While the Republicans were duking it out on stage, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was taking selfies with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. But that didn’t stop her campaign from declaring her the winner of the debates.
I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country! #HillaryForPresident pic.twitter.com/zGpdcGSZBD
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) August 7, 2015
The former secretary of state did not watch the Republican debates. Instead she flew to Los Angeles and attended a fundraiser at the home of Scoot Braun, the Hollywood manager of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, to mingle with Jessica Alba, Tom Hanks and Usher, in addition to Kardashian and West. Tickets reportedly cost $2,700 per person.
Back at Clinton headquarters, her campaign staff invited forty hand-selected reporters to watch the debates from the Brooklyn headquarters as staff ran a “spin room” responding to the Republicans’ statements. Posters on the wall reportedly showed photos of GOP candidates above old quotes in which they once praised Clinton.
During the course of the debate, Clintons team set out an email rebuffing each of the 10 primetime candidates’ claims, calling all of their agendas, “out of date and out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans.” She had her rapid response team fact check the GOP’s every word, sending out rapid alerts for every misstep.
“Hillary Clinton wasn’t on the stage, but we think she was the clear winner,” Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri was quoted as saying from the Brooklyn spin room, hundreds of miles from the debate in Cleveland, Ohio. “We think this was a really destructive night for the Republican Party.”
But her campaign was quick to endorse the words of first term Sen. Marco Rubio, who said that, “If this election is going to be a resume competition then Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president.” The Clinton team quickly spun it in their favor, providing a fact check deeming Rubio’s statement “True.”
