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Democratic Strategist: Clinton Campaign Lacks Defining Message

October 13, 2015

Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said Tuesday that the Clinton campaign lacks a clear message, which will make it difficult for the public to rationalize Clinton's candidacy.

Simmons compared Clinton's campaign to the Bernie Sanders campaign, saying that Sanders has a consistent, central theme to return economic power to workers.

"The Bernie Sanders campaign has been saying the same thing over and over again, every single day. They are going after oligarchs, they want to break up the banks," he said. "It is very clear that he's in this to return the economic power to the middle and working class."

He said that the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign also aggressively asserted its message: "It's the economy, stupid, and don't forget about health care."

Unlike the Sanders and Bill Clinton campaigns, Simmons said Hillary's campaign does not appear to have a central theme.

"Hillary Clinton has a lot of good policies and things she can talk about. But you don't quite understand what the central theme of her campaign candidacy is," he said.

He also said Clinton's scattered policy stances will make it difficult for Americans to make sense of her campaign.

"Until she can start to sell us that in a really compact way, it is going to be hard for Americans to understand the rationale for the candidacy," he said.

Clinton has come under heavy criticism for flip-flopping and pandering on key issues such as same-sex marriage, gun rights, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Sanders noted Clinton's the haphazard nature of Clinton's campaign Sunday, saying that in contrast to Clinton, he has been consistent in his policy stances.