October Has Been A Great Month For Hillary Clinton

Last month the most common thing the mainstream media was reporting was how much trouble the campaign of Hillary Clinton was in. They said her numbers were fading, and predicted that Joe Biden would cause her trouble by entering the race. It wasn't true of course (her numbers had remained firm), but the media didn't seem to be as concerned with the truth as creating a "horse race" in the Democratic primary contest.

But it's now a month later -- and things look very different. They look different because Clinton has had a very good month of October.

It started with her appearance on NBC's long-standing and popular comedy show -- Saturday Night Live. Her October 3rd appearance humanized her -- showing Americans that she is a real person, with a sense of humor about herself and her campaign.

Then came the October 13th debate. Many thought Bernie Sanders would trounce her in that debate, but it didn't happen. Hillary Clinton came prepared, and performed very well. All of the scientific polls show that a majority of Democrats said she clearly won that debate -- and those polls showed she got a nice bounce out of that debate -- increasing her margin of support over Sanders. She also maintained her lead in Iowa, and put New Hampshire (which had been solidly in the Sanders column) back in play with her debate performance.

On October 22nd, Clinton appeared before the House Benghazi Committee -- the committee created just to smear her and her campaign. The Republicans had hoped to use this appearance to damage her, but that didn't work out too well for them. She came prepared, answered all questioned fully, and showed herself to be not only innocent of any wrongdoing, but also competent to lead this nation. They questioned her for a grueling 11 hours, and only succeeded in making themselves look bad.

That would have been enough to give her a great month, but it wasn't all that happened. Two of her opponents have dropped out of the race -- Jim Webb on October 20th and Lincoln Chafee on October 23rd. Perhaps more important, Joe Biden announced on October 21st that he would not enter the Democratic presidential race. Biden's refusal to run moves Clinton's numbers from the mid-to-upper forties to a clear majority.

Then on October 23rd, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) -- the large public employee union in the nation with 1.6 million members -- threw their support behind Hillary Clinton. AFSCME president Lee Saunders said:

"The next president will make decisions that could make or break the ability of working people across America to sustain their families. That's why we spent the last six months engaged in the most member-focused, in-depth, and transparent endorsement process AFSCME has ever undertaken." 

"Members want a candidate who will make it easier instead of harder to join together in strong unions and stand together for wages and benefits that can sustain our families. What we also heard was AFSCME members want the candidate who will be the most effective champion for working families, and who will be able to deliver a victory in this critically important election. AFSCME members believe that candidate is Hillary Clinton."

Hillary Clinton, and her campaign for president, are on a roll after the excellent month of October she has had. Democrats, more than ever, see her as the best candidate they have -- and the candidate with the best chance to beat the Republican nominee (whoever that might be).

(NOTE -- The caricature above of Hillary Clinton is by DonkeyHotey.)