Posted on 12/15/2007 10:29:15 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
JOHNSTON, Iowa - Hillary Clinton, who spent the past year as the Democratic presidential front-runner fostering an aura of inevitability, found herself Friday in the humbling position of declaring she won't be knocked out early.
With polls showing Clinton locked in a tough battle in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses and her once dominant lead in New Hampshire now gone, the former First Lady said she is in the race to stay through Super Duper Tuesday, when more than 20 states including New York and California hold primaries.
"I have always intended to go all the way through this process, all the way through the Feb. 5 states," said Clinton when asked during an interview on Iowa Public Television whether her campaign could withstand a loss in Iowa. "Every single place that there's going to be a caucus or an election between now and Feb. 5, I'm going to contend in."
"I always thought this would get close," said Clinton, now facing a tougher challenge by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "This is what happens in a contested election."
For the first time Friday, Clinton also responded to questions about the resignation of her national co-chairman Bill Shaheen, who stepped down after he suggested Obama may have sold drugs as a teenager.
"I not only disapproved but it did not reflect the campaign that I'm running," Clinton said.
Obama said Friday he's become a target for political attacks because the momentum has turned in his favor.
"The fact that we're up in Iowa and we've now closed the gap in New Hampshire and South Carolina, that means we've got momentum and that means you're a target," Obama said. "What it also means is folks are excited; they're energized. I think people are realizing we've got a chance."
Clinton picked up the endorsement Friday of Rep. Leonard Boswell, a prominent Iowan who has considerable credibility in the farming community, and the backing of New York's 1199 SEIU and 32BJ, the health care and building workers unions.
But the union endorsements can't help Clinton where she needs it most right now - in the earliest voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Out-of-state locals can't compete against the candidate chosen by the unions' chapters in those states - in this case, John Edwards.
Just some thread trivia....
Hey
Obama might have an “accident”— we are talking about the Clintons here. Maybe this is all a set up—something concocted to breath some interest in the primaries. Maybe Obama was always selected to be the VP? Maybe I need to put on my tin foil hat.
That’s what I’m waiting to hear!!!
By George Dragoo, you’ve done it again!
Pray for W and Our Victorious Troops
Bill is the one bringing in all the money. Hillary will not give that up; so she's not going to divorce him. Bill isn't going to divorce Hillary because the women he screws will pressure him to marry them and he doesn't want that. Besides, Hillary doesn't care who Bill is screwing as long a he doesn't go after Hillary's sex partners.
Afterwards, Big Brown delivers the Sad Hill in her big brown and ugly pant suit to light up a meeting for her in Gilford, NH!
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