The Return of Stop Hillary Suckerism
CNN runs a somewhat credulous scoop (“First on CNN!”) about decidedly un-breaking news — the launch of America Rising PAC’s campaign, Stop Hillary 2016. It’s interesting to read about the messaging tests playing out in “a series of e-mails to randomized groups of donors.” What moves people? Benghazi? The fear of “having to see another Clinton in the White House”?
Spoiler: None of this moves people. There have been Stop Hillary PACs, with that exact name, since 2005. They’ve been flops. Back in 2007 I tracked the progress of Stop Her Now and various Republican efforts to fundraise off of Clintonphobia, and found them ranging from disastrous ($25,000 for Stop Her Now, which got tons of coverage) to just weak (busted money-asks from John McCain and party committees). A raft of anti-Hillary books and bios were flops, leading with the “investigative” Jeff Gerth book that got reviewed everywhere and sold 18,000 copies.