Hillary Clinton Galled With Palin Capitalizing On Her
ST. PAUL — Advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday that Senator John McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate would lead to a greater role for Mrs. Clinton as she campaigned this fall on behalf of her former rival, Senator Barack Obama.
Mrs. Clinton’s friends said she was galled that Ms. Palin might try to capitalize on a movement that Mrs. Clinton, of New York, built among women in the primaries. And Democrats used strong words on Sunday to rebut the notion: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said that women would not be “seduced” by the Republican ticket, and Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said it was “insulting” for Republicans to compare Ms. Palin to Mrs. Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said they expected that in light of the Palin selection, she would focus her efforts especially on working women — middle- and working-class, married and single — in swing states where she ran strong, like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“With Palin, there is a core group of Hillary supporters who are not available to this ticket or any Republican,” Ms. Lewis said. “Supreme Court appointments is the bottom line. There is a second group who are now giving McCain-Palin a second look, and it depends on how Palin performs. These voters see Hillary as someone who fought and rose to challenges with persistence, and who spoke in real ways to their lives.
“We don’t know yet how Sarah Palin will perform,” Ms. Lewis added, “and if she lets these voters down, gender is no longer an asset, and it could backfire on Republicans.”
Mr. Cecil said he believed that the McCain-Palin ticket might initially intrigue some Clinton supporters, but that they would ultimately choose Mr. Obama.
“It is insulting to compare Hillary’s lifetime of service and her commitment to progressive causes with that of a novice, right-wing governor,” Mr. Cecil said.
“She has been extraordinarily generous and cooperative,” Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, said of Mrs. Clinton. “Gender politics aside, everything that Hillary has fought for is on the ballot. Palin may add some gender diversity to their ticket, but she doesn’t add any philosophical diversity. Hillary is a huge asset for us, and we want her out there, though we would have wanted her out there regardless of Palin.”
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