"Democratic pollster" Caddell: If Obama or Richardson sought votes based on their race/ethnicity, "people would hang them high"

On the February 23 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News contributor Pat Caddell asserted that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign is "saying, 'Vote for me because I'm a woman' " and declared, "If [Sen.] Barack Obama [D-IL] was out there saying, 'Vote for me because I'm black,' or ... [Gov.] Bill Richardson [D-NM] said, 'Vote for me because I'm a Hispanic,' people would hang them high." Co-host Sean Hannity introduced Caddell as a "former Democratic pollster."

As Media Matters for America noted, Caddell often appeared on cable news programs during the 2004 presidential campaign, apparently as a counterbalance to Republican contributors. Yet, on almost every occasion, Caddell attacked the Kerry-Edwards campaign and the Democratic Party, reinforcing Republican pundits' attacks rather than refuting them, a pattern of Caddell's since the mid-1990s. For instance, during the September 15, 2004, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Caddell compared The New York Times to "the czar's secret police," suggested that the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth deserved to appear on NBC's Today, and said of Democratic criticism of President Bush's military record: "This is the anger that's killing my party." Also on Hannity & Colmes, Cadell said of Democrats questioning Bush's military service: "It just makes them [Democrats] whine." During the January 22, 2004, edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Caddell also accused Kerry of being in the pocket of special-interest groups and called Kerry "a guy up there [with] just basically the crudest cynicism of all, saying, 'I can just reinvent myself and the press will go along with it, because they think it's kind of neat.' "

During the segment, syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak claimed that "Senator Clinton has trouble with female voters" based on his conversations with "a lot of conservatives" and "Democratic women." Novak did not point to any polling to back up this assertion.

From the February 23 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Anyway, joining us now is syndicated columnist, Fox News contributor Robert Novak, and Fox -- and former Democratic pollster, Fox News contributor Pat Caddell.

[...]

HANNITY: Let me ask you the Dick Morris demographic question, because Dick Morris contends that women that have never voted before will come to the table.

NOVAK: I think that's non -- I think that's nonsense. I think -- I think the -- I think --

CADDELL: It may or may not be. Let me say this. Can I say something, Bob, on this point? Just this -- you cannot run a campaign the way they're doing, saying, "Vote for me because I'm a woman," which is what they're doing.

If Barack Obama was out there saying, "Vote for me because I'm black," or Richardson -- Bill Richardson said, "Vote for me because I'm a Hispanic," people would hang them high. I mean, this is ridiculous.

HANNITY: Bob, your thoughts on the demographic issue?

NOVAK: I think that's a lot of nonsense. I really do believe that Senator Clinton has trouble with female voters. There are a lot of conservatives --

CADDELL: Older ones, particularly.

NOVAK: -- there are older ones, and there are Democrats I've talked to, Pat, Democratic women who say that they really don't want her to run. I think -- I think she has a lot of problems.

—J.M.