We Love Her

No matter all the mudslings hurled at her by her critics and skeptics, but they cannot deny her exemplary progress and success as a senator. Senator Hillary Clinton is a shining star in New York as confirmed in the following extracts from the report of Adam C. Smith, the Times Political Editor, published in the Times on Christmas Day, December 25, 2007.

"She been fine"
"Actually," the Republican mused, "I'd have to say she's been okay in the Senate. She knows the issues. She's been fine."

'Fighter for New York'
"Absolutely," said Fred Dicker of the New York Post, the dean of the Capitol press corps in New York. "She's seen as a fighter for New York and is perceived as a skilled politician who's not necessarily an archetypal liberal. ... She has impressed many, many people who are Republican-oriented with her knowledge and interest in issues that matter to them."

"She's disarming, She's real, She's genuine."

Throughout her first term she constantly visited local communities, particularly in struggling Republican upstate New York, and her attention to detail showed. Local governments came to see that she was accessible and responsive to their requests for support of flood relief or economic development grants. She dug in and learned their issues.
"The term I would use for her, which I don't think we can apply to enough public officials, is that she's genuinely curious," said Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce president, Garry Douglas.
He describes himself as a "very conservative" Republican, and said Clinton would make 2008 the first time he had voted for a Democrat for president. "To get to know Hillary personally is to like her. It has moved many thousands of people upstate beyond whatever impression that may have had of her. She's disarming, she's real, she's genuine."

"We Love Her"
Peter Gregg of the New York Farm Bureau recounted Clinton's visit to the Washington County Fair last year, a vignette he said is typical of Clinton.
"Her advance people said she probably wouldn't be able to stay long, and then she literally stayed for hours. She really took a great interest in chatting with farmers and learning about what they were exhibiting," said Gregg, noting that farmers' initial skepticism of Clinton disappeared fast. "We love her."

"She's Extremely Well-prepared, Did Her Homework"

"She came in and everybody said she's this carpetbagger who just wanted a stepping stone to the White House. But then people saw that she's extremely well-prepared, did her homework, and really paid attention to upstate New York," said 66-year-old independent voter Nikole Mook, who manages book sales at the Saratoga Springs Library.

From In a GOP bastion, Sen. Clinton earns praise of skeptics