Hillary's Campaign Tense As Inevitability Fades

Her once-commanding advantage over Obama in Iowa and New Hampshire -- the two critical initial contests -- is evaporating. She has gotten the worst of recent exchanges over Iran and health care.

There are also political strains with her greatest asset and surrogate, Bill Clinton. The former president was quoted last month as saying he had really opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning; he later claimed he was misquoted.

Top Clinton campaign officials were privately furious at the former president, saying he had revived the complaint that the Clintons lack credibility, unfairly tarnishing his wife in the process.

For his part, the former president, one close associate says, has been bouncing off the walls at the campaign's ineptitude in the past few weeks. (It is not known if the Clintons shared any of these sentiments with each other).

The anxiety being felt by Bill Clinton, America's most skillful politician, is understandable. Hillary's campaign is off-balance.

Read more here.

Comments

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

02:46 AM on 12/14/2007

The last thing this country needs is another 4-8 years of Clintonian "centrism"­.

[cactusJohn]

10:04 AM on 12/12/2007

Bill's great! Hillary's a great woman, but neither can be President anymore, and Obama needs VP after his name.  I think America has realized that we're in too deep-a-doo­-doo situation to even consider marginal celebrity / minority-t­ypes.  The Cheney / Bush-Leagu­e pack of turkeys, the repulsive Congressio­nal lackys and hypocrits, and the corporate-­fascist lobbies have done too much damage.  John Edwards will beat anyone that continues to play that old STUPID game of empty rhetoric, and on the GOP side--lies­.

[MRb1000]

02:45 AM on 12/12/2007

It is written on both of their faces that this is over. I think it will be Obama, Edwards or Biden. Hillary has to much baggage.

[ajax2]

08:13 PM on 12/11/2007

Keep your war platform Hillary and do a Lieberman, without the lying please.

[PaulSpeaks]

06:14 PM on 12/11/2007

I am always totally amazed at the exchange between the seemingly intelligen­t, would-be voters and the politician­s. Has it ever occured to any of you that "none of the above" may be the only solution out of this mess we are in. Do you perhaps believe that "same-O/sa­me-O" will really make a differance­? Is it not time to introduce a third political party. New blood, new thoughts. How about it? It is not too late to start looking and listening for a different approach. It may save this country. Check this out! Can we afford not to.

[shinybear]

11:18 AM on 12/11/2007

This piece is totally misleading­. Clinton never had a commanding lead in either Iowa or New Hampshire- they are her weakest states! She has a clear lead nationally­. And while Obama has eaten into her lead (which is expected), he hasn't gotten enough.

We've always known it was going to be a horse race in the first two states- this is nothing new.

Also the cryptic remark at the end of this piece that no one has ever won the nomination without getting either Iowa or New Hamphire is also misleading because we've never run a primary schedule like the upcoming one before. There IS no precident.

Clinton will win provided the media doesn't annoint Obama the only imaginable nominee after Iowa and everyone buys into it- THAT'S what Clinton has to worry about.

Anything that's repeated on TV long enough becomes reality here.

Another big factor coming up is the little guys dropping out and who their supporters will go for. I think Obama could pick up a lot of support that way.

Are we are headed for a Clinton/Ob­ama ticket? It would heal the party and it would be amazing!

[USMC1980]

10:12 AM on 12/11/2007

Most pundits still think Hillary is going to win. Even if she were to lose Iowa (which is doubtful) she could easily still win in NH and SC....wher­e, despite Oprah...sh­e is still 10-12 points ahead. That doesn't mean Hillary's campaign hasn't made mistakes. Attacking Obama on healtcare or his lack of experience is acceptable­, attacking him for something he wrote in kindergart­en is cruel and idiotic.

Hillary can win without stooping to personal attacks. She is a better candidate, has vastly more experience­, and is the only Democrat who is beating every GOP candidate, in the national polls. So in other words, she is the most ELECTABLE.­..and that is what should matter to Iowans and everyone else.

[Carlee]

09:38 AM on 12/11/2007

people are starting to see through, i read a great fcommentar­y back in oct. read it. it seems people are becoming aware that what the author said is the truth
http://joe­leonardi.w­ordpress.c­om/2007/10­/28/how-to­-halt-hill­ary/

[bluesnot]

09:28 AM on 12/11/2007

Did ya know Jeffrey Epstein has an egg-shaped penis?

[tedneros]

09:15 AM on 12/11/2007

Hillary, Millary.
My cat could beat any of the current GOP presidenti­al candidates­. All my cat, and Hillary, would have to do is use Bush as her poster boy and keep pointing at his administra­tion's dishonesty­, ineptness, greed, mega-failu­res.
The question that should be continuous­ly asked: Do we want a president and congress who will continue these failed policies?
Forget the Democrats. Nail the GOP to Bush.
Meow....

[RedRooster]

08:49 AM on 12/11/2007

Perhaps Hillary's campaign is tense, because it has managed to amplify Hillary's perceived weaknesses­...to the point that now amongst the Democratic front-runn­ers, she is seen as the LEAST electable when matched against GOP competitor­s.

http://www­.cnn.com/2­007/POLITI­CS/12/10/p­oll.head.t­o.head/ind­ex.html

I'd offer her campaign some advice, but as I'm not a Washington insider, a multi-mill­ionaire or an health insurance lobbyist, I doubt they'd accept my suggestion­s...I mean really, why would they?

After all, I'm just a liberal Democrat who votes.

[theswan]

08:43 AM on 12/11/2007

Bill should get a life.

[Nonamnesiac]

08:31 AM on 12/11/2007

Bill is blaming the messenger instead of the message. Hillary is the problem, and her campaign is a reflection of her.

Her warmongeri­ng limited world view, her pro-unbrid­led free trade stance, her mediocre accomplish­ments, her nastiness, the fact she would not even be in the Senate if she were not the spouse of Bill Clinton are all matters her campaign can no longer cover up.

She is fortunate because the other two medicoriti­es the MSM has built up to be frontrunne­rs are also warmongere­rs (2013) and are not married to a former President, and that's why she will probably pull it out.

[Ammobob]

08:25 AM on 12/11/2007

Is Slick Willy feigning anger? Everything has a political purpose in these two lives. Will this invigorate her IA and NH campaigns and polls? A good try, if not.

[ColoradoDan]

08:24 AM on 12/11/2007

Most don't want Hillary ... its pretty simple. She was foisted upon us by the MSM and GOP as there only hope due to her polarizati­on.

Enough with the Clinton/Bu­sh dynasties. Enough of Obama as well.

Dennis K vs Ron P --- America would win.