It’s the Campaign, Stupid: Clinton Ground Game Under Fire
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama arrive on stage for a debate Tuesday at Cleveland State University in Ohio, their last debate before the crucial March 4 primaries. (AP Photo)
The political team that famously used the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” to vault to victory in 1992 could be in need of a new mantra 15 years later: It’s the campaign, stupid.
Hillary Clinton has slipped from “inevitable” front-runner to second fiddle over the past two months, and political observers have chimed in with their take on what went wrong: No plan for after Super Tuesday. A poor caucus strategy. Her husband.
Leon Panetta, former White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton, is the latest Clinton loyalist to come out and criticize the campaign. And he suggests the problem was all of the above.
“It seems to me like they rolled the dice on Super Tuesday, thinking that would end it,” Panetta told The New York Observer. “And when it didn’t end it, they didn’t have a plan. And when it came to the caucus states, they did have a plan — which was to ignore them. I think those were serious mistakes.”
Since Feb. 5, when Barack Obama and Clinton ended the 22-state Super Tuesday marathon in a near-draw in terms of delegates, Obama has seized the lead in fundraising, contests won and total delegates. Clinton now is depending on a big comeback in the Ohio and Texas primaries next Tuesday, March 4, to turn the ship around.
Panetta put much of the blame on Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn, comparing him to an old-school operative like Karl Rove who is “all about dividing people into smaller groups rather than taking the broader approach that was needed.”
He said Obama captured the desire for change in Washington, and that the call for such change was underestimated.
He also spoke cautiously about his former boss, according to the Observer, saying that Bill Clinton sometimes has “quick reactions to things” and that it’s the job of his staff to prepare him and allow him to let off steam before entering the public arena.
The former president caused a stir before the South Carolina primary by calling Obama’s opposition to the Iraq war a “fairy tale.” He also snapped at reporters on occasion.
Clinton’s superdelegates — party officials and insiders who go to the August convention free to support either candidate, regardless of their states’ primary and caucus results — have started to cross over.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that one of Clinton’s high-profile superdelegate supporters, Georgia Rep. John Lewis, is formally switching his support to Obama. That was reported in The New York Times nearly two weeks ago, but a Lewis spokesman said at the time that the decision was not final. After some confusion over what the onetime civil rights leader would do, the Georgia congressman told the Journal-Constitution that “Barack Obama has tapped into something that is extraordinary.” He cited his Atlanta district’s preference for Obama in his decision to switch loyalties.
North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, an ally of Bill Clinton, also endorsed Obama Wednesday, citing his record on trade.
Clinton’s own campaign has started to talk with more candor about her possibilities if she doesn’t carry Ohio and Texas on Tuesday.
“If she wins those, we then go on to April 22 in Pennsylvania,” Clinton campaign national chairman Terry McAuliffe told a business group in Madison, Wis. “If we don’t, then she has to make a decision on what she’s going to do.”
Bill Clinton has made similar comments.
An article in The New York Times said Clinton is throwing the “kitchen sink” at Obama to regain her footing.
She was on the offensive Tuesday night in Cleveland at their final debate before March 4. Clinton challenged Obama on his commitment to providing universal health care and ending the war in Iraq since he was elected to the U.S. Senate. She also complained that she was frequently the first candidate asked a question by debate moderators, suggesting she feels she has been unfairly targeted by the media.
Democratic strategist and FOX News contributor Susan Estrich said the candidates ended the debate where they started.
“Whoever you were for going in, won,” she said. “There was no knockout punch and, frankly, Hillary could use a knockout punch.”
Polls show Clinton is leading in Ohio but losing ground quickly to Obama, who already has taken the lead in some Texas polls.
A Rasmussen poll taken Monday of 862 likely voters in Ohio showed Clinton with a 5-point lead over Obama, 48 to 43 percent. That’s down from a 14-point lead over the Illinois senator in a similar Rasmussen poll taken Feb. 13.
Bill Clinton told a crowd of 1,000 supporters in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday that the polls are up in the air.
“It is a tough election and the polls go back and forth and the Gallup polls say Hillary picked up 6 points in the last three days nationwide. It’s going back and forth, back and forth,” he said.
The latest Gallup tracking poll at the time showed the candidates tied at 46 percent each. But an updated poll from Sunday through Tuesday showed Obama with 48 percent to Clinton’s 43 percent.
Penn and Clinton spokesman Phil Singer released a memo Tuesday saying they’ve developed a campaign schedule “that demonstrates and underscores Hillary’s strength and experience on the national security front and in her approach to solving our economic challenges.”
They said the campaign has 41,000 volunteers on the ground in Texas and 26,000 in Ohio. Surrogates, including Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, are traveling across both states, as the New York senator schedules addresses on child poverty, veteran issues and the economy.
Penn told the Observer that the campaign strategy has been misunderstood.
“The campaign has been about big goals, health care, ending the Iraq war, new energy, the future,” he told the newspaper. “There was a misunderstanding that this campaign was about small things. It never was. If anything, the Obama campaign has microtargeted constituencies.”
Click here to read the article about Leon Panetta in The New York Observer.
FOX News’ Shushannah Walshe and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FREE RIDE FOR OBAMA & THE MEDIA!
If all you house wife’s & women Couch patatoe’s who watch Oprah Winfrey since she is supporting Barack H. OBAMA. If she told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?
VOTE SMART VOTE CLINTON IN “08″ CHECK YOUR FACTS
http://www.hillaryclinton.com
Senator Obama is gracious, kind and of superior intelligence…Senator Clinton is an egomaniac that hasn’t been told no enough in life. She seems angry as if she were entitled to be president and her camp is capable of any dirty tactic possible to fool us into believing blatant lies. Enough of the Clinton’s…….a third term for them is ridiculous…..especially given the fact that they live a step ahead of a grand jury all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I marvel at people who say Obama ain’t in the best postion for foreign affairs. i mean he already gave hitlary a thrashing in the election from democrats outside America who know whats going on in the rest of the world with an American view. Hitlary will be just the same old trouble that people dont like all over the world. OBama is world leader. Look at it this way he has roots from Africa and Ireland( Europe) and lived in Asia for 8 years! Hitlary fans are really dumb. We intelligent Obama fans know the real deal with Hitlary….Understand Europe has dealt with Clinton with the whole NATO thing and Kosovo. Obama is already an adored leader who is taking more of a DIPLOMATIC approach which is something many world leaders lack.
As each day passes, it gets more exciting. In few days time, no more Clinton, no more flyers, no Hillary’s dirty looks. I would say the motto be “stupid campaign” versus it’s the campaign stupid. Can’t wait until March 4th and see Clinton exit from the scene! Watching her campaign is like imagining Rush in a G-string.
Obama vs McCain would be a great match up. Obama who is younger, better funded, and with messages of hope against a wise and experienced statesman who doesn’t have the support of his party base but none the less commands the respect of many who care not for the blowhards like Rush, Bill, or other ranting lunatics, espcially Ann. It’s almost like watching Rocky V again! The distinction between the two can’t be greater and their policies are 180 of each other. Although this is wishful thinking, I hope the 527s stay out of this and let the voters decide based on policies and leadership qualities. In other words, gloves should be up at all time and watch the elbows and no low blows.
As for Bill, Rush, Ann, and others, please take off your hoods and check-in your crosses when sitting down to comment on the fight since there are people wanting to watch this. Then again, who can watch past Rush?
It’s a sad thing knowing that Obama is by far the best for the democratic party. If he wins Ohio/Texas and HRC looses there goes all hopes for the demo!!!!!who didn’t do the thier homework. HRC is always first in answering questions, and gives stright forward replies, while Obama sit and waits and always replies and with the same answers copying her. What a shame!!!I see and hear the media on one side the Obama 000000 side. I don’t agree with any one that doesn’t even know who is coming in Russia head of states………..but HRC did….what a joke and a slick Obama in the works……..I lost all respect for him, and HRC will be the next USA president because she is a minority in this election. Hang in there you got my vote………
we always think about foreign policy although we need it but what about american policy we go and protect the world and abandon our own home think about it that is why other countries are dictating to us because we fail to deal with our own problems.
when will you guys ever get it, The president may be commander in chief, however he does not run the military, he does not come up with the battle plan, he does not point at the enemy and pull the trigger. He has advisers, yes people he picked and trusts, but they are advisors. the generals run the military. the defence secretary runs the department and ensures that there are appropriate resources to meet the need. a great many people run the war, but not the president. the president does not negotiate trade deals, he has people to do that for him. the president does not run any department he has people to do that for him. so what is his roll. he is the leader, the visionary. he is the person who inspires the country to greatness, he is the people who can bring people of different opinions together. the decision is this who is better able to inspire the country to greatness, who is better to bring people of different opinions together. do you really think that senator clinton can give up decades of partisan attacks to bring the country together. do you think that senator mccain can give up years of supporting a misguided war to get the right people in place to end it. when you hear reports of a pastor with anti jewish beliefs, think who is spreading this around. the source is a political partisan hack who will never be able to agree that the other side has a good idea. these hacks will condemn the greatest idea if it comes from the other side, wait a couple of years and recycle it as their own, then the other side will condemn it because that is the game. think for a second, use that thing between your ears, come up with your own thoughts, cause the talk show hosts, an experts have no idea what they are talking about. stop being sheep and start thinking for your self. that was the message of washington, jefferson, kennedy, and is now the message of Obamah.
bye Mel, just want you to know, you wont be missed, another thing, I guess you are following Hillary’s lead, pout because you didnt get your way
Sometimes it’s not how the package is wrapped or how the labels look or how it
is advertised or even how one is trying to sell it; it is the product one is trying to
sell. If the product is sub-standard or lousy, people will refuse to buy! Get it?
All of you Obama fans need to beware. Evil has a way of winning lately. Don’t count Ms. Evil out. I still predict that she will win the nomination. Get ready Florida and Michigan to have another vote. It will come down to you and the superdeligates. The Clintons and their friends have never obeyed the rules. They make their own.