First up, at the top of this morning's Today, Vieira greeted viewers with Hillary's inevitablity: "And Senator Hillary Clinton definitely on a roll. A new poll out today shows her lead widening. So why is she doing so well and can she go the distance?"
Then, just a few minutes later it was time for former Hillary flacks Caputo and Morris to join current flack, Vieira, to analyze Hillary's chances in the following June 18th segment that was headlined: "Decision 2008, Is Hillary Clinton Unbeatable?"
Vieira: "Lisa Caputo served as Hillary Clinton's press secretary while she was First Lady and Dick Morris is a former adviser to President Clinton and author of the book Outrage. Good morning to you both."
Lisa Caputo: "Good morning."
Dick Morris: "Good morning."
Vieira: "Well you just heard the poll results. Hillary Clinton is 14 points ahead of Barack Obama. Lisa why is she doing so well?"
Caputo: "Well you know, Meredith, I think it really is just a test of her experience, her discipline as a candidate. And she's really emerged, I think, in so many ways over the past 15 years since being First Lady as a real retail politician. And she, she is disciplined, as I said. She is methodical. She understands what it takes. She's been battle-tested and I-"
Vieira: "Well is it organization, experience and money, essentially, that's doing it?"
Caputo: "I think a lot of it is organizational experiences and you can't discount the money but it also goes down to the sheer discipline of the candidate and understanding what it takes and not to trip up and make a mistake."
Vieira: "Dick what about the likeability factor? So many of the pundits said she could never get elected because people just don't warm up to her. Has she closed that personality gap at all?"
Morris: "No she hasn't. They still don't like her but she's gonna win. Because there are a 100 million peo-"
Vieira: "She's gonna win what? The nomination or the pre-"
Morris: "And the presidency, both. I don't like that. I'm against her, but she'll win. There are 100 million people that don't vote in America that didn't vote in '04 but could vote. They are about 70 to 30, Democrat. They're women, black, Hispanics. They're gonna come, many of those will come into the electorate and vote for Hillary. The other reason she's gonna win is what Lisa, just said, when she used the word, 'experience.' The Clinton campaign has worked hard at positioning her as experienced, as a way of throwing a negative at Obama for not being experienced. Now, in fact, she has eight years as senator and he has two-and-a-half years as senator. She was in the White House but so was the pastry chef. The only time that she actually ran things in the White House was '93 and '94, when they went south. And in '98, '99, and 100 when she saved her husband from impeachment. When I was in the White House '95, '96 and '97 she was no where to be seen."
Vieira: "But what happened to the Obama buzz? Lisa let me ask you because everybody was talking about him but now when you look at all the subgroups, Clinton leads. Whether it's whites, blacks, men, women, young, old. Why are people moving away from Barack Obama?"
Caputo: "I don't know that they're moving away. I think you have a hugely undecided electorate. I mean, let's remember, this is so early Meredith. We've never seen a cycle like this and I think people are just taking their time to decide. And the more that they see of Hillary Clinton and they stack her up against the other candidates, in the Democratic field, I mean the choice becomes clear. Whether it's her performance in the debates or if they are watching her through her town halls throughout the country, I think people are becoming very comfortable in the direction she'll take the country."
Vieira: "You know people talked about Ronald Reagan as the Teflon President. Could she possibly be the Teflon Candidate? I'm thinking of these two books that just came out. Highly critical of her and her husband and they don't seem to have made any dent in her popularity."
Morris: "Well within the context of my basic view that I think she's gonna get elected there are major negatives she has to overcome. In my new book Outrage, we talk, for example, about the fact that she's had $2.2 billion of earmarks, including $148 million of defense, in return for which she got $250,000 of contributions."
Vieira: "But you say none of that is gonna matter, Dick. You're saying she's gonna get elected and so none of it's gonna matter, in your book."
Morris: "It won't matter because there are about 15 to 20 million single women, black, Hispanic voters, poor voters, who are gonna come into the electorate drawn by Hillary."
Vieira: "So women are gonna elect her, is what you're saying, essentially."
Morris: "Exactly."
Vieira: "Do you agree Lisa?"
Caputo: "I think, I think it'll be a combination of women and independents who will elect her to the presidency. And I also think, I mean I find it funny that Dick says she's gonna win because back in '99 when she was gonna run for the Senate he said, 'there's no way she can win.' I'm glad you found-"
Vieira: "But you both think that, just wait, wait-"
Morris: "I thought Rudy Giuliani was gonna run."
Caputo: "Oh okay. Well-"
Morris: "She never, she never would have beaten Rudy but she-"
Vieira: "But the point is you both think it's a done deal."
Caputo: "I don't, I think, you know, Meredith, I would never say it's a done deal. I mean we've had a 100 polls already. Polls go up and down and I think what you have here is a situation where you have somebody who has been through the ringer and back. And you have two books out that took 10 years to write with no new information. I think you're just gonna see her be consistent all through the end of this race."
Vieira: "But there's a long race."
Caputo: "A long way to go. Long way to go."
Vieira: "Alright."
Morris: "Look if there's one thing Hillary specializes in it's damage control. If she were a reality TV show it would be survivor."
Vieira: "Alright, Dick Morris thanks a lot. Lisa Caputo, thank you as well. We'll check in and see how right you are in the months ahead."
