Clinton Team Retools Strategy In N.H.

Politico: After Iowa Caucuses, Former First Lady To Target Barack Obama Over Experience

(The Politico)  This story was written by Ben Smith, Jim VandeHei, and Mike Allen.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to target what her campaign calls Barack Obama’s inexperience over the next five days in New Hampshire and deliver much sharper - and likely much more personal and negative - attacks against the Iowa winner, according to Democrats familiar with the evolving strategy.

Clinton is recalibrating her campaign message, the latest in what has been a month-long process of shifting slogans and strategies aimed at slowing an ascendant Obama. This won’t be easy. The so-called contrast strategy carries clear risk - it could make her look desperate or turn off voters tired of conventional political tactics.

“We really have a full month to Feb. 5,” Clinton’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, said of the so-called Super Tuesday primaries. “We’re going to see a race where [voters] will really start to focus in on the choices they have.”

“President Clinton lost five states before he won a single state in his quest for the nomination,” Penn said. “We’re very competitive in New Hampshire - let’s get there, let’s have a debate, let’s see the choices.”

Clinton has tons of cash and experience, but it’s not entirely clear how much that will matter. Iowa was a big setback for the senator from New York in ways that are only becoming obvious as strategists sift through the detailed polling results and final numbers.

Her experience argument clearly failed to excite Democratic voters. She lost badly among young voters and newcomers, and even lost women. Remember all those Penn memos explaining how Clinton would bring so many new female voters into the process and prosper? There were certainly more women - just not women for Hillary Clinton.

A much bigger concern for Clinton is the overall Obama performance. The Illinois senator proved he could craft an attractive and consistent campaign message with broad appeal, build a political organization that delivers results on the ground and capture the imagination of voters who feed off each other - college-age kids and disillusioned independents.

Penn disputed the early impression that Obama rode to victory on a wave of new independent and Republican caucus-goers, arguing instead that Obama benefited from a surge in younger voters.

“It’s not true that this was a movement of independents,” he said, pointing - accurately - to exit polling showing that the share of independent voters had held steady at 20 percent, the same as 2004. That is true, but it was 20 percent of a much bigger pool because turnout was through the roof for Democrats.

Meanwhile, Clinton and Obama think John Edwards is a dead man walking. That is the consensus view of Democratic strategists interviewed. So it is a two-person race in their minds.

Obama expects Clinton to attack and attack viciously. His advisers are bracing for a flurry of ads questioning his ability to lead in a time of great unease, both at home and overseas. The Clintons want this badly and playing nice won’t get them there. It is safe to assume the race will get nastier.

Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic national committeeman and major Clinton supporter from Long Island, echoed what many in the Clinton camp were saying overnight. “Being the underdog will be very liberating,” he said. That is a far cry from the Clinton strategy of proclaiming her the inevitable victor.

Penn, campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe, and press secretary Jay Carson described in a rolling series of interviews aboard Clinton’s chartered jet a campaign that Carson said would draw “sharper” contrasts than in the restrained Iowa contest. None of the Clinton aides would describe the form those contrasts would take, but they wouldn’t rule out negative television advertising or more direct criticism of Obama from Clinon, who to this point has barely mentioned his name.

As a central theme, they said they’d continue to stress the gravity of the job, suggesting that Obama lacks the experience necessary to perform it.

“This is an election that is really going to be about the choice that people have between experienced leadership for change, versus leadership less experienced that talks about change,” said Penn.

The Clinton aides also sought to downplay the import of Obama’s Iowa victory. Carson compared the universe of Iowa voters to the population of his native Macon, Ga.

Clinton and her husband plan a series of events in New Hampshire Saturday, and none of her aides suggested they’d write off the state.

“We’re going to win New Hampshire,” said McAuliffe.

[time4chng]

Hillary is toast..the writing is now being written on the wall in new Hampshire as it was in Iowa. It must be some kind of poetic justice or cosmic karma that the wife of the first "black president" will be beaten by a black man whose mother is white.

[bhappy2-2]

What we need is a candidate that supports AMERICA. We have had plenty of politicians who support ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. We need to start DEPORTING ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS and HEAVILY FINE those who support ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. We MUST SECURE OUR BORDERS and rid OUR COUNTRY of these parasitic ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. If our politicians refuse to do so WE, THE CITIZENS OF AMERICA, need to REPLACE the treasonous politicians with ones who SUPPORT AMERICA. Failure to act now could result in The United States of America becoming North Mexico. They have an army here already, they only need to arm them. Those who claim "they don''''t want to take over" need to look around, see the way they have ALREADY TAKEN OVER our jobs.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! GET RID OF THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS, NOW!

[grazinggoat]

Look in the back of Hilary Clinton in the small video above. Who stands there, right behind her? Ms Madeleine Albright. She is the one who is pulling the strings for her campaign, along with the Zimmerman and the likes... They are steering her campaign in a way that showed previous directions toward unilateral and sole support for Israelis policies in the Middle-East. With little consideration if at all to the dire of Palestinians and lack of pressure put on Israel in order to make a serious committment to the peace plans signed, re-signed and re-re-signed (Road Map) but always broken by the Israeli Politician leaders, as admitted yesterday by Olmert in the Jerusalem Post, well we''re not going nowhere. Hilary is a blatant and unconditional pro-Israeli. She would not make a change to the orientation of shameful tolerence by the Actual Walking-Liar''s administration.

A tougher stand toward the respect and committment to the Peace plans must be put to solve this open wound in the Middle-East and that is causing the continuous unrest, frustration, and indirectly causing us a lot of trouble and spending. Hilary is far from planning such a move, she just cannot afford to frustrate the unconditional pro-Israelis pulling her campaign strings... But at what price?

[grazinggoat]

Do you still maintain that the Trade Towers collapse was due to the government using thermite to cut the beams ? Did any of the 19 terrorists really exist ?

And, now you tell us, "they are all War Pigs...only the squeal is different."



You have some nerve talking about folks lying.

Seems to me you spread the most lies of all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by speakinup at 06:48 PM : Jan 05, 2008

-Spikingup: where are your proofs? Are your sources a CIA destroying tapes and laughing in the face of Justices and prosecutors asking not to destroy any proof related to the Gitmo touristic Facilities? Or is it the Walking-Liar''s public relation office?

-Are you idiot or are you dumb? Please tell us which one you prefer?

www.zeitgeistmovie.com Now, have some fun watching this.

[speakinup]

So, let''s talk about Prinzowhales'' credibility.

Prinzowhales - do you still maintain there was no jetliner crashed into the Pentagon ?

Do you still maintain that the Trade Towers collapse was due to the government using thermite to cut the beams ? Did any of the 19 terrorists really exist ?

And, now you tell us, "they are all War Pigs...only the squeal is different."

You have some nerve talking about folks lying.

Seems to me you spread the most lies of all.

[jack3213]

The poor simpleton democrats think that change- any change- for the sake of change- is even remotely congruous to improvement of a situation. You don''t revolt except against evil which precludes by definition even allowing the evil dems to propose change. See, just like with drugs, booze and toxic waste, there is absolutely NO problem for which the answer is a democrat!! Besides- if you want change for the better- the thing to do is get rid of the god damned marxist pigs pretending to be americans calling themselves democrats. They have not been cleansed out of washington once since 1940. THAT would be a change that would improve all our lives, and all of USA.

[candide777]

She voted in favor of the Iraq war 5 years ago because she, like everyone else, was LIED to about what was at stake. The responsibility for that lies with the Bush administration, not with her. Talk about big spending ? It is Bush that is putting the US hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.
Posted by libra127 at 02:07 PM : Jan 05, 2008

Okay, here is where I have to jump off the liberal bandwagon. I was there I remember. Yes, we were lied to, and YES, we wanted to be lied to, and yes we knew we were being lied to, and yes, we prentended that we didn''t know we were being lied to. What this country did was shameful, and no gets absolved for pretending that they didn''t know they were being lied to in my opinion, not Bush, not Hillary, not even the pathetic citizens in this country who all pretended not to know that their leaders were being cowardly politicians.

[candide777]

Speaking of tools...Did they ever identify ''''whom the blond hair belonged that was found in Vince Foster''''s jockey shorts after his corpse was found in Fort Marcy Park where it was dumped after his murder?
Posted by Prinzowhales at 01:26 PM : Jan 05, 2008

LOL!! It must have been Hillary!!! She''s a witch!! Burn her!!! LOL!!

[realpatriot1]

Prinzowhales,

I live in the middle of rural North Carolina a few counties east of you and I knew I was being lied to also. I knew that the best way to stop Bush was the Levin Amendment which would give Bush authority but only after the inspection process was completed. Edwards was actually one of the Senators who supported that amendment but it failed. Hillary never supported it; she supported a blank check for Bush from the get go and that''s what gave him the opening to defy the international community.

The truth is that if Harry Reid had been Majority Leader at the time the Levin Amendment would''ve passed, the inspections process would''ve been completed and the rationale for war would''ve been shot to hell.

You may see no difference between the parties because
only the leftist fringe meets your purist criteria but most rationale people see a huge difference.

[prinzowhales]

libra127--The Democrats have had the numbers in Congress, but not the will to stand up to the free-spending Republicans. The truth is, as Madeleine Albright put it, in a different context, years ago...while not an exact quote, it is close... ''One of the strengths of American foreign policy is that it doesn''t change with the party in power...'' This is just another way of saying ''bipartisan''.

The mainstream Republicans and the mainstream Democrats differ for the most part in how they market the same old cr*p to different gaggles of chuckle-heads. One readily sees this commonality between the mainstream politicoes in Obama''s endorsement of Liebermann in his Senate race while Liebermann endorses McCain in his presidential bid and Hillary''s stalwart support for the Bush wars...they are all War Pigs...only the squeal is different.

[prinzowhales]

libra127--I was "lied to" as well...and I live in the middle of the woods in North Carolina and knew it--and e-mailed Senator Edwards regarding the obvious lies, the cherry-picking of intelligence and knew of the results of the UN WMD teams in Iraq...These ''lies'' were easy to see through if one was interested in looking...

...what these lies did was to provide a rationale for the invasion...an excuse for doing the inexcusable... Congress needed it, every bit as much as the Executive needed it...needed this rationale to justify the BIPARTISAN support for the war.

Edwards and Clinton, as lawyers, in particular, should have done due diligence on these claims at the time...and, if they had, the tissue of lies that made up the case for war would have evaporated just as surely as it did in the days after the invasion--after the lies had served their purposes.

This war was called for by the Cheney DoD during the closing days of the Bush41 Administration...by PNAC as well...just as the Cheney DoD papers presented the strategy for the forward move into the Balkans which led directly to the move into Kosovo under Clinton.

[libra127]

Prinz - She got re-elected because the people of NY were happy with what she had done for them. She is not "pro-war". Hardly. She voted in favor of the Iraq war 5 years ago because she, like everyone else, was LIED to about what was at stake. The responsibility for that lies with the Bush administration, not with her. Talk about big spending ? It is Bush that is putting the US hundreds of billions of dollars in debt.

[libra127]

Valentin - The article is about what her strategists are saying. There is nothing here to suggest that SHE is sounding "irrational, defensive, and angry".

[prinzowhales]

libra127--Just what makes Hillary so "excellent" as a senator? Her pro-war, pro-big spending, pro-illegal immigration agenda?

[valentin73]

Attacking Obama is not the right thing to do after losing against him in the first test for the presidency. The people have spoken Hillary! You are beginning to sound irrational, defensive, and angry!

[libra127]

Hillary is the most intelligent person running for President and has been an excellent Senator for New York. She was easily re-elected to office in New York. She could be a great leader for this country at a time when we desperately need such leadership. Go Hillary !!

[prinzowhales]

Speaking of tools...Did they ever identify ''whom the blond hair belonged that was found in Vince Foster''s jockey shorts after his corpse was found in Fort Marcy Park where it was dumped after his murder?

[xlib]

trillion1-Right you are. This biotch came to Western New York on her campaign trail the first time around. She swore she would bring "thousands of jobs to the area". You know what we got, a forgien company that does customer service that brought exactly 10 jobs directly to our area. The rest of the company is offshore somewhere. Sweet!! When asked for assistance her comment was "Erie County problems are Erie Countys problems". What are we paying this biotch for??
Hey brianbwb, madame clinton has already made ALL KINDS of history.
Also, you DO KNOW that obama is half white, right?? You do know that?? Now, tell me again why the white side is always ingnored?? Just why is that??

[telecom_1]

This red blue stuff is a joke started by the major media. They use different colors to represent how voting is unfolding in the states. I think they should use green and purple or any colors other than red and blue just to stop the silliness of someone saying that they are red or blue. I not looking for a politician to reinvent America or to revolutionize out great nation. We need strong leaders who can keep America strong without trying to change everybody and everything. Change can be bad or good. Oil is over $100.00 a barrel if politicians truly want to change America then they should start with something that is causing all Americans to suffer equally like skyrocketing energy prices.

[prinzowhales]

Here is a ''Youtube'' of McCain at a campaign stop with Joe Liebermann standing behind him saying that it would be alright with him if we stayed in Iraq for a hundred years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7HYoh9YMM

Remember!! Obama supported Liebermann in his race for Senate. Obama tells his supporters one thing and his buddies at the Chicago CFR another. Just as the Democratic leadership played their supporters for fools in the 2006 Congressional elections, they are playing them again in 2008 with the same old ''anti-war'' message that masks support for the war.

Do you think George Bush is the only politician in America who lies?! Barack Obama is for change alright!--a change in the person who will be lying to you! Remember the betrayal of antiwar movement by the Democrats in 2006!