The Evolution of First Lady Media Strategy

Political reporters scrutinized a trove of White House documents released on Friday, not just for insights into the inner workings of the Clinton administration, but also for revelations about Hillary Rodham Clinton that could inform her potential 2016 presidential campaign.

Parts of the internal memos make the 1990s seem a world away. A press secretary wrote in 1995 that “Internet has become a very popular mode of communication,” and “Hillary could speak to young women through the Internet. I think Hillary would have fun with this, and I believe it would not be too difficult to organize.”

An informal “America Online” survey seemed like a breakthrough way to informally gauge opinion on whether Mrs. Clinton should deliver a speech on women’s rights at a United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. “Remember, this is not a scientific survey. We’re just trying to get a general sense of the AOL community’s feelings on the topic,” the White House wrote.

The results: 47.57 percent said “no” and 46.94 percent said “yes,” she should attend. Perhaps in a preview of Twitter-length Internet snark to come, one respondent wrote: “I have no problem with Hillary going to China. I have a problem with her coming back.”

But in other ways the problems the first lady’s staff dealt with in portraying Mrs. Clinton as a warm, funny, personable public figure persist today as she contemplates another run for the presidency.

A memo from Mandy Grunwald, who also advised Mrs. Clinton in her 2008 presidential campaign, reminded her in 1999 to “be careful to ‘be real’ ” and to “look for opportunities for humor.” The New Yorker writer-turned-Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal was recruited to arrange off-the-record dinners with Mrs. Clinton and New York intellectuals to try and charm the thinkers who influence the New York media.

Some critics said that Mrs. Clinton discussed the 1990s too much during her 2008 presidential campaign and that a potential 2016 campaign would have to be more forward-looking and focused on her own achievements. That dynamic â€" between heralding the progress of the Clinton years and the go-go economic days of the 1990s and seeming like her own person with her own record of accomplishments â€" dates back to the White House, the documents revealed.

“Don’t use the administration’s record as your own,” Ms. Grunwald advised Mrs. Clinton in the same memo. “You’ve spent a lot of years saying ‘My husband did X.’ ”

Mrs. Clinton also appeared more comfortable with women’s magazines and local news interviews, rather than with Washington-based national news media â€" a strategy that could persist should she run in 2016, albeit in a very changed media landscape.

“Hillary is comfortable with the local reporters and enjoys speaking with them,” wrote Lisa Caputo, Mrs. Clinton’s spokeswoman, in a 1995 memo. “This will help us get around her aversion to the national Washington media and serve to counter the tone of the national media.”

Ms. Caputo pointed to the 1992 campaign’s media strategy. “I think it is important for us to consider returning to our 1992 campaign press strategy and have her do local interviews in the local markets,” Ms. Caputo wrote. “Good local press will develop into a ripple effect which will begin to influence the coverage of the national newspapers.”

Ms. Caputo suggested that “Hillary should own the women’s media,” including interviews with People magazine and Barbara Walters, and events like hosting a “Hillary Clinton Fan Club Visit” at the White House. Mrs. Clinton should also, Ms. Caputo advised, splash out the Clintons’ 20th wedding anniversary, including “a big party” and “a wonderful photo spread to People magazine of photos from the party couple with old photos of their honeymoon.”

She also proposed that Mrs. Clinton make a cameo on the ABC comedy “Home Improvement,” then the highest-rated show on television. “The outreach would be enormous and it would present Hillary in a very likable light I believe,” Ms. Caputo wrote. Though, she added, “I have some concerns that it diminishes the role of the First Lady by going on a TV sitcom.”

Flash forward to 2013, and Michelle Obama’s “Evolution of Mom Dancing” with Jimmy Fallon became a YouTube sensation.