How Hillary can win it – for the Republicans

 New York

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[/audioplayer]Remember the fizz around Gordon Brown’s election campaign in 2010? The excitement he brought to the trail? The eerily intimate connection with the electorate? No, nor can I. But conjure up what you can and mix it with the thrill of a hot afternoon locked in a community centre discussing renovations to the ping-pong room and you’ll have a sense of the vibe around Hillary Clinton’s latest campaign for president.

The American media is bored of her and the polls show her support slipping, even against a Republican field nuked by the presence of Donald Trump. It’s summer, with 16 months to go until the election. But the fact that Hillary can’t grab a lead and hold on to it, with all of her institutional and financial advantages, is reminding Democrats what an awful candidate she is. So stiff, she makes Ed Miliband look animated. So suspicious, her every argument devolves into recrimination and acid-throwing. And she’s as cheesy as an end-of-the-pier hack seeing out her last pantomime season. Her advisers have clearly told her that she needs to emphasise that she’s a grandmother. So she squeezes mentions of it into the tightest possible gap. Last month, she was asked about the critics of climate change: ‘They will answer any question about climate change by saying: “I’m not a scientist.” Well, I’m not a scientist either. I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know we’re facing a huge problem.’ Sure you are, Hillary. Just you and Bill, a couple of regular grandparents, cranking up the air conditioner when you notice that summers feel warmer than they used to be.