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May 27, 2005

Hillary and Sam?

Well, Hillary is clearly the front runner for 2008:

Latest polls show Edwards' has durable political appeal in a field led by Clinton and Kerry. A Marist College survey of Democrats released May 6 gave Clinton the support of 40 percent of the Democrats, Kerry 18 percent and Edwards 16 percent.

But in a surprise, Edwards ran stronger than both Clinton and Kerry against the two most popular Republican contenders -- narrowly trailing Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and beating former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Although some of the poll numbers might not be as clear:

Majority polled likely to vote for Hillary

May 27, 2005 -- WASHINGTON - For the first time, a majority of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday.

The survey shows that the senator from New York and former first lady has broadened her support nationwide during the past two years.

In the poll, 29 percent were "very likely" to vote for Clinton if she runs in 2008; 24 percent were "somewhat likely." Seven percent were "not very likely" and 39 percent were "not at all likely" to vote for her.

Her strong support has risen by 8 percentage points, and her strong opposition has dropped by 5 points since the same question was asked in June 2003.

Also, more than seven in 10 Americans said they would be likely to vote for an unspecified woman for president in 2008 if she were running.

HILL HATERS TOP LOVERS: '08 POLL

May 27, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — More Americans are dead set on voting against Hillary Rodham Clinton for president than on voting for her if she runs in 2008, according to a new national poll.

Among registered voters, 40 percent say they're "not at all likely" to vote for a President Hillary, compared with 28 percent who say they're "very likely" to back her, according to the May 20-22 CNN poll.

Adding in those whose opinions aren't as firm, 52 percent say they'd be willing to consider voting for Clinton while 47 percent indicate they would not — meaning she'd have to win over almost all voters who are open to her candidacy

Nonetheless, Clinton maintains a positive image overall, with 55 percent of voters rating her favorably. But despite her much-ballyhooed move to the middle, 56 percent say she's liberal, 30 percent say moderate and 9 percent call her conservative (plus or minus the poll's 5-percent margin of error).

Regardless, the thing that caught my attention the most about Hillary this week, was a mention in US News and World Report that the former First Lady had served on the Wal-Mart board of directors. It's true.

Until 1992, Hillary served on three corporate boards -- the French chemical firm La Farge, the TCBY yogurt company, and Wal-Mart.

The Observer last week sought the views of Wal-Mart's former lawyer, Hillary Clinton, the 'little lady' Sam appointed to his board of directors. She did not return our calls to Washington.

For years, Hillary was the primary breadwinner. In 1991 she boasted total earnings of $180,000, including her take as a partner at the Rose law firm. She also sat on the boards of TCBY and Wal-Mart and accumulated $100,000 in Wal-Mart stock. "Hillary was the one trying to make money," recalls Roy Drew, her stockbroker for a year in the early 1980s. Back then, says Drew, "she didn't know anything about investing," but she "wanted to get involved in the stock market and learn."

Return to the March 1992 Illinois presidential primary, when Bill Clinton's campaign was rocked by charges (from the Washington Post and candidate Jerry Brown) of unethically close relations between Bill's Arkansas administration and Hillary's law firm, which represented corporations regulated by the state, including the failed Madison S&L.

Many will remember -- since it dominated campaign news for days -- how Hillary used a feminist appeal to fend off attacks on her husband: "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was pursue my profession?"

Hardly noticed was her revealing response that day about her representation of Madison: "For goodness sakes," she answered, "you can't be a lawyer if you don't represent banks."

The fact is that most lawyers -- from Arkansas to New York and beyond -- don't represent banks, while many do represent the activist constituencies that Hillary, we are told, will be galvanizing during next year's campaign: unions, consumer and civil rights groups, environmentalists and the like.

These other lawyers are the kind who battle corporations like Wal-Mart (with its anti-labor record) or Lafarge Corp. (with its controversial environmental practices), companies whose boards Hillary Clinton sat on.

Was Hillary the voice of conscience on the board for American and foreign workers? Contemporary accounts make no mention of that. They do describe her as a "corporate litigator" in those days, and they mention, speaking of environmental matters, that she also served on the board of Lafarge, a company that, according to a press account, once burned hazardous fuels to run its cement plants.

Wal-Mart, though, was the crown jewel of Arkansas, the state's First Company fit for a first lady. During her tenure on the board, she presumably helped preside over the most remarkable growth of any company until Bill Gates came along. The number of Wal-Mart employees grew during the '80s from 21,600 to 279,000, while sales soared from $1.2 billion to $25.8 billion.

And the Clintons depended on Wal-Mart's largesse not only for Hillary's regular payments as a board member but for travel expenses on Wal-Mart planes and for heavy campaign contributions to Bill's campaigns there and nationally. According to reports in the early '90s, before Bill and Hillary moved to D.C., neither was raking in the big bucks, but prominent in their income were her holdings of between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of Wal-Mart stock.

A press report on the Clintons' finances during the early stages of Bill's 1992 run for the presidency showed that most of their income came from her $109,719 annual salary from the Rose Law Firm and tens of thousands of dollars in fees she received from serving on corporate boards. (She was on two others besides Wal-Mart's.) Her honoraria and director fees grew almost as fast as Wal-Mart's profits during the '80s—rising from $111 in 1980 to $6500 in 1986 to $64,700 in 1991, according to the same source.

June 7, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's Washington-area book-signing to launch publication of her memoir will not be held at one of the capital's tony book stores but at a Wal-mart in the Virginia suburbs.

Clinton is scheduled at the Fair Lakes shopping center in Fairfax County Wednesday at 7 p.m. To schedule a marketing event for a $28-a-copy book at a Wal-Mart suggests publisher Simon and Schuster is going beyond the usual book-reading public to sell the million printed copies of Living History. Wal-Mart is based in Arkansas.

Posted by Mike at May 27, 2005 12:11 PM

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