{"id":31267,"date":"2016-02-09T09:01:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/for-the-clintons-new-hampshire-is-the-state-of-second-chances\/"},"modified":"2016-02-09T09:01:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T17:01:11","slug":"for-the-clintons-new-hampshire-is-the-state-of-second-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/for-the-clintons-new-hampshire-is-the-state-of-second-chances\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Clintons, New Hampshire is the state of second chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANCHESTER, N.H. <\/strong> \u2014 It\u2019s their Everest. Their firewall. Their lifeboat in a frozen Atlantic.<\/p>\n

They are the Clintons. It is New Hampshire. And here we all are again.<\/p>\n

For nearly 25 years, New Hampshire has been the backdrop for some of the most memorable Clinton comebacks, pleas, denials, hustle, glory and drama. Now those ghosts of primaries past are trailing Hillary Clinton as she tries \u2014 perhaps, one last time \u2014 to pull off another one for the history books.<\/p>\n

Trailing by double digits, according to some polls, the Clinton campaign is finding it can\u2019t escape the expectations and the limits of that \u201cspecial bond\u201d between the Clintons and voters of New Hampshire on the cusp of Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still exists,\u201d said Dayton Duncan, a New Hampshire-based historian and Clinton supporter. \u201cBut time passes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As polling in the final days found a possible tightening in Clinton\u2019s contest with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, it was hard not to hear the faint echoes of history. Could this be the beginning of a third storied Clinton comeback in New Hampshire? Could she come close enough to make the claim?<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Hampshire is legendary for being unpredictable,\u201d said Terry Shumaker, a longtime Clinton backer.<\/p>\n

Cautioned Duncan: \u201cElm Street in Manchester is a boulevard of broken dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cComeback\u201d is not a word the Clinton campaign is using. Since barely winning Iowa a week ago, Clinton and her allies have been trying to lower expectations for her performance on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s playing in Sanders\u2019 \u201cbackyard,\u201d she\u2019s noted, as her allies rattle off New Hampshire Democrats\u2019 history of picking politicians from neighboring states.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Hampshire, because of its location, and Iowa because of the way the caucus works, were probably the two most challenging places for her to start,\u201d Bill Clinton told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

As the campaign announced Hillary Clinton would campaign in Michigan over the weekend, a sign she was already looking past New Hampshire, Clinton\u2019s pollster, Joel Benenson, declared Friday: \u201cOur goal here is to get close.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clintons have shown that close can be good enough.<\/p>\n

In 1992, Bill Clinton spun a second-place showing over Paul Tsongas from neighboring Massachusetts as a triumph for the \u201ccomeback kid.\u201d New Hampshire rescued a near-death campaign beset by accusations of infidelity and draft dodging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been times when someone coming in second has been the news,\u201d noted Shumaker, who co-chaired Bill Clinton\u2019s New Hampshire campaign then. He remembers the date (Aug. 5, 1991) he first met the future president, and has photo of him on his screensaver.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Hillary Clinton arrived in New Hampshire battered and stunned by a third-place finish in Iowa. She needed a win in New Hampshire to stop the bleeding. She choked up in a moment of exhaustion. New Hampshire delivered comeback No. 2.<\/p>\n

To be sure, the stakes are not as high now.<\/p>\n

As her supporters are quick to note, Clinton\u2019s current drive for the White House will continue no matter what the results on Tuesday. She will remain the front-runner for a nomination many Democrats still expect her to win \u2014 eventually.<\/p>\n

But a loss would undoubtedly expose the weakness of her bid. Clintons are expected to struggle in Iowa. But a rout in New Hampshire, their state of second chances? That hurts.<\/p>\n

Comparisons between her efforts now and her husband\u2019s then would be unavoidable. Bill Clinton\u2019s climb in New Hampshire was credited to his ability to connect with white, working-class voters. He related. He won them over. He, famously, promised to \u201cbe there for you till the last dog dies\u201d and allies say he kept the promise.<\/p>\n

At the moment, Hillary Clinton\u2019s weakness is with those working-class voters. Her campaign spent the final days in New Hampshire trying to win over middle-income, middle-aged and working parents.<\/p>\n

Clinton\u2019s struggle with connection isn\u2019t unique to New Hampshire. The state is arguably a place where she\u2019s overcome that weakness.<\/p>\n

In 2008, her defining campaign moment came on the eve of the primary in Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth. When she was asked simply \u201cHow do you do it?\u201d she appeared to be holding back tears, as she answered: \u201cIt\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not just this really smart, tough, accomplished person,\u201d said Kathy Sullivan, a longtime Clinton supporter. \u201cShe\u2019s actually warm. … I wish I could bottle that up and give it to everyone outside of New Hampshire, because they don\u2019t get to see it like we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan said she\u2019s watched Hillary Clinton help hand out 500 diplomas at a high school commencement. She remembers the headband Clinton was wearing when they first met in 1992 \u2014 \u201ca galaxy far, far away.\u201d<\/p>\n

That distance may be Clinton\u2019s problem in adding a third chapter to the story.<\/p>\n

Times change. Nearly one-third of potential New Hampshire voters were either not old enough to vote or lived in another state in 2008, according to an analysis by the University of New Hampshire\u2019s Carsey School of Public Policy.<\/p>\n

Clinton allies can cite that statistic as they prepare themselves for the possibility of a disappointing end to the Clinton-New Hampshire story.<\/p>\n

But Bill Clinton isn\u2019t going quietly. Campaigning for his wife in Milford on Sunday, he blasted Sanders\u2019 supporters for lodging \u201csexist\u201d attacks and accused the senator of shifting positions on health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Hampshire I knew would not have voted for me if I had done that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Hennessey reported from Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANCHESTER, N.H. \u2014 It\u2019s their Everest. Their firewall. Their lifeboat in a frozen Atlantic. They are the Clintons. It is New Hampshire. And here we all are again. For nearly 25 years, New Hampshire has been the backdrop for some of the most memorable Clinton comebacks, pleas, denials, hustle, glory and drama. Now those ghosts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-31267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31267"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=31267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}