloodymurder]

10. The opposition controls MSM and the Republicans want to run against Hillary.

Rush said it, Rove said it, they've been counting and planning on it. Hillary is a smart politician and a worthy opponent, but she's a known quantity. Obama is an unknown and uncertainty breeds fear. After all, they are typical white Republicans.

[Aviation Pro]

11. Name recognition....

....

[crankychatter]

12. I just love that picture....

same ppl financed bill's campaigns, financed the gop's campaigns, financed the campaigns of bush appeaser dems...

ALSO, own huge amounts of our mainstream media and exercise editorial control

her and Bill went to the bilderberger meeting years before even HE was pressie

Rockefeller and Rothschild think Queen Hilly's the Bees Knees

[quantass]

13. LOL! That picture of her is scary.

[undeterred]

14. Barack Obama won Iowa.

He has been the frontrunner since the primaries actually started.

[Johnny__Motown]

15. Name Recognition for people who don't follow politics, and the Clinton machine for those who do

[Adelante]

16. She was considered unbeatable in the primaries

She had early on tied up a ton of party establishment support, a massively experienced staff, and a ton of big money. She would have the fabled Clinton machine blasting any other candidate out of the way. It was assumed voters would want a return to the '90s and Bill Clinton back in the White House. She had extreme name recognition, gigantic. Her campaign ran her as an "incumbent" from day one - complete with a former president in the house. The media bought it, but so did I, although I never supported her. For the first 10 months, there was little reason to doubt she had it pretty much sewn up against challengers. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have seen the inept and bankrupt campaign that emerged. Never. The 20th century strategies don't work in the 21st century. The media picked up on that, but it confused them, because they were so locked into the Clinton myth. They still are, but less comfortably, because the facts of the race haven't added up. The media thrust her on us in collaboration, but I suspect if they would have seen Obama coming as a giant killer, the initial narrative could have been different. They saw that he was big news, clearly, but they never saw him beating Clinton.

[Bonobo]

17. Really great summation.

What a difference 4 years makes.

4 years ago, I was such a committed Clark supporter. I still believe he was the right man for the job then. 4 years of this fucking conflict would have been averted and we would already be on the mend. But no.

Now, I see and feel the freshness of the Obama campaign and feel some hope for the first time in my adult life, that the American people are redeemable.

I understand what Michelle meant.

[Adelante]

18. Oh, me too, me too

I consider myself fortunate that I've had two candidates in two election cycles that I could be proud to believe in and stand up for. I didn't think it could come around again in my lifetime, I really didn't. I'm an old hand at politics and generally pragmatic about these things. The odd thing, given his endorsement on the other side, is Clark is the reason I support Obama. When I knew he wasn't running, I had already spent six months at due diligence, just in case, and the closest candidate to Clark I could find was Obama. Go figure.

[kid a]

23. great post

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Back in 2006, the media were already touting "Clinton versus Obama"

The other candidates, worthy as they were, simply did not exist as far as the corporate media were concerned.

I think the corporate media pooh-bahs liked the idea of a "horse race" between a woman and a black man so much that they decided to push these two candidates in particular. They could play the horse race for all it was worth, cleverly avoiding the pressing issues and with the hope that the Dems would self-destruct and leave things free and clear for the Republicanite.

And see, you guys have fallen for the hype. GDP is full of Clinton supporters calling Obama supporters sexist and Obama supporters calling Clinton supporters racist, and trolls from both sides practically spilling out of my computer screen.

I see very little discussion of the issues, because for all your self-styled political sophistication, you guys have bought into the corporate media's agenda.

In other words, folks. you've been had.

[Bonobo]

24. There is a thing called "triage".

It is the process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition, in order to eventually give care to everyone.

This application of logic in an emergency is not limited to the medical establishment.

The same principle is in effect with our sick country.

Kucinich, a brilliant surgeon and diagnostician, sadly could not reach the operating table. He was your favorite, my favorite and many others -for PURELY IDEOLOGICAL (non-pragmatic) reasons.

At this point, in the process, Obama is the doctor I want working on the patient. Now you can say that I have been had, and that's fine. I think, however, it is a very reductionistic argument. It is missing the forest for the trees.

Logically, in order to see that Obama become the Democratic nominee, there must first be a process of in-fighting. That it has taken on racist and sexist overtones is a function of where our society is. To blame it on the supporters of one side or another or even both would be to blame clouds for forming. Pointless. Yes, it is media-driven. Also unescapable.

By and large, though, Obama has run a clean campaign compared with his adversary.

[DevonRex]

20. Money. That's all.

The pundits and everyone else bought into thinking that the person with the most money wins and she did have a huge stash in the beginning.
Nobody thought another candidate could match her, much less out raise her. There's some logic to that since campaigns take a LOT of money.
Guess they didn't understand that we little people donate, too, and that we actually vote.

[PatGund]

21. Simple

The right-wing and the media have been talking her up as the only choice the democratic party would make - because they know it will get out their base to vote against her like crazy.

Add to that the attitude she had from early on that the primaries were simply a formality on her way to her coronation, and you have a made for media story

[clevbot]

22. THE NAME CLINTON