This Is the End

Her support runs this deep.
(AP photo)

The Daily Beast’s Patricia Murphy details Hillary Clinton’s shocking losses — with women voters:

From last Saturday’s kickoff of “New Hampshire Women for Hillary,” to Clinton’s appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show last Thursday where she pitched, “If you vote for somebody on the merits, one of my merits is that I’m a woman,” to an online campaign store newly stocked with lady-friendly merch (official “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” tote, anyone?) the not-at-all subtle message is this: Hey ladies, vote for Hillary!

The female hard sell is coming as a series of local and national polls show that Clinton’s strength among Democratic women voters has continued to steadily, and in some cases, precipitously erode as her campaign has become bogged down in questions over use of a private email server and Sen. Bernie Sanders has risen on a wave of populist support that the Clinton camp had mostly dismissed or ignored.

Clinton wasn’t supposed to have to work so hard (or so painfully obviously) to woo female voters.

So what is Team Clinton doing to reverse Hillary’s slide? More of the same:

As their candidate polls second for the first time in Iowa and New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton’s team is seeking to convey a single message to supporters on the ground: Trust the plan.

Last week, Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, called Iowa backers to offer words of resolve and reassurance, highlighting the organizing infrastructure they’ve built in the caucus state. On Thursday, her aides circulated fresh talking points on the lagging polls, casting the lull in Iowa as the historical rule, not the exception, for candidates who go on to win.

Two items of note.

Just like 2008, when Clinton’s campaign was in the red following her third-place finish in Iowa, she’s running an expensive, top-down effort — with the accent on expensive. I saw a report over the weekend that she’d just spent another two million on ads in the last week or so, all for naught if these polls are to be believed.

The other item is that without nearly 60% of female voters, Clinton cannot — repeat, cannot — win the White House. Period. And both CNN and Fox have female voters saying Clinton “knowingly lied” or “did something wrong” with her private email server. And also remember that the drip-drip-drip of email releases, now perhaps including the 32,000 she deleted on her own, will continue for months.

She’s toast.