NYT: Clinton Aides Fear Election Is "Slipping From Her Grasp"
UPDATE: The Huffington Post has learned that the New York Times will publish a front-page story on Tuesday reporting that Clinton aides fear that the nomination is "slipping from her grasp." The Times' Patrick Healy will report:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers are increasingly concerned that, after her victories in the Feb. 5 primaries, she could be on a precipitous losing streak in nomination contests this month that could endanger her competitiveness in the upcoming votes in Ohio and Texas on March 4, several aides said on Monday. Her losses last weekend in Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine have thrown the Clinton campaign into a state of anxiety not seen since her drubbing in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, with major donors and supporters saying for the first time that they are deeply worried that the Democratic nomination may be slipping from her grasp.
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Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the replacement of her campaign manager reflected a need to add more people to her campaign staff.
Former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle will remain a trusted friend and adviser, Clinton said.
"There is just too much to be done, so we had to add some more people. There really is not significant change, we really just got to get more help, we just don't have enough help," Clinton told a Chicago television news crew. Solis Doyle is a Chicago native.
Maggie Williams, a longtime Clinton confidante and former chief of staff from Clinton's days as first lady, replaced Solis Doyle.
Keep reading.
According to Marc Ambinder of Atlantic.com, Hillary Clinton didn't know about her campaign's financial straits until after the Iowa caucuses. The Chicago Tribune goes further to charge that then campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle had been "lying" to Hillary about her campaign's financial situation. Ambinder also points out another campaign problem that appears to be solved by this weekend's staff shakeup: Maggie Williams planned to leave the campaign if her role in the chain of command was not "clarified."
Clinton herself was not informed that the campaign was in dire financial straits until after Iowa, one adviser said. For two days, Bill Clinton camped out in the campaign's Ballston, VA headquarters and poured through the numbers with Williams and other aides. Aides and advisers say that Clinton's decision to lend herself money was not made by consulting members of the senior staff and was relayed to them after-the-fact.
The relationship between Maggie Williams and Patti Solis Doyle has been described as close but acrimonious, akin to two longtime friends who have the same goal in mind but argue about how to get there. They have argued in private, and increasingly, in public settings.
Two sources said that Williams last week threatened to leave the campaign -- she had only been on a 30-day consignment -- unless the chain of command was clarified -- what one person privy to the threat called "a mutiny."
Want to know more about Hillary's new Chief of Staff Maggie Williams? Read Arianna's blog here.
Read about more about the events surrounding the shake up this weekend and Solis Doyle's letter to Clinton campaign staff.
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AP | February 11, 2008 11:35 AM