Chris Matthews: Hillary Clinton's new ad is 'about menace' David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Friday February 29, 2008



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Print This Email This Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been steadily increasing his standing in the polls and showing apparently unstoppable momentum. He is raising more money than Hillary Clinton and outspending her two to one in Ohio and Texas, which hold their primaries next Tuesday. Democratic strategist Robert Shrub told NBC, "What this financial advantage enables him to do is to sustain a very rich organization ... and at the same time, basically own the airways." Clinton's latest attempt to counter Obama's appeal to a widespread desire for change is a new ad which plays on fears of danger and crisis. Over images which juxtapose peacefully sleeping children with a 3 am call to the Oval Office, a voice states portentously, "Something's happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether it's someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world... Who do you want answering the phone?" "The message ... is a pretty obvious one," NBC's Matt Lauer commented to Chris Matthews of MSNBC. "Is it going to work?" "Clearly, it's about menace. It's about fear," answered Matthews. "F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that in the deepest part of the soul, it's always three o'clock in the morning. I think they're playing on that fear of a new guy on the block they don't know that well." The ad, by the creator of Walter Mondale's 1984 "red phone" ad, has already been dismissed by the Obama campaign as offering a "worn out" message. Matthews suggested that the Clinton strategy at this point may be to write off Texas but hope to pull out a win in Ohio by targeting more conservative voters in that state and then carry the same approach over to Pennsylvania, which holds its primary in late April. "Win Ohio on this bit of fear here, bit of menace from Obama," Matthews stated. "Hope that there's a pushback in Ohio against him. ... Then go on to Pennsylvania. ... The former governor of Pennsylvania said that Pennsylvania is a John Wayne state, not a Jane Fonda state. Play on the fact that maybe this guy's too new, too hip. Pennsylvania doesn't want to be that hip." Matthews concluded that "they need a big break against Obama to win this thing," while Obama just has to hold tight and avoid making mistakes. MSNBC has been perceived of being anti-Clinton and has even been accused by the Clinton campaign and some supporters of carrying on a "grudge match" against her. This video is from NBC's Today Show, broadcast February 29, 2008.







