Clinton bombs in Philly

31 October 2007 |permalink | email article

The Democratic front-runner came under withering attack by six rivals in last night’s debate Drexel University on issues involving Iraq, Iran, Social Security. mirroring Republican views, secrecy and allowing illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses.

It was her worse performance of the campaign. It signaled her chief rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards that her inevitability as the party’s nominee barey two months before the first votes are cast in Iowa is not a done deal yet despite commentaries by the pundit class and party establishment.

Whether it was a defective briefing book or just nerves, Clinton’s characteristic laugh and cool was gone and she seemed especially vulnerable, beginning to crack as the debate wore on.

The vaunted discipline of Clinton’s operation seems in temporary disarray.

Politico.com chief political correspondent Roger Simon said for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.

“It was not just her answer about whether illegal immigrants should be issued drivers’ licenses was at best incomprehensible and at worst misleading.”

The future message for Obama and Edwards: “Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.”

A more animated Obama took the first direct shots.

Edwards, third in polls, was the most consistently aggressive. But it may have been NBC’s Tim Russert, the debate co-moderator, who unnerved her the most, pressing hard and forcing weak follow-up answers.

Licenses for illegals may resonate strongly in Iowa and New Hampshire, causing Clinton potential electoral grief.

A MSNBC text poll after the debate showed Obama with 29%, with 20% for Clinton and Edwards at 18%.

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