SNL Preview: Hillary Clinton Tries to Get In on the Joke …

What? Endless questions and accusations about Hillary Clintons email arrangement at the State Department dont get you excited about supporting Mrs. Clinton for president?

The Clinton campaign, hoping to turn a corner after a summer of news dominated by the email story, has been working to showcase the candidates lighter, more personal side. She played opposite Jimmy Fallon as Donald Trump on The Tonight Show, danced with Ellen DeGeneres and looked at old photos from her life in an interview with super-fan Lena Dunham.

The campaign has also worked to capture on video small moments where Mrs. Clinton interacts with supporters and posts a steady stream to her Facebook page.

But none of that may compare with whats coming Saturday nightan appearance on Saturday Night Live, the late-night comedy show that relentlessly mocked her last spring.

The appearance is step one in a pivot month for Mrs. Clinton. She has the chance to show command of the issues at the Democratic debate on Oct. 13, and the opportunity to answer Republican critics directly when she appears before a House committee later in October. After that comes Iowas high-profile Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

In a string of sketches before the shows summer hiatus, actress Kate McKinnon mercilessly played the former secretary of state as cold, calculating and plotting to become president her entire life. Like here:

And another one here:

Now Mrs. Clinton is set to appear on the SNL season premier this Saturday, and its a decent guess that she will appear alongside Ms. McKinnon or somehow respond to her. It went well for Mrs. Clinton when she appeared on the show in 2008. Later, in the year, after Mrs. Clinton lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama, she received gentle poking, particularly compared with the shows treatment of Republican Sarah Palin.

Appearing on stage now allows Mrs. Clinton show shes not being laughed at, but is laughing along.

Shes not the butt of the joke. Shes in on the joke, said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who works for the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, referring to the upcoming SNL appearance.

Mrs. Clintons friends and people shes worked with have long said that she is much warmer and funnier than many voters ever see. The effort to showcase that side of her personality goes back at least to her husband, Bill Clinton, was running for president in 1992.

During that campaign, Democraticpollsters wrote a memo tothe campaign suggesting ways to reduce voters discomfort with Hillary and counter impressions of her as a tough political wife.

When she became first lady, the concerns continued that she was seen as a tough, partisan figure who couldnt relate to average voters. A memo released last year by the William J.Clinton Presidential Library laid out a plan for softening Mrs. Clintons image.

Few Americans think of you in personal terms (warm, caring, funny, kind, maternal) or have a sense of your deep love of children, the unsigned, undated memo reads. Suggestions for changing that included shopping frantically for Christmas presents, caroling (maybe with Chelsea and some of her friends) during the holiday season, working out, making scrambled eggs for Sunday brunch.

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SNL Preview: Hillary Clinton Tries to Get In on the Joke ...

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