As potential Republican 2016 candidates converged on Des Moines Saturday, they reserved their harshest language for only two Democrats. One was President Obama.
The other was Hillary Clinton.
The former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state is enjoying all the early benefits of being an apparently inevitable presidential candidate, such as being able to ease at her own pace into a campaign, but also the drawbacks, including early attacks from Republicans.
“Like Hillary Clinton, I too have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike her, I have actually accomplished something,” said former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, one of many potential Republican candidates who descended on the Iowa capital for a summit organized by Rep. Steve King. “Mrs. Clinton, flying is an activity not an accomplishment.”
The line won Fiorina an enthusiastic standing ovation.
This is not the first time a party has depicted a potential opponent in an open election year as an extension of the outgoing president’s administration. George W. Bush in 2000 successfully linked Al Gore to Clinton fatigue, and Obama in 2008 sought to persuade voters that John McCain’s presidency would amount to a third Bush term.
But with nearly two years until the next presidential election, the focus has shifted earlier than ever to a single candidate in who is not yet the nominee. And the Republican message is new, too: treating Clinton as if she is actually the incumbent.
On a recent trip to New Hampshire, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky repeatedly invoked “Hillary’s war in Libya.”
During a speech to the Republican National Committee meeting in San Diego this month, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said of Clinton: “You look at everything that people dislike about Washington, and she embodies it.”
And at a forum hosted by the Koch network of political groups over the weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas lumped Clinton in with Obama.
“I have to say, I chuckle every time I hear Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton talk about income inequality, because it’s increased dramatically under their policies,” Cruz said.
En masse, Republicans have decided to drop the charade that Clinton is anything but a prohibitive frontrunner for the Democratic nomination — even before most candidates, including Clinton, have officially launched their campaigns.
“This level of attention on Hillary Clinton early on is unprecedented,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. “It’s very clear that most of America thinks that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee, and for Republicans to start calling out her policies makes sense because of that.”
It’s not just Republican candidates; Republican groups, too, have kept a laser focus on Clinton. While the Democratic National Committee and Democratic groups like American Bridge have consistently spread their resources to research and attack more than a dozen Republican targets, the Republican National Committee and Republican outside groups have foregone a similar tack with the emerging Democratic primary field.
“For whatever reason, the entire Democrat establishment has decided they want to crown Sec. Clinton the nominee — despite her shaky electoral history,” said Tim Miller, executive director for the pro-Republican America Rising PAC. “So the best way for us to counteract that is to ensure she is held accountable to the extent that a presidential front-runner should. No free passes. If another strong contender emerges, we’ll be prepared to do the same to them.”
But most Republicans do not anticipate another strong contender will emerge. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the favorite of the party’s left-leaning faction, has insisted repeatedly that she will not run — though former Bill Clinton pollster Doug Schoen reported Monday that Warren is within 15 percentage points of Clinton among likely Democratic voters in Iowa and within just 9 points in New Hampshire. Vice President Joe Biden has expressed interest in a campaign but has so far not moved toward establishing one. Public polling has shown Clinton with a lead of as much as 60 points over other potential Democratic challengers.
For Republicans, Clinton’s evident strength has provided an opportunity to hammer her early and often, and they’ve snatched it.
“I think there is an optimal time to engage any of the potential Democratic nominees, with Hillary obviously being at the top of that list,” American Crossroads President Steven Law said on Bloomberg TV’s “With All Due Respect” in November. “I expect we will start to focus on her.”
Only a few other Democrats appear likely at this stage to challenge Clinton: Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia.
Clinton, for her part, is taking her time launching her campaign, with late spring as a likely target window. And when Clinton does finally make it official, Republicans believe she will have a clear path to her party’s nomination.
Said Hogan Gidley, a senior adviser to Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign, “I don’t know that we’ve ever had a candidate who is this inevitable.”
