Premium
This is an archive article published on January 8, 2008

‘Cold’ Hillary allows herself some tears

Key campaign officials may be replaced. She may start calling herself...

.

Key campaign officials may be replaced. She may start calling herself the underdog. Donors would receive pleas that it is do-or-die time. And her political strategy could begin mirroring that of Rudolph W Giuliani, a Republican rival, by focusing on populous states like California and New York whose primaries are February 5.

Everything is on the table inside Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign if she loses the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, her advisors say — including her style of campaigning, which shifted dramatically on Monday when she bared her thoughts about the race’s impact on her personally, and her eyes welled with tears.

“I couldn’t do it if I just didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do,” she said here in reply to a question from an undecided voter, a woman roughly Hillary’s age.

Story continues below this ad

Her eyes visibly wet, in perhaps the most public display of emotion of her year-old campaign, Hillary added: “I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don’t want to see us fall backwards. This is very personal for me, it’s not just political, it’s not just public.”

Hillary did not cry, but her quavering voice and the flash of feeling underscored the pressure, fatigue and disappointment that, advisors say, Hillary has experienced since her loss in the Iowa caucuses.

Hillary has felt frustrated and at times rejected as she has watched the rise of Senator Barack Obama, her main rival here and the victor in Iowa, advisors say. She is also worried that her communications message have not reflected the mood and desire for change among Democrat voters.

In an interview on Monday night, Hillary said she choked up at the Portsmouth event because the other woman had expressed concern for her feelings, after months when Hillary was focused on voters’ anxieties.

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement