2008 Primaries, Fundraising, Leadership, Messaging, public relations • February 24th, 2008

3 reasons why Hillary is losing

by Chris Lato

I’m told people on the internet love lists. I know there are more than three reasons for Hillary’s slide, and you may disagree with the three I cite. But the three I’m taking on in this post offer a PR/messaging/media relations perspective.Why is Hillary Clinton losing? Let me count the ways…

1. Money - and the perceptions tied to it

As a national candidate loses momentum, money dries up and shifts to the candidate gaining ground. We are seeing that happen with Barack Obama. Clinton is no slouch in the fundraising department, but she has had to loan her own campaign millions - a sign of fundraising weakness. Questions about her campaign’s spending habits are also being raised. This is campaign mismanagement, which leads to a legitimate messaging problem: if she can’t manage a campaign budget, how can she be counted on to manage a federal budget?

2. The charisma thing

People are responding to Obama like he’s a rock star. He has positioned himself as being above politics. Clinton is hard-wired – an old-school politician – and seems generally incapable in public of rolling with the punches, lightening up, being human. According to many, she is quite the opposite in private. To a certain extent, it’s a communications thing –leadership communications training can go a long way toward getting a candidate ready for prime time – but Obama, and even Bill Clinton, have a charisma that Hillary lacks. And that can’t be taught.

Some question the sincerity of Hillary’s near-breakdown in New Hampshire.(I, for one, was amazed at how she was able to stick to her talking points that subtly jabbed at Obama.) But the fact is that people responded. She looked human, and it touched enough people to help propel her through New Hampshire.

3. Negative campaign tactics aren’t resonating

Going negative can work. Critics complain, the public decries the sorry state of politics, but a negative ad can be effective under the right circumstances. However, so far in this race, Obama is bulletproof. Hillary can’t land a punch. And when she tries, it’s either weak or jeered. Watch this moment from Thursday night’s debate:

They’re cheering Obama like crazy, while Hillary dashes off a pretty good line about plagiarism and is hissed. In this race, people are actively rejecting anything that smells of an attack. And Clinton’s campaign has yet to figure that out and adjust their communications plan accordingly.

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