Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon have something in common, and it's not their involvement in damaging stories bearing the suffix "gate." As The New York Times explains in an illuminating look at Clinton's campaign strategy, the former secretary of state is so familiar to voters that, like Nixon before her, she will have a hard time trying to change their ingrained opinions of her:
The campaign playbooks of Nixon and Mrs. Clinton seem to share some pages.Nixon strove to show a more casual side by bypassing journalists and staging town-hall-style events — orchestrated by his media consultant, Roger Ailes — at theaters across the country packed with friendly audiences. Taking softball questions, he kept to his talking points and struck television viewers as more relaxed than the sweaty man they remembered from his debates against John F. Kennedy in 1960. [The New York Times]
For her part, Clinton has declined to answer reporters' questions for a month, circumventing the media to speak directly with voters at small events. Whether the strategy will prove as effective as it was for Nixon remains to be seen.
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