USA TODAY International Edition
Clinton walks a fine line between party line, unity
In the race’s homestretch, she aims to make a case to a bitterly divided America
Before the 2010 midterm elections, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP’s top goal was to make Barack Obama a one- term president.
It is with that history in mind, and amid one of the nastiest U. S. elections ever, that Hillary Clinton begins her closing argument to a bitterly divided America.
For all her outreach to progressives on issues like trade and Wall Street regulation since she launched her bid in April 2015, she’s ending her campaign with a direct appeal to Republicans by casting her candidacy as not about partisanship but as a referendum on American democracy.
During a Tuesday speech in Florida, Clinton said Republican Donald Trump poses a threat to the Constitution with attacks on freedom of speech and the press, the encouragement of violence at rallies and a proposed religious test for Muslim immigrants. “Now his final target is democra- cy itself,” she said, referring to Trump’s comments at the Las Vegas debate that he might not accept the results of the election.
Yet in her stump speeches, Clinton is making clear that her top priority isn’t just attacking Trump but also the down- ballot Republicans she’d like to see replaced by Democrats. In recent trips to New Hampshire and North Carolina, Clinton has taken aim at GOP Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Richard Burr for standing by their party’s nominee, though some of the most vulnerable Republicans — like Ayotte — have recently sought to distance themselves from the top of the ticket.
With polls showing her with a comfortable lead in the final stretch, Clinton seeks to run up her margin of victory, anticipating a divisive atmosphere in Congress following the election.
The 2010 McConnell comment about Obama offers a good reminder of the stakes, said Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University. “If that’s where we were then, the starting point may well be the same thing unless the election outcome is so lopsided the Republicans think they need to be a little bit more conciliatory,” he said.
It’s an awkward balancing act, as Clinton pivots from attacking incumbent congressional Republicans she might ultimately have to work with to making overt gestures to court their base of independent and GOP voters in order to bolster her own margins. In New Hampshire, for instance, after attacking Ayotte, Clinton pivoted to her message about unifying the country. “I’m proud to see Americans coming together — Democrats, Republicans and independents — to reject hate and division,” Clinton said at a Monday rally. “We are more than our disagreements, we Ameri- cans. There is so much more that unites us than divides us. I’m proud to have the support of more than 150 Republican leaders in this state who put country before party.”
Given her high unfavorable ratings, it is imperative Clinton makes this case now, according to presidential historians. “This has to be seen as a centrist election for Hillary Clinton, not a progressive- wave election,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Texas.
A Clinton win in a traditionally red state like Arizona could ease bipartisan peace if she’s elected. “It’s essential ... to show that, while she may be stiff- arming Trumpians, she’s more than willing to work with serious Republicans in Congress,” said Brinkley.
“This has to be seen as a centrist election for Hillary Clinton, not a progressive- wave election.” Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Texas