Nearly a year into the 44th Presidency, it may be time to look back a bit at the campaign.


CBSNews.com HorseRace Blog
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November 20, 2007 8:36 AM

Starting Gate: Are You Experienced?

Hillary Clinton yesterday emphasized the importance of experience while stumping in Iowa even as new evidence emerged showing voters in that state are more interested in change. "There is one job we can't afford on-the-job training for – our next president," Clinton said in an economic speech. "That could be the costliest job training in history. Every day spent learning the ropes is another day of rising costs, mounting deficits and growing anxiety for our families. And they cannot afford to keep waiting."

It's the crux of Clinton's campaign message. Whether the issue is the economy, health care or the war in Iraq, Clinton argues that she understands the process, knows how to pull the levers of power and has learned from mistakes of the past. While John Edwards tries to turn that experience against her by arguing she is too beholden to the established system, Barack Obama largely dismisses the importance of experience altogether.

Obama consistently questions the value of Clinton's eight years spent as First Lady, often pointing out that he has spent more time in elective office that the New York Senator. Responding to Clinton's pitch yesterday, Obama retorted, "My understanding is she wasn't Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. I don't know exactly what experience she's claiming. Rather than just assert experience, if she has specific differences with me in regard to economic policy then let's have that debate."

In an Iowa contest which has been a virtual dead-heat between the top three Democrats for months, there are signs that Obama may be winning that argument – or at least benefitting from the desire for change. In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, Obama not only holds a slim four-point lead, he also appears to be on the right side of the state's Democrats on the experience v. change argument. Fifty-five percent of those polled said their number one priority was a "new direction and new ideas" while just 33 percent said they are seeking "strength and experience."

Obama is fond of saying that experience doesn't count for much when the wrong judgments are made and uses his initial opposition to the war in Iraq to underscore the point. Iowa remains ground zero for the Democratic race and Clinton recently shifted a whole lot of resources to the state. She may need more than staff and money, however, to hold back Obama if Iowa Democrats come down on the side of change over experience.

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If only...


-- Edited by Sanders on Saturday 2nd of January 2010 10:06:55 AM