'Who knows? She could implode totally'

Clinton email scandal alarms Democrats.

By Gabriel Debenedetti

Three days into the rolling controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email address as Secretary of State, Democrats are showing signs of stress.

In interviews with more than three dozen Democratic activists, donors, and officials from across the country — including many in the influential presidential nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — some were scathing in their criticism over the revelations, while others admitted to being unnerved.

“I’m very disappointed that yet another person in political power treats the ‘rules’ as if they do not apply to them,” said Matt Tapscott, chairman of Iowa’s Winneshiek County Democrats.

“This story doesn’t alter my opinion of Hillary,” said Martin Peterson, chairman of Iowa’s Crawford County Democrats, “but it does alarm me that she is a lightning rod for any type of criticism of invented scandals by the opposition.”

At the moment, Democrats continue to present a largely united front in their public support for Clinton and in their belief that the email issue isn’t one that will ultimately matter to voters.

But while the overall message of trust in the presumptive frontrunner is clear, the saga is also exposing deep party-wide anxieties about having so much invested in a single candidate, more than 20 months before November 2016.

“It adds more reason to get other people involved in this process, to make sure we have other strong, good candidates running,” said Larry Hogden, chairman of Iowa’s Cedar County Democrats.

“Because, who knows? She could implode totally.”

Some locals are “wringing their hands and shaking their heads,” said Linda Nelson, chairwoman of Iowa’s Pottawattamie County Democrats. “It’s just one more straw that can break the camel’s back, in their eyes.”

For many Democrats — even those who insist the email questions are unimportant to voters and little more than an optics problem for Clinton, ginned up by Republicans and fanned by cable news pundits — the moment has exposed a party that has few presidential prospects organized enough to fully test Clinton, or prepared to step into the void in the event that she falters.

“What I’m hearing from other people is that they want an actual primary,” said Iowa City activist and blogger John Deeth. “The main problem with this whole email thing is that at the moment there’s no real option. Jim Webb is not considered a serious option. [Martin] O’Malley has got the problem of being considered another old white guy. The only viable option I see out there is [Joe] Biden, [Bernie] Sanders, and [Elizabeth] Warren.”

Doug Grant, the Democratic chairman for northern Grafton County in New Hampshire, framed it this way:

“Is Hillary electable? Admittedly the Republicans have a lot of problems with their candidates who are members of the slave-and serf-owning classes, but we worry nevertheless that one of them will become the next president,” he said. “I would like to see an alternative to Hillary who was popular, populist, wanted to run, electable, not too old and could raise money.”

The predicament in which the party finds itself as it nears the sunset of the Obama era was laid out in stark terms in the recent Democratic National Committee “autopsy” report, which emphasized the need to build a strong party bench in the wake of sweeping electoral losses in 2014 from state houses to governors’ mansions, to the Senate, and a broader hollowing out of the party infrastructure since Obama’s election in 2008. The party’s lack of depth at the national level is reflected in the flimsy emerging presidential field beyond the Clinton juggernaut, despite some activists’ attempts to encourage popular figures to jump in the race to ensure Clinton is battle-tested before the general election.

It’s a sign of Clinton’s strength that none of the influential Democrats POLITICO surveyed on Wednesday or Thursday indicated that the email news would alone be enough to turn them away from Clinton entirely. The former senator and First Lady’s allies have worked overtime to insist that the email flap is unimportant to Americans themselves.
 
“Voters do not give a shit. They do not even give a fart,” said longtime Clinton ally and Democratic strategist Paul Begala, echoing the sentiments of most Clinton allies who believe the all-but-certain nominee is enough of a defined quantity in voters’ eyes that Republican attacks on her email policies cannot sway them — especially not over a year-and-a-half before she faces a competitive vote.

“Find me one persuadable voter who agrees with HRC on the issues but will vote against her because she has a non-archival-compliant email system and I’ll kiss your ass in Macy’s window and say it smells like roses,” he said.

Other Democrats were more measured, insisting that the news was worrisome and that the party should field more presidential contenders in case Clinton struggles in a serious way. But most kept their criticisms to a minimum, and just one early-state figure reported hearing from any of the other potential candidates since the news broke on Monday night.

Some of Clinton’s financial backers are scratching their heads as the story has spiraled into a major point of conversation on cable news and radio, questioning the turbulent home-stretch of Clinton’s pre-campaign phase.

One Democratic donor told POLITICO on Wednesday that Clinton’s last few days have caused concern in New York’s influential donor community. But most of her high-level donors have stood staunchly by her side, and Clinton had a chance to speak with many of her backers on Wednesday night as she headlined the Clinton Foundation’s annual gala — which cost between $2,500 and $100,000 to attend — in Manhattan’s financial district.
 
After disappointing several supporters by not addressing the swirling controversies during a Tuesday appearance in Washington, Clinton on Thursday added a Saturday stop in Miami to her schedule — a stop where many Clinton-watchers expect her to comment on the news.

Announced just hours after Clinton tweeted that she had asked the State Department to release her emails after reviewing them, the appearance will be at an event that was originally supposed to be hosted just by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
After her stop in Miami, Clinton will return to New York for a pair of major events where she will unveil her much-anticipated report on the status of women and girls worldwide, alongside a slate of high-profile women.

Clinton’s recent stumbles, however, have served as a reminder of her struggles during her summer 2014 book tour, despite the carefully designed sprint through March.

“There is some concern. Some people are saying, ‘Is this going to blow up in her face?,’” said Jack Hatch, the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Iowa governor in 2014.

Others see the ongoing questions as an indication that Clinton has to better manage her public image in the weeks before she officially announces her candidacy, if Democrats are going to win the White House.
 

“This is a signal, it’s a warning, that whatever [else] there may be … get it straight, be prepared to be open with it, above board,” said former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, noting that at a moment of deep public distrust of the government, the last thing Clinton needs is to come across as secretive. “She can’t afford to give any impression that, ‘This is the way it’s going to be from the start of my campaign, or from my government.’ I think they’re aware of that.”

The general trust in Clinton’s ability to handle the situation is not universal, however. At least one outspoken Democratic activist who has a bad history with the Clintons seized upon the news to insist that others jump in the race.

“Her [potential] campaign is so disdainful of anybody who raises any issues,” said former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian, a long-standing booster of Vice President Joe Biden. “You need to get out ahead of it. How does she not see that one coming?”

Biden has raised some eyebrows by appearing in New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina in recent weeks on official White House business, but the vast majority of Democrats concede it is highly unlikely that the 72-year-old vice president throws his hat in the ring.

Few of Clinton’s possible rivals have spent much time in the early states this year, though former Maryland Governor O’Malley has been ramping up his travel after subtly jabbing at Clinton during a stop in South Carolina last weekend.

But O’Malley is not expected to weigh in on the email saga before the weekend, and even his friends in early states say the controversy is overblown.

“I’ve seen it in the news. My wife and I have sat together to watch it on the news, and we have not said a word to each other about it. I’ve had no one — what’s it been out, three days? — not one person has said a thing. Family, friends, people I’ve run into, not one person has brought it up as a topic,” said O’Malley friend Dan O’Neil, an alderman in Manchester, N.H.

O’Malley is set to appear in New Hampshire and Kansas this weekend before a speaking engagement in Washington next week and a swing through Iowa later this month. And former Virginia Sen. James Webb formed an exploratory committee in November, but he has been largely quiet since then, despite scheduling one Iowa appearance for late March.

Craig Crawford, Webb’s spokesman, said he doesn’t think voters care about Clinton’s emails.

“They’d rather all be talking about jobs and the economy and how working people can get a leg up when wages are falling and income at the top is growing,” he said.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist who is technically an Independent, continues to waffle over running. And the groups backing a run by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who says she won’t run, are unlikely to weigh in on anything Clinton does as they stick to positive messaging and work to organize in Iowa and New Hampshire for Warren.

But while Republicans and reporters continue to dig into Clinton’s email practices, a mix of concerned resignation and urgency has settled in among Democrats involved in the nominating process.

“It may continue to haunt her,” said Mary Hoyer, chair of Iowa’s Henry County Democrats, in an email. “She has to go on the offensive and find her message or she will never overcome these ‘paper cuts.’”

Katie Glueck, Jonathan Topaz, and Ben Schreckinger contributed to this report.