Rice U. political experts available to comment on Hillary Clinton’s second presidential bid

EXPERT ALERT

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Rice U. political experts available to comment on Hillary Clinton’s second presidential bid

HOUSTON – (April 10, 2015) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her candidacy for president Sunday. Rice University political experts are available to comment on her second attempt to follow in her husband’s footsteps and win the White House.

Paul Brace, the Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science, calls Hillary’s upcoming announcement “perhaps the least surprising announcement this political season.”

Brace said that her campaign starts from a position of enviable strength relative to other 2016 aspirants.

“Within her party there appears no formidable challenges other than complacency,” he said. “In 2008, her strategic focus on the general election may have led her to overlook an obstacle in the primary named Barack Obama.”

Brace said that early reports suggest that despite no obvious intraparty challenges, she intends to campaign hard in the Democratic primaries. 

“Regarding possible Republican challengers, and there are many, none thus far have emerged as either likely or strong opponents,” he said. “The race is young, however, and if Republican aspirants can avoid self-destruction in their own primaries, expect Republican hopefuls to capitalize on several Clinton vulnerabilities, including Benghazi, her private email accounts and acceptance by the Clinton Foundation of funds from foreign governments, among others. Ironically, Clinton’s strongest asset — unprecedented Washington experience as first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state — could also make her vulnerable to attacks that she is an old-school Washington insider.”

Lyn Ragsdale, the Radoslav Tsanoff Professor of Public Affairs, professor of political science and dean of Rice’s School of Social Sciences, calls Clinton “one of the ultimate strategic politicians of the Democratic Party” and said Clinton faces a central question: how to use her experience in 2008 to avoid the mistakes of the past and come forward to victory as the first woman president.

“Although strong Democratic opponents seem unlikely, Republican primary candidates and the eventual Republican nominee will make the race about Hillary as a person, a woman and a Clinton,” Ragsdale said. “Republicans will invest less in discussing the issues than they will in making Clinton the issue. Whether Clinton is able to counter the likely attacks and gain the upper hand from them will be one of the chief stories of the 2016 campaign.”

Mark Jones, professor and chair of political science and fellow in political science at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that Texas should not expect to see Clinton much on the campaign trail in the Lone Star State.  

“While Clinton will almost without question win a larger share of the Texas vote than President Obama in 2014 (41 percent), there is no doubt that the GOP nominee will be garnering all of the state’s votes in the 2016 Electoral College,” Jones said. “To the extent to which Hillary Clinton visits Texas between now and November of 2016, it will be principally to tap the deep pockets of Texas Democratic donors. Perhaps the most interesting dynamic surrounding the Clinton presidential bid for Texas politics will be if she opts to tap former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro as her running mate.”

Jones said it seems increasingly possible that Hillary Clinton’s announcement will simultaneously also be her coronation as the 2016 Democratic nominee.

“To date, no credible challenger has indicated interest in facing off against Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary,” he said.

Brace, an expert on American politics, is co-author of “Follow the Leader: Opinion Polls and the Modern Presidents,” author of “State Government and Economic Performance” and co-editor of “The Presidency in American Politics” and “American State and Local Politics.” He has published research in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Polity, Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly and other journals.

An expert on the history of the presidency, Ragsdale is the past president of the Western Political Association and has served as the editor of Political Research Quarterly. She has authored four books on the American presidency and U.S. Congress, the most recent being “Vital Statistics on the American Presidency, Washington to George W. Bush, Third Edition.”

Jones is a leading expert on Texas politics and has been quoted nationally on presidential politics. He is also an expert on Latin American politics and has authored guest columns on these topics in Texas Monthly and the Texas Tribune.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

Media who want to interview Jones may contact him directly at 832-466-6535.

To schedule an interview with Brace or Ragsdale, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

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