Hillary Clinton's appeal to the "blue collar" vote is her fierce determination and indefatigable support of causes dear to the heart of the working class: rising fuel prices, housing costs, education, college affordability, affordable health insurance, and the support of labor unions.
She has spent a life time supporting the causes of the middle class, especially the cause of universal health care. Since 2001, she has been fighting for many causes to improve education, provide better health care for our service men and women returning from Iraq, save the homes of people victim of risky mortgage loans, assure that every vote gets counted and has a paper trail, improve economic security of retirees, strengthen unions' rights to negotiate for fair wages and secure working conditions, and many other causes.
She serves on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Special Committee on Aging, and is the first New Yorker to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In 2004, she was asked by the Department of Defense to serve on the Transformation Advisory Group to Joint Forces Command and is the only Senate member to do so.
Her attendance to her duties as Senator have been consistently excellent with more missed votes during the last quarter of 2007, but her attendance record is better than Barack Obama's.
Hillary has shown her supporters that she is not afraid of a challenge. She has picked herself up and forged ahead even when many people were asking her to throw in the towel.
This woman is a fighter and blue collar workers respect that and can identify. She listens when people tell her of their personal struggles. Then she gets to work to finding solutions. Once she gets started, she doesn't give up.
The question is: Are Americans ready for a woman with that much drive and chutzpah? Some people are turned off by her aggressiveness. That same aggressiveness would be an asset to a man, but some Americans don't like women fighting like a man for what they believe. This may be a problem to some blue collar workers who still have traditional beliefs about women's roles. They still debate about whether or not women should serve in the armed forces. Also, in some ways the sins of her husband are damaging her campaign as people look back with disgust and embarrassment on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
If voters look at the plans and policies of each Democratic candidate, they will see similarities in almost every policy. However, Hillary's plans are spelled out in greater detail. Some voters and political pundits complain that, although Barack Obama is highly inspirational as an orator, his plans are a little vague.
In today's political climate of strong disapproval of voters for the President's performance and a nearly equal disgust of Congress' performance, Americans are desperate for change. Barack Obama's campaign capitalizes on the anger many Americans feel. His campaign is based largely on touting his ability to get Republicans and Democrats to work together in a bipartisanship way. Part of what he suggests is that the public change who is currently in office because to reelect the incumbents would just perpetuate business as usual in Washington.
Hillary's campaign is based on her record, experience, and policy plans. This is a politician who has vast experience navigating the complex political jungle of Washington. Some voters distrust her by association and by the very fact that she is politically savvy. They believe she is part of the problem because she has been in the Washington circuit for so many years.
Americans will choose a leader based on who they trust the most. But are they deciding this based on rhetoric or record? Will they believe what they are told by political campaigners or will they use some prudence and look up the facts? Will they trust someone they know or put their faith in someone untested over time? Will voters identify with Hillary or Barack Obama?
Will this political race be more about what we don't want and less about what we want?
Whoever is elected will have a huge burden of proof to show once in office. Voters are listening intently and expect politicians to put their money where there mouths are. They will be paying close attention to promises made and promises broken.