The item below is an excerpt of Howard Kurtz' media column in The Washington Post today. Yes, THE Washington Post. I am tickled pink just to know you, Carol! You go!
Carol Hunter was impressed with her glimpse behind what she calls "the hard-knocks-sculpted political facade" of Hillary Clinton.
When Clinton, in Iowa, talked about loving long nature walks with her husband, "it was not the answer so much as her body language that reflected her genuineness," Hunter says.
Hunter may be the state's most important undecided voter. She is editorial page editor of the Des Moines Register, where six out of seven members of the editorial board -- including Publisher Laura Hollingsworth -- are women. And in the next couple of weeks, they will decide whether to back Clinton or one of her Democratic rivals in the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Although newspaper endorsements matter little in presidential politics, the Register's nod is a powerful exception. In 2004, its endorsement of John Edwards helped propel him to a strong second-place finish, transforming him into John Kerry's chief challenger.
That was a different editorial board, though, and political insiders are chattering about whether today's predominantly female lineup will give the former first lady an edge.
"It will cause all sorts of second-guessing," Hunter says. "We can't win. If we endorse her, it will be 'Well, of course.' If we don't, there will be all sorts of questions raised about why."
Perhaps we can look for clues, such as Hunter's column on Clinton's professed love for strolling the hilly green areas around her suburban New York home. Hunter, who grew up on a Kansas farm, writes that America needs a president "committed to leading a green-energy revolution," and that the key is "how much he or she talks about conservation." Hunter has complained that most politicians have "quit talking about poverty" and noted approvingly that Edwards calls poverty "the great moral issue of our time," adding that "a presidential election is no time to think small."
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1 comment:
Very cool! I agree that Carol is undeniably the coolest chick in the country right now. Of course, speaking of Hillary - you do know that while in Washington for eight years - she attended my Father-In-Law's (the Reverend John Philip Wogaman) Methodist Church.
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