Hillary Clinton leads the national polls by an average of 21.7 points over her nearest rivals for the Democratic nomination. She’s leading in every single early primary state, with only Iowa even close.
Even so, a poor performance in one in a seemingly endless series of debates sparked discussion of a collapse of her campaign. The “Hillary is no longer inevitable” meme laid the foundation for a round of “Hillary’s Amazing Comeback” discussion if she bounced back with a good performance. By most accounts, she did exactly that last night.
“Clinton’s in Thick of Barbed Democratic Debate,” Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny, NYT:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton shifted to a much more assertive tone in a debate Thursday night by going directly after her opponents, issuing a stern warning that Democrats should stop “throwing mud” and adopting tactics “right out of the Republican playbook.”
[…]
The most striking change from the seven previous debates was that Mrs. Clinton no longer stayed above the fray, and instead addressed her rivals by name, criticizing their positions, and rebutting them as much as the moderator would allow.
Her refashioned approach was a response to the political damage she suffered from the last debate, on Oct. 30, when her rivals questioned her honesty and electability, her position on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and her role in keeping her papers from the Clinton administration under wraps.
Chuck Todd, MSNBC:
If the last debate was the moment where Democrats realized that the Clinton coronation was, at least, postponed, this one will be known as the debate that seemed to sharpen the contrast between Clinton and Obama and create a gap between the big two and everyone else. The sparring between Clinton and Obama on a number of issues is likely to set the tone for some time. Edwards was hurt, partially, by the fact that Clinton and Obama were next to each other, while Edwards was off to the side.
This debate was about Clinton effectively fighting back, Obama sticking to his guns and separation between those two and everyone else.
[…]
One final Clinton v. Obama point. Clinton really benefitted from the audience responses; I’d love to know who got tickets for this debate, whether one campaign was allowed to get more tix than another. Because the booing by the Clinton supporters when Edwards or Obama confronted Clinton were distracting to the candidates and did throw them off every now and then.
“Call It A Comeback?” Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic:
Tonight’s debate will probably stop the talk of a huge momentum swing away from Hillary Clinton. Though a little overly conducted at times, Clinton did not sound any obvious false notes, nor did she strike confusing or conflicting notes, and, as a bonus, she got an entire minute and a half to make her rah-rah appeal to women. Clinton had the most at stake tonight, and she arguably gave her most commanding performance to date.
“Clinton Looks to Rebound,” Bill Sammon, Washington Examiner:
Coming off the worst two weeks of her campaign, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton returns to the debate stage today with hopes of regaining her footing.
“Analysis: Clinton makes a recovery in Las Vegas debate,” Mark Preston, CNN:
Sen. Hillary Clinton stepped into the ring Thursday in this city known for prize fights, successfully beating back an onslaught of punches thrown from the left and right as her opponents sought to rattle the front-runner seven weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
Clinton, who entered this Democratic debate vulnerable following a lackluster performance two weeks ago, came out fighting in the first round.
For the New York Democrat, a good defense was a strong offense, and she sought to silence her critics who stood just feet away.
“I don’t mind taking hits on my record, on issues,” she said. “But when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it’s both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook.”
Honestly, I’m not sure which is more absurd: The notion that Clinton was ever behind or that her whining about “piling on” has apparently worked, creating a base of sympathy for her. If forced to chose, though, I’d go with the latter.
