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.
“Expect another Anita Hill...”
I think you are right. These folks will do ANYTHING to stay in power... look behind the scenes and yes, it is truly a rats’ nest with a hellofa lot of money. The rats are using it to get many compliant traitors to do their bidding. Meanwhile the MSM (also part of the rats’ nest) keeps many simple folk ignorant...
Now, they are tuly after each other...we’ll see...
Excellent analysis.
Your Presidential Platform on your About page is a hoot. But you’ll never get my vote because your beer is panther piss.
The Huckster stole your idea about fixing the Interstate. One request...could you please make all 32 lanes SOUTHBOUND so that we may escape from Massachusetts quicker?
You’ve never visited Holland.
Yep. One of the worst gigs of my life was working for one of Hillary's "oldest and dearest friends". She'd decreed that a woman had to do the job, but there weren't any qualified or experienced women, so they hired someone with no experience and I was hired to do the actual work so that she could take the credit for it. I felt a lot like the 'man behind the curtain'.
There was a distinct 'gym coach' ethos about that group that could make the average heterosexual's skin crawl.
“A Democratic convention that will seem like a flashback to 1968.”
We can only hope.
Great post !
Hillary did brag about her culinary skills though.
**
Well, yes, that is true. I remember that she claimed that she would straighten up the kitchen in the WH during the Clinton Infestation because she was used to cleaning up after her family. How stupid does she think we are? The only cleanup she’s ever done is disposing of evidence and witnesses of their illegal activities.
I believe in her familiarity with the kitchen as much as I believe her statement that she was always secretly a Yankees fan. The Clintons must ask themselves constantly, “Why tell the truth when a lie will sound so good?”
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".
Even in a story about the evil one, they still have to find a way to get a shot in at Dubya!!
She might be incompetent, but Hillary is a horrible candidate. At some point the media will quit covering for her and then it is done. We might have reached this point, because Obama is getting tons of good press.
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