Hillary Clinton's smooth-talk express

photo Rick Friedman

Hillary Rodham Clinton talks on Oct. 10 to supporters in Derry, N.H.

Her campaign-trail game is in top form and her lead in the polls is widening. But will voters think she's on cruise control?

By Michael Scherer

Oct. 13, 2007 | PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- President-in-waiting Hillary Clinton says she has come for a "conversation," a candid give-and-take, a sharing moment to connect the politician with the people while the television cameras roll.

She sits with two New Hampshire voters, Kim Beauregard and 16-year-old daughter Ashley, on a stage under bright lights. Beauregard explains how hard it will be to pay for her daughter's college education.

"You would think about taking out a home equity loan?" the presidential candidate asks, as if in disbelief.

"Yes," says Beauregard.

"You'd sell your house?"

"Yes."

The New York senator seems stunned, crestfallen. "Well, Kim, as a mom myself, that really touched me," she says, turning now to the cameras and the crowd. "Like most mothers, Kim wants to do whatever it takes to help Ashley live out her dream. I just don't think that a hardworking family like yours should be in that position."

Hundreds of college students and elderly voters gathered at Plymouth State University burst into applause. For the better part of an hour Thursday, Clinton has been laying out a detailed plan to expand federal spending on education -- larger tuition tax credits and Pell Grants, new incentives for community colleges, and more money for vocational training. She has even promised to streamline the federal financial aid forms. But the emotional coup de grâce is yet to come. Kim Beauregard takes her cue. "Listening to what you said today gives me a lot of hope," the mother says, as if she were a guest on the "Dr. Phil" show, and has just been set on the road to recovery. The "conversation" is complete. The crowd claps its approval again.

Even amid the fall foliage of northern New England, the Clinton campaign is laying the syrup on thick. But as Clinton finishes up a weeklong swing through Iowa and New Hampshire, there is little doubt that her campaign performance is among the most polished and refined of the crowded 2008 field. Despite the synthetic staging of her events, she can come across as both warm and heartfelt, broad in her themes and specific about her plans, which includes healthcare for all Americans, tax increases for the wealthy, and the beginning of an end to the Iraq war. Though she may lack the fire of John Edwards or the inspirational message of Barack Obama, everything in Clinton Land seems to come off smoothly, without a hitch.

"She's boring as can be, but she's competent," explains Joshua Gordon, a voter from Canterbury, N.H., effectively summing up the current Democratic contest in New Hampshire. "Barack Obama was exciting, but she's competent." Then, almost with exasperation, he adds, "I think she would do a good job."

In this context, the blatant artifice of her campaign shtick hardly registers for many voters, who brag afterward about having just shaken the hand of the next president of the United States. Who cares if Clinton's shock and emotion at the Beauregard story was planned and forced? Does it matter that Kim Beauregard volunteers at the Clinton campaign in Laconia, where Ashley works as an intern? So what if Clinton held a card laying out the details of the Beauregard story even as she expressed astonishment at the details? For the Clinton campaign, what matters is that the day's message came through: Hillary Clinton cares. And Hillary Clinton has a plan."

Imagine for a moment...you are Hillary Clinton.....you know that every word you utter will be recorded...analyzed....dissected.....purposely misinterpreted..........your political enemies both democratic and republican....will jump at any miscue, misstep.......it is easy to critique a campaign sitting in the audience.......funny..on the few occasions I have heard Hillary speak...never once did boring come to mind........she is well spoken...articulate...and very emotional.....maybe that is what her audiences are picking up??? for the rest of this article...click here...............andy