If elected, Hillary might try for cocktail diplomacy with the GOP
Should she be elected president in November, Hillary Clinton may begin reaching out to Republicans in a very old fashioned way.
The former secretary of state's ability to bond with political rivals over cocktails will, according to aides and allies, be an important asset should she make her way back to the White House, The New York Times reports.
According to the Times, Clinton "believes that a relaxed, frank discussion is more authentic than trying to bond awkwardly with adversaries over sports -- and more productive than keeping them at arm's length, as Mr. Obama has often done."
And she knows that a little booze can be conducive to such relaxed, frank discussions.
"She likes to cajole, she likes to make deals, and she likes to make friends," former Bill Clinton adviser Richard Socarides told the Times. "And she knows it's much harder to go after someone who you basically like, who you've had a drink with."
Clinton, who is known to enjoy the occasional stiff drink, reportedly even had a contest with Sen. John McCain to see who could down the most vodka while touring Estonia in 2004.
Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe confirmed the story in a 2008 interview with the BBC, and insisted that Hillary had won the competition.
"She's a girl from Illinois who likes to throw 'em down with the rest of us," McAuliffe said at the time.