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For Once, No Politics On Hillary Campaign Conference Call

By Eric Kleefeld - April 7, 2008, 1:25PM

The daily Clinton campaign conference call, usually consisting of the daily slam against Obama followed by a freewheeling Q and A, took an unusual form this morning.

Instead, the call was purely about policy, focusing exclusively on questions about Hillary's new initiative on breast-cancer awareness — perhaps because the campaign is determined not to have to answer any more questions about Mark Penn's departure.

For those who want to listen, here it is:

16 Comments

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Thank you for providing a summary of the audio of the conference call. I'm deaf so it's hard for me to follow along with the audio, so thank you again for summarizing the conference call.

Posted by flufferwink
April 7, 2008 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink

"Clinton Wants Bush To Boycott Olympics".

Now that is leadership!

Posted by gotalife
April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink

NONSENSE!

The Clintons' Daily Follies didn't piss on Obama because ERIC was on the line insted of Greg!

Or is it the other way around - that's why Eric took the call.

Either way...Let's end the Clintons NOW

ERIC FOR EDITOR!

Posted by JohnMcCSF
April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink

For some reason this terrifies me.

Posted by DannyNoonan
April 7, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink

Are the early conf calls available online? Seems like this is the first I've seen recorded. Wondering why that is...

Posted by whoffman
April 7, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink

Policy only?

Is this, yet again, the "beginning of the end?"

Posted by Angry Vet
April 7, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink

Well don't change your bets anytime soon.

Posted by kash79
April 7, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink

Why would Hillary engage in politics? Oh, she's a politician, and it's a political campaign. Never mind.

Posted by Otto F
April 7, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink

You also didn't mention that Mark Penn was on this conference call. Marc Ambinder reports that Mark Penn was on the conference call this morning:

Demoted Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign's senior staff.
Mr. Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call this morning, as usual.

This afternoon, he is also scheduled to be on a call with Clinton and other aides to begin to prepare for Saturday's presidential debate in Philadelphia.

Mr. Penn "is still going to be very much involved," a senior campaign official said.

Indeed, it is not clear precisely what Mr. Penn's title-change entails, other than a public rebuke, although the official said that "there is a difference between being in charge and being one of many voices.

Posted by flufferwink
April 7, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink

Really? WTF? Why would you leave out such an important detail? C'mon, guys. I've never bought into the whole Greg/Eric pro-Clinton bias in the reporting here, but this omission says a lot.

Posted by novelite in reply to a comment from flufferwink
April 7, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink

Yeah, this was amazing to me that they'd left this detail out.

Posted by flufferwink in reply to a comment from novelite
April 7, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink

perhaps because the campaign is determined not to have to answer any more questions about Mark Penn's departure.

of the fact that he was on the call. Nice catch flufferwink!

Posted by Indie Pro in reply to a comment from flufferwink
April 7, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink

Eric,

This post is extremely misleading. At 2008Central.net, we've been maintaining recording the campaign conference calls for

However, the campaigns do on occasion hold policy only calls. Today's call was a policy call and was very similar in format and tone to previous policy calls. Anyone paying attention would know this.

Your suggestion that today's call was different because of the Penn situation is flatly incorrect. That said, the fact that the campaign didn't hold its daily call "to discuss the state of the race" is likely the due to a desire to avoid questions about Penn.

Let's try and keep things accurate though and not blur any lines...

Posted by 2008Central.net
April 7, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink

Flufferwink and others that are confused,

Penn was not on the call that Eric from TPM is referring to in this poorly described post. The call that Flufferwink was referring to is an internal call.

Of course, the fact that Penn was on a high level call is still worth noting. But, accuracy and understanding of what's actually going on is a critical starting point...

Posted by 2008Central.net
April 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink

I didn't bother listening to the tape that Eric so kindly posted but perhaps I should have

Olbermann says that MARK PENN was on the call.

Funny how Eric omitted that little factoid

I DENOUNCE AND REJECT Eric Kleefeld and take back my endorsement of his candidacy for TPMElectClinton Central

Posted by JohnMcCSF
April 7, 2008 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink

John McCSF,

Stop repeating factually incorrect statements, especially when it's clear that you haven't even done a minimal amount of effort to ensure the accuracy of your remarks (like reading the comment right above the one you posted).

I've already clarified above, but I'll do it again:

Penn was NOT on the call that Eric posted about. He was however on an internal campaign strategy call.

Honestly, if people can't even get the facts straight on this basic situation, I'm concerned...

Posted by 2008Central.net
April 7, 2008 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink