Dueling Clinton, Obama Strategy Memos on Polling -- the Latest from Penn and Plouffe

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.---The Clinton campaign polllster, Mark Penn, sent out a memo on Tuesday basically concluding that White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is in good shape, based on national polls. Seventy minutes later, a memo arrived from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe arguing Obama was on a nice trajectory based on polls in the early presidential vote states. He even uses the phrase "turn the page" in his memo, a line borrowed from his boss.

Parse these memos for yourself.

I've been asserting that the national polls don't count for much at this point. The Clinton camp has been making the point that the national polls are worth paying attention to because Clinton, even if she falters in the early states, gets a big running start in what amounts to an almost national primary on Feb. 5.

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