Ed Rendell Tells WPHT's Rich Zeoli Hillary Clinton Will Win The Democratic Primary By Staying True To Who She Is
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Ed Rendell addressed former New York Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the Democratic Party's nomination for President, saying she needs to avoid a drastic shift to the left to appease voters in the primary process.
Rendell told Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that Clinton should not radically alter her message to sound more like her competition.
"She can't fall into a trap of trying to compete with Bernie Sanders for that progressive wing of the party because she's never going to compete successfully with it. If she moves too far to the left, it's going to be hard to get back to the center for the November election. She should stay true to herself and say, Bernie Sanders is going to get 18 percent in this primary. I can't contest him for that 18 percent. But come November of 2016 when I'm the nominee nobody's going to know whether I got 82 percent or 92 percent in that primary."
He stated that neither of the Democrats who have declared for the race to this point can match her broader appeal.
"Martin O'Malley won't be able to raise the money to be competitive with Hillary Clinton. He doesn't have the following. Bernie Sanders has a progressive following. He's got the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. It's not a reflection on Hillary Clinton, they just love Bernie Sanders and it's probably anywhere from five to 15 percent, depending what state your in, of our electorate. Bernie has a built-in following, and he's raised some money because, again, there are a lot of progressive donors. Martin, he was a capable mayor and a capable governor, but I don't think he has the same type of following or the same donor base. I don't think he's got much of a chance. Bernie Sanders will be the biggest vote-getter away from Hillary Clinton, but realistically, I don't think he has much of a chance either."
Rendell pointed out that Mitt Romney made the mistake or moving too far away from the center in the 2012 Republican primary, contributing to his defeat and the re-election of President Obama.
"Romney lost the November election in the primary season when he went far to the right...He lost the election when he made those deep, deep, deep swings to the right. Hillary Clinton's got to stay true to herself and stay consistent with what she's always believed in and not fall in to those traps."