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Tuesday 6 January 2009

Letting their hair down

One of the most striking things here in Austin is how the Clinton people are enjoying themselves; the campaign here seems to have embraced its underdog status. So at a Women for Hillary event last night, Clinton staffers had a drink while Gloria Steinem, the veteran feminist, rallied the crowd with a string of remarks that would have given the Clinton people heartburn just a few weeks ago. Steinmen dropped the f-bomb, riffed—rather tastelessly—on how the press would treat McCain for being shot down if he was a woman and generally served up red meat to Hillary’s feminist base.

With the burden of front-runner status lifted from its shoulders, the Clinton team has a chance to run a different, more informal and appealing campaign. They can afford to take risks and do things that you can not as the frontrunner with all the scrutiny that entails. Nationally, the campaign seems half-way to recognising that. Last night, Hillary went on the popular comedy show Saturday Night Live to poke fun at the media for its coverage of Obama. Earlier in the day, the campaign had sent round this rather amusing Jack Nicholson video.

Hillary does best when she is seen as the underdog. To date, her base has rallied to her when she appears on the verge of being knocked out, while voters have tended to vote to continue the process rather than end it. It remains to be seen if this still holds on March 4th, this far into the process.

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