Sounds to me like they are trying to paint a picture of Senator Clinton as actually exercising restraint on the negativity in her campaign, probably in an attempt to immunize her from any blowback for past and future attacks.

Hmmm, strategic leaks...could be, could be.

Whether it is sneaky PR maneuvering or real tension, all I come away with is that nagging question: Who is this campaign really about..?

Not surprising there would be conflicts regarding strategy. She's been going down in the polls, and they're facing the difficult choice of trying to switch approaches or stick with their current bring back-the-Clinton-days strategy.

What they'll probably end up doing is simultaneously argue that she is both the establishment candidate and the candidate of change, a mixed message that just won't cut it.

Michael A,

The thing is, clearly their negative campaigning with respect to Obama isn't going to stop. The recent evidence includes that e-mail asking for information on Obama's days as a community organizer, focus-grouping anti-Obama ads in NH, repeatedly suggesting people do not know everything Obama, and so on.

And they probably have no choice. As that article notes, they have likely calculated they can lose to Edwards in Iowa, and maybe even then lose to someone in NH, and still find a path to the nomination. But if Obama sweeps the early states, it will be extremely difficult for them to recover.

By the way, with respect to the update: maybe I watch too much sports, but isn't "I have total and complete confidence in them" what owners always say right before they fire a coach?

ROTFLMAO!!!! @
DRinOH wrote on December 12, 2007 10:10 AM:

MichaelA writes:
The first staff member I would get rid of was the moron that pushed the kindergarten thing or allowed her to say it. Talk about blowback. What an idiot.

I don't think they can fire that idiot because in all likelihood it was Hillary herself. Folks keep forgetting what a pittbull she is and how Bill always has to yank her chain. Hillary had to push Bill to attack she was the one who told him that he had to address those bimbo rumors. Whereas, Bill felt folks simply would not beleive them. HRClinton told him that unless he gave them something else to believe that folks would indeed beleive them whether they were true or not.

Hillary is the architect of her own downfall you best beleive that. She has always been bullheaded and because she is so intelligent she is able to come up with rational arguments against her staff such that she prevails. The problem is that she has no political sense and is wrong on what is the best political choice even though she is intellectually right. She therefore is successfull in a SUPPORTING role because the other person, Bill, knows how to TEMPER the attack politically.

Hillary doesn't...and she simply will NOT back down from a fight. She is 'in it to win it' and she confuses fighting with leadership, which she totally lacks.

You really can't report on things that the campaigns tell you as the gospel. It's all posturing. DTM has the clearest explanation I think. It's immunization against the negativity thing. Just like the rest of it-- if people say it was a bad idea, then it was wild Bill, if it turns out to work politically, the Hill collects the roses.

I agree this campaign has been pretty bad, but it honestly is mostly just because it is mighty hard to run someone that people say they don't personally like and trust. It's a Nixon thang.

I think the most likely outcome early is Bama with at least 2 out of the first 3. But when Florida hits, which just looks irreversibly Clinton to me, the score is tied. So this is a super Tuesday showdown, where Clinton will have an advantage because you don't really have an intense campaign for that, and less is more with her. I think ultimately she may hold out and we will have a pretty vulnerable candidate that starts with a big lead and trends down the whole way in the general. Especially if McCain is the nominee, I think she could lose. In fact, I don't think Hillary can beat him.

But then, he isn't really any worse than her anyway.

Ms. Bill's internal numbers continue to roll around the bottom of the crapper.

Y'all heard it from me first - a month ago

NCSteve, you don't have to announce it, just do it. Change people's positions and create new positions. Also, I would still send mr. bill to bora bora. The more he gets bad press, the worse for her and it reminds people why they didn't like the clintons. Maybe gore got one thing right in 2000, which was not having mr. bill actively campaign for him.

Just remember this folks....Obama has never ran a long race...HRC and Bill have ran 2 long races plus 2 Senate Races plus 2 Gov. Races. They know the race is long. Keep this in mind.

willyjsimmons,

It isn't a "conspiracy"--these are Clinton aides speaking to the press. I do think it is reasonable to assume, however, that when they speak to the press, they are trying to do something that will help Clinton.

Of course I have no special insight into their thinking on this, so I could well be wrong in what I suggested. It just makes sense to me in light of the conventional wisdom that negative attacks tend to cause blowback in the primaries.

But when Florida hits, which just looks irreversibly Clinton to me, the score is tied.

Do you really think so? I guess I am not clear on how a big win in a state with no delegates counts for much of anything. Sure, it is a win, so she will be able to paint herself as a "winner," but (in your scenario) so will Obama by that point. He, however, will actually have voting delegates to show for his wins while she will not.

Actually willy, that was a virtual direct quote from political hacks on the talk shows on tv (not the bora bora part). I didn't make it up, I just repeated it.

Actually, I have a dog in the fight, I want the dems to win and have a dem in the white house. Clinton II doesn't fit that bill.

This is a good trial by fire test for Senator Clinton. Let us see how she does fight back. If she has trouble fighting back against Obama and Edwards, then she would not be capable of standing up to what the Republicans would throw at her.

Let us see who is capable of waging the most effective closing strategy.

We are all looking for someone who will have the ability to defeat the Republican smear machine.

Vote the issues and not the spin.

Johnny Kerry proved that voters should not try to be political consultants, by trying to figure out who is the 'most electable'. Iowa did that in 2004, and said John Kerry was that guy. No he wasn't. Vote the issues and the best candidate will emerge out of the contest of ideas.

Anyone who thinks that the Dems will disenfranchise the voters of Michigan and Florida at their convention in Denver should take a few deep breaths and stop drinking the kool aid.

Er, o.k. Whatever. I am just going by what the DNC's website has to say on the issue and what they reiterated just a week ago. I suppose that things can change between now and then, but it hardly constitutes "drinking the kool aid" to take the DNC's own public claims seriously.

http://dnc.org/a/2007/07/become_a_delega.php
http://dnc.org/a/2007/12/dnc_statement_o_25.php

2008 Presidential Election Weekly Poll

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"Don't vote for Hillary. It's just the Clinton Restoration, NOT a change of any sort."

Clinton restoration would be a major and a welcome change after eight years of the fucking crazies.

Obama is a political confection created for starry eyed enthusiasts and Doers of Good. He is this year's Ralph Nader. I wonder much Texas money is being poured into his campaign.

2008 Presidential Election Weekly Poll




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The Only Poll That Matters

Results Posted Weekly Tuesday Evening At Midnight.

This is not good! Bill Clinton is showing the political sense of an immature three year old here. The meme that should be advanced is not that Hillary is his sockpuppet for a restoration of the "golden age". Rather it should be that Hillary has come into her own as a seasoned leader. I truly think she would be a better president than him because she is disciplined and prepared. But her campaign is getting hurt by these attacks on Obama and by the perception that Bill is her defender because she can't handle it herself, and he can't stay out of it and simply be a good cheerleader.

Yaaawwwwnnnn!

Hmm, with all this Clinton Fatigue setting in, I think I need a short nap before the Iowa Caucuses.

Bill Clinton has more horse sense that Hillary's entire campaign staff. If anyone actually watched the Charlie Rose interview he was, I thought, right on target and as always eloquent in how he stated his points. He didnt say or suggest or imply that HRC is his sock puppet as someone here bravely stated; he has said time and time again he would vote for her even if they had no marital connection, that she is way smarter than he is. He showed people how you can run a tough campaign and not be personally negative by bringing up legitimate points but refraining from personal crap. He has always praised his opponents while eviscerating them with his words on issues. He is light years better than that slime Mark Penn, and no, the American People in poll after poll after poll say they like him as much or even more today than in the 90's so lets get off this everyone hates Bill meme. Can we try to make the argument for our candidates without going back and saying our own twice elected President was no good?

Hillary was a Goldwater Girl, a Republican for Nixon in 1968, and only after meeting Bill did she become a democrat.

There is nothing in her voting record to suggest she is a liberal at all. She supported the war, and continues to defend her vote for the war in Iraq. She helped an administration weaken the social safety net. She voted for the Patriot Act....twice.

Look at her voting record. Her experience. There is not a dimes worth of difference between her and Arlen Spector, or most other Republican Senators.