Blame the Secret Service. One reason that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is running into trouble could be the "limiting nature" of the Democrat's protective detail. Kasie Hunt appeared on Monday's Rachel Maddow Show to discuss Clinton's strategy for Iowa and how it will differ from her 2008 effort.
Hunt asserted, "Now, of course, it's hard for her to negotiate the sort of details of this caucus process in part because she has Secret Service protection. And that just makes it more difficult to get up close and personal with voters." The journalist spun, "And the Secret Service agents do the best they can, but at the end of the day, that just makes it more limiting for her."
Hunt sympathized, "She's looking to actually spend some time with voters and, you know, that's more difficult than it is for some of the other candidates."
On the December 7, 2014 Meet the Press, Chuck Todd made a similar argument, asserting that the candidate’s inability to connect with voters was “not necessarily her fault. I mean, she's had Secret Service protection for 22 years. That is tough."
A partial transcript is below:
Rachel Maddow
8/17/15
9:20RACHEL MADDOW: When you say Hillary Clinton and haunt while standing in Iowa, undoubtedly she is still haunted by that third-place finish back in 2008. I'm wondering whether or not you've seen a new strategy this time around and if you think it would be more effective?
HUNT: You know, one person who outlined the idea that she has a new strategy over the weekend was Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. Now, he stayed neutral in 2008, he didn't endorse Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. He's endorsed late sometimes in previous caucus years but he's come out strongly for Hillary.
And he was asked this question when she was speaking to reporters and he said, you know what, this campaign I've seen from Hillary Clinton is frankly a different one than I saw last time. He said she's more personally engaged than she was in 2008 and he was very frank in acknowledging that she had made mistakes the previous time around but that this time he felt as though she was taking Iowa more seriously in a different way. Now, of course, it's hard for her to negotiate the sort of details of this caucus process in part because she has Secret Service protection. And that just makes it more difficult to get up close and personal with voters. And the Secret Service agents do the best they can, but at the end of the day, that just makes it more limiting for her. In some ways she can hide behind it if she wants to. But it does seem as though when she came here, she was looking for authenticity. She's looking to actually spend some time with voters and, you know, that's more difficult than it is for some of the other candidates.
