Political Machine Or Underdog?

After a decisive Iowa loss, Hillary Clinton needs a win in New Hampshire to replicate her husband's 1992 "comeback kid" performance. It seems like the time to take an underdog approach, to downplay expectations and try to make even a slim win appear like a huge victory. After all, Bill Clinton didn't even win New Hampshire in 1992, but his better-than-expected finish gave him the headlines.

But Clinton's campaign has been busy touting its organization, arguing that Iowa is an anomaly and detailing the machinery in motion in New Hampshire. In a release today, the campaign detailed its "unprecedented grassroots efforts" in the Granite State, including: The existence of 17 offices in the state, 200 staff, "thousands" of volunteers knocking on "over 100,000 doors," 1.4 million phone calls made in the past months and over 100,000 "neighbor-to-neighbor" letters.

The campaign has also unveiled nine billboards along the state's major arteries and will run seven full-page ads in tomorrow's newspapers. Surrogates fanning out across the state will include Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villagairosa, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, General Wesley Clark, Senators Evan Bayh and Barbara Mikulski, New Hampshire First Lady Susan Lynch, New Hampshire Speaker of the House Terie Norelli and "many more."

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe and various state directors detailed similar organizational efforts in New Hampshire and other early states. A campaign machine worth touting, no doubt, but doing so could make a failure to win in New Hampshire that much more devastating.