Posted on 02/10/2008 3:47:26 PM PST by TornadoAlley3
Top aide Patti Solis Doyle quits and strategy of banking on big wins in March is high-risk, reports Toby Harnden
Hillary Clinton's campaign, in deep trouble following a weekend of heavy losses, lurched into a full crisis Sunday night after her campaign manager and long-time friend stepped down.
Patti Solis Doyle, the first aide Mrs Clinton hired back in 1991, was replaced by another long-time aide, Maggie Williams.
"I have been proud to manage this campaign and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years," Ms Solis Doyle wrote in an email to staff.
In a statement, Mrs Clinton praised Ms Solis Doyle's "extraordinary job" and "outstanding work". Mrs Williams was chief of staff to Mrs Clinton when she was First Lady.
Mrs Clinton's camp was already braced for a string of defeats in the six states still to vote in the Democratic race this month after suffering three landslide losses to Barack Obama at the weekend.
Although she was still in with a good chance in Maine caucuses that were held last night, Mrs Clinton appeared to be turning to the risky strategy of sitting out contests in smaller states and hoping for salvation next month when Democrats vote in the major Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, gambled everything on the "big prize" of Florida, conceding that he would lose the six states before that.
But he crashed out in Florida and dropped out of the Republican race. Few expect Mr Obama to score a knockout blow before March but waiting until later for big wins could be very risky for Mrs Clinton.
The young Illinois senator swept the board in Saturday's votes, winning by 37 percentage points in Washington, 36 points in Nebraska and 21 points in Louisiana. He also scored a lopsided victory in the US Virgin Islands in a performance that stunned the Clinton campaign.
Mr Obama had been expected to do well but the margins of his victories gave him an important boost before "Chesapeake Tuesday" tomorrow, when Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC vote.
Extending his string of wins could help him build powerful momentum for the nomination. "Hillary Clinton is playing the Rudy Giuliani strategy and we've learned that it doesn't work," said Frank Luntz, a leading pollster.
"Voters expect you to woo them. Skipping over states will provoke their ire. There's a real issue of respect in this race, you have a responsibility to try everywhere.
"Obama's busting his ass to compete in every state. That's what you expect from the front-runner, not the challenger. Hers is now a strategy of desperation."
Mrs Clinton looked chastened but defiant as she spoke at the Jefferson-Jackson Democratic dinner in Richmond, Virginia, as the results came in and omitted to congratulate the night's victor.
There were chants of "Obama, Obama" as she briefly mingled with the crowd before leaving as her victorious rival entered the room to an exultant welcome.
Her supporters were shocked by her defeats. Alma Ivey-Mathis, 65, a retired technology specialist from Moneta, Virginia, said: "I'm just crushed but I haven't given up. Hillary's still got a chance."
Underlining Mr Obama's effective status as front-runner, President George W Bush made his first detailed public comments about his would-be successor Sunday.
"I certainly don't know what he believes in," Mr Bush said in a Fox News interview. "The only thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad [Iran's president]."
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr Obama, said the Democratic candidate "doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation".
In a memo released just before Saturday's results, the Clinton campaign said: "Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favourable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania."
Those three states, culminating with Pennsylvania on April 22, carry 492 delegates, while there are 367 at stake in the 10 contests before them, including the 21 in last night's Maine caucuses.
Mr Obama's aides estimated that his wins would give him an additional 45 "pledged" delegates to the 27 he led by after Super Tuesday last week, when 22 states voted and Mr Obama eked out a wafer-thin victory.
Mrs Clinton has a theoretical overall lead if committed "super delegates" are taken into account but most Democratic officials believe these will swing behind whichever candidate emerges with a clear lead among pledged delegates.
Part of Mrs Clinton's problem is that her finances are now more limited than Mr Obama's. Television advertising in the major media markets of Texas and Ohio is expensive and Mr Obama's grassroots organising has thus far proved much more effective.
The loss in Washington state was a particular slap in the face for Mrs Clinton.
She held three rallies there in the 24 hours before voting compared with Mr Obama's single event, though it dwarfed hers by attracting a record crowd of some 21,000.
Opinion polls have given Mr Obama a 20-point advantage in Virginia and Maryland and he is also favoured in the District of Columbia.
Maggie knows where ALL the bodies are buried becasue she HELPED BURY them!
Wasn’t the LA Times rumored to be sitting on a scandal story? I wonder if it’s about Oh Black Obama, and is Hillary getting ready to break it loose?
Ash trays are the weapon of choice for Hillary. It will be a hard hat zone in her campaign center.
The Obama voters RIOT!
Wow, making a black secretary the “campaign manager” is the most transparent tokenism since, well, the last clinton tokenism that was supposed to fool the blacks into staying on the plantation.
Anybody see Pat Buchanan on “McLaughlin” saying the $5 mil that hillary “loaned” her own campaign was a money laundering scheme to clean some of bill’s foriegn bribes?
Patti Solis Doyle out, Maggie Williams in...
Hmmmm. I suspect another suicide in the making.
“Maggie, bring me the suicide note folder. We’ve got work to do.”
Sounds like Hillary has had a “Why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone jus walked ovah yo grave” moment.
Yeah, that will bring the troops home.
With WH china imbedded into her skull, and a lamp shade....... ambulance attendants immediately rushed her...........
I hope some folks’ eyes are opened this summer when the super delegates shove the black man aside for the cranky, cankly cow.
I don't care what people (or I) think of him - 21,000 is impressive to say the least.
Maggie Williams -- will be her black face and one who can be trusted to forget everything she sees or does for Hillary... The poor girl couldn't remember anything about what they found or what the removed from the office of "suicide victim" Vince Foster....
If memory serves - she also ILLEGALLY accepted and envelope KNOWN to be full of cash from one of the Chicoms close to Clinton...... She never spent a day in jail....
"Margaret A. "Maggie" Williams. She never had a falling-out of the sort that Ickes or Grunwald did. But by the start of the second term, she said she was burdened with legal bills of $300,000 and weary of what she regarded as Washington's prosecutorial culture. Newly married, she was happy to retreat to a new life in Paris. Now, still on the other side of the Atlantic, Williams is back in the political mix."
That's all I have to say.
Maggie is the female version of Bruce Lindsay. That pair know where half the Earth’s dirt is buried.
She has been living in France for several years. What in the world is all this about?
Can’t Hillary get anyone credible to front for her?
Yes! I've been thinking the same thing, but adding an additional option of 3rd party...maybe or maybe not Obama, but someone who shares the idealism and hatred of all-things-Clinton at that point.
If that happens, we could also see a 4th party conservative since the election would then be up for grabs.
I know it sounds crazy but...
The old dogs are with Hillary all the way. Just wait 'till Tuesday, Hillary. I'm doing my best to round up as many votes for Obama as I possibly can. There may be too many Asian Americans in Northern VA in Hillary's camp, but I'm hoping the rest of Virginia comes through for Obama.
Anybody know if they have a webcam set up at Fort Marcy Park?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.