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Washington (CNN) -- Republicans who want to taint Hillary Clinton are going to lengths to link the former secretary of state with President Barack Obama and his sagging poll numbers.

Throughout the party's infrastructure, Republicans say that linking Clinton with Obama, especially labeling her possible 2016 campaign as "Obama's Third Term," is the most potent attack.

America Rising, an anti-Clinton super PAC that has looked to define the former first lady for the better part of a year, will push out a series of talking points giving Clinton the third-term label, and the group plans to fundraise off the push staring Tuesday.

"Hillary Clinton has a Barack Obama problem," reads a lengthy research document that will go out to GOP pundits, strategists, conservative organizations and media members Tuesday. "No matter how many of her advisors whisper to reporters that she's different from Barack Obama, Americans still know who she is: Barack Obama Part Deux."

The document lists "10 Reasons Why Clinton 2016 = Obama's Third Term," including her praise for Obama as she left the State Department in 2013, her role in his first four years of foreign policy and Clinton's support of Obamacare.

"Looking ahead to 2016, it's critical that Obama's 3rd Term is an element of the broader narrative defining Sec. Clinton, especially since she still has a higher approval than he does," Tim Miller, the group's director, said in a statement to CNN.

Multiple Republican operatives said this strategy -- which is coming from national party groups, outside super PACs and GOP politicians -- is best at engaging the base and raising money. Therefore, it is something they plan to continue in the coming months and possibly years.

Democrats, too, are concerned about the attack line. In August, some close to Clinton told CNN that labeling the former secretary of state as the successor to Obama's legacy was a possible problem.

"She was in his government, she was at his side," said one source. "That is, the way to go after her is four more years of the same old thing. The question they should ask her is 'Tell me 10 things that you disagree with him on.' "

Original post:
GOP's favorite label for Hillary 2016: 'Obama's Third Term'

For Congress, Lois Lerner pleaded the Fifth, but for Politico, the embattled ex-IRS director gave a breezy biographical sketch that included her insistence that she had nothing to apologize for and that she did nothing wrong. Now Republicans are fuming.

Her decision to make unsubstantiated claims to a media outlet while claiming Fifth Amendment protections from answering Congress questions is telling, said House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, who headed up a panel to quiz Ms. Lerner about her agencys delay of nonprofit applications to tea party groups, Politico reported.

She appears to have great confidence that her allies in the Obama Administration will not consider legal action after she resigned and declined to discuss the IRS actions against private citizens, Mr. Issa went on, Politico reported.

Ms. Lerner admitted her division had paid extra attention to applications from groups with tea party in their names at the request of her boss, Politico reported. But she denied that her Democratic leanings influenced her scrutiny of conservative groups though Republicans have released emails showing that perhaps the opposite, in some cases, was true, Politico reported.

Mr. Issa is not the only Republican to criticize Ms. Lerner for speaking to the press, rather than Congress.

House Speaker John Boehners staff posted a blog blasting her claim to Politico that shes not sorry for anything I did, she said, in the article.

Thanks to President Obama and his cadre of cover-up artists, we still dont know what exactly that entailed, Mr. Boehners blog read, Politico reported.

And Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the IRS Oversight subcommittee, said Ms. Lerners interview with Politico was a poke in the eye to the American citizens who were targeted by the IRS, Politico reported.

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GOP fumes as Lois Lerner talks to press but snubs Congress

Former Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner cited the Fifth...

Everyone in Washington has a P.R. machine, or at minimum, an agenda. That's certainly the case with Lois Lerner, the former IRS executive whose division targeted conservative nonprofit applicants with delays and harassment.

Lerner's division of the IRS systematically obstructed and denied status to Tea Party groups while subjecting many of the smallest ones those most vulnerable and least likely to be lawyered up to inappropriate demands for information that was not legally required. In one case, this included the content of the opening prayer recited in meetings, and in others, this IRS Inquisition demanded that leaders of certain groups pledge never to run for office.

Lerner is out of that business now, and on to a new campaign. This campaign, in which she has enlisted friends and former colleagues, aims to tell the side of the story that she has refused to give Congress under oath.

The resulting Politico piece includes this is no joke the revelations that she once baked brownies for colleagues and that she loves dogs. How delightful for her and the dogs! But so what? Lerner cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions about her involvement in this scandal. The reason for doing that is that she believes her answers could facilitate a criminal prosecution against her. The mysterious destruction of evidence in this case strongly suggests she is right to worry about that. So does her concerned email inquiry to government IT workers as to whether her instant messages with colleagues could ever be obtained by congressional investigators.

Lerner is willing to testify only in the news media, where the whole truth is not required and irrelevant information can be shared to make her seem less unsympathetic.

But Lerner's complaints about her treatment, her inability to find a job to supplement her pension, and her legal bills fall flat. She and her attorneys complain that the disparaging opinions she once expressed by email about conservatives, later obtained by Congress, should not be used against her. It would be unreasonable, she and her defenders point out, to expect her not to have opinions.

She is correct, America is a free country where all may express their views. But then, that's precisely why Lerner finds herself in so much hot water. Her IRS division used government power to suppress the political opinions of others to make private citizens unfree to express opinions she does not like.

If liberals are so irked that conservatives have freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to spend their own money on advocacy, there is a proper channel for their frustration. They can weaken or even abolish the First Amendment to the Constitution. Democrats tried this in the U.S. Senate earlier this month, and good for them it is the right of every elected official to take such a political risk, because voters can hold such officials accountable.

But it's quite another thing for powerful, entrenched and unaccountable bureaucrats to abuse their power and attack others' constitutional rights from deep within the intestines of the government. This is why Lerner now finds herself a pariah, and it's also why she isn't a victim.

Link:
Cry us a river, Lois Lerner

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By: Devani Freeman

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Driving sales and increasing the reach of their brand is seen as key to the marketing success of companies, and many are turning to social media to pursue their strategy.

New survey data from marketing software platform Offerpop shows that brands are increasing their investment in social media and focusing on using it to drive sales in the run up to the holiday season.

In contrast to the days when social media strategy was all about getting more fans, companies now see it as a serious part of their sales effort. Compared to last year, 67 percent of companies plan to spend more on social media in the 2014 holiday season. Facebook is the main beneficiary here, with 92 percent of respondents saying that they plan to spend the majority of their marketing budget on the platform.

As far as future trends go, 73 percent of marketers polled identified Instagram as the breakout social network of 2014 for brands, with Vine and Snapchat making up the remaining 27 percent. There's still wariness about untried networks though, with 48 percent having no plans to invest on emerging platforms like Snapchat.

"Offerpop's survey data shows that social marketing is maturing rapidly, with a new focus on driving commerce and increasing investment in proven revenue channels like Facebook", says Kevin Bobowski, vice president of marketing for Offerpop. "This holiday season, we'll see marketers testing Facebook and Twitter's new commerce capabilities and leveraging Instagram for holiday campaigns".

The full report is available for subscribers to Offerpop's free Holiday Marketing 365 content program. There's a summary of the findings in infographic form below.

Image Credit: Sarawut Aiemsinsuk / Shutterstock

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Social media becomes a critical marketing channel for holiday sales