Clinton Camp's Election Eve Strategy: Attack!
Sounding at times optimistic and at time incredulous, the Clinton campaign on Monday used every tool at its disposal in an effort to push the senator to victory in Tuesday's primary elections.
No attack line went unearthed. During a conference call with reporters, spokesmen Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer as well as chief strategist Mark Penn hit Obama on issues ranging from national security, to his relationship with indicted Chicago political insider Antoin Rezko, to what is now being dubbed as "NAFTA-gate."
All the while, they insisted that the pressure to win in Ohio and Texas was on Obama, not Clinton, who has lost 11 straight primary elections
"Let's say we do win in Texas and Ohio," said Wolfson. "Then we'd we will be able to say that we've won Texas, Ohio, New York, California, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Arizona, a diverse set of states from coast to coast, north, south, east, and west, red and blue... Senator Obama came into Ohio and Texas with every possible advantage. He outspent us massively. His allies outspent us massively. He and his allies have declared the race over so many times I can't even count. And despite that we have been successful."
Added Penn, somewhat defiantly: "We expect that on Wednesday morning, the momentum of Barack Obama will be significantly blunted..."
The Monday morning Clinton attack was more than just the hour-long conference call. Even before the clock struck noon, the campaign had sent out 15 emails to reporters on, passing along damaging news articles concerning Obama, offering up condemning Clinton statements, and suggesting questions the media should ask the Illinois Senator.
At 10:19 am, Singer wrote to the list: "Here's a quick rundown of items for your radar since we're killing you guys with email this morning." His note was followed by stories of Rezko's trial as well as video clip of Obama denying that his staff had told the Canadian government that his criticism of NAFTA was not entirely sincere (a memo surface on Tuesday showing that an aide had discussed the matter with a Canadian embassy official).
The campaign would send seven subsequent emails.
In addition, the Clinton camp launched a new ad this morning taking Obama to task for not holding a hearing on Afghanistan despite heading the Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs.
It was the second spot in the last week that directly questioned Obama's national security credentials. The first, the now-famous "3 A.M" ad, the campaign credited with fundamentally changing the state of the races in Ohio and Texas.
"Now, I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say," Sen. Clinton said Saturday, while on the campaign trail. "He's never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth an [anti-war] speech he made in 2002."
Taken together, the attacks raised the specter that the Clinton team thought McCain was better suited than Obama to be commander in chief. No, said Wolfson, offering a fleeting bit of praise for the Illinois senator. "If Barack Obama happens to be a nominee of this party, there is going to be enthusiastic support of his candidacy from this campaign. And the fact that John McCain wants us to stay in Iraq for 100 years raises questions about how he would [operate as president]."
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March 3, 2008 01:15 PM