Starting Gate: Who Gains From Clinton's Stumble?
Clinton's responses to the question of allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses (she appeared to be both for it and against it) and her answer to questions about releasing archived documents from the Clinton administration (not her decision, she said but it apparently is her husband's) have set off a feeding frenzy in the political world. Certainly it was a shaky moment for Clinton and one being tossed around by both her primary and Republican foes.
For better or worse, Clinton remains the center of political conversation. If she has tripped, has anyone gained or does is any benefit parsed out among her challengers? Edwards can claim to have challenged Clinton most aggressively but is widely viewed as being stuck in third place (albeit a close third in Iowa). As promised, Obama did what he could to emphasize the differences between himself and Clinton but was careful not to engage in anything which could be seen as attack politics. Chris Dodd, who was the first to challenge Clinton on the drivers license issue and pointedly questioned her ability to win in November and Joe Biden, who joined in on the criticism each gave primary voters even more to consider.
If Clinton sees her support slipping, it's not at all clear who at this point gains the most. Does Obama benefit from being the candidate who has generated such excitement but also has little to show for it thus far? Does Edwards surge because he's challenged the frontrunner most? Or do Dodd, Biden or Richardson get a second look? More likely, Clinton has been dragged back a bit to the pack.
Edwards Launches First Iowa Ad: John Edwards is making a pitch to pick up Democratic activists in Iowa in a new 60-second ad launching today in which he calls for the party to show "a little backbone." Echoing much of his criticism of Clinton, Edwards says in the ad: "It is time for our party, the Democratic Party, to show a little backbone, to have a little guts, to stand up for working men and women. If we are not their voice, they will never have a voice." The ad also talks about Elizabeth Edwards' battle with cancer. "If you're looking for heroes, don't look to me. Don't look to Elizabeth," Edwards is shown saying at a campaign stop. "We have support. We have health care. We have the American people behind us," Edwards says. "Look to them. They are the ones who we speak for. They are the ones that we stand up for."
450 Yards And A Cloud Of Dust: Is the Clinton camp getting overconfident? Not at all, says former President Bill Clinton in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In the interview, given in advance of a book signing in the city, Clinton says he "ordinarily" would think being the frontrunner at this point is a "bad thing" but says if his wife can "continue to perform well" she can "hold that lead.' More B. Clinton on the polls and the hype: "She can't and she won't take it all that seriously. To take a football analogy, this is like we're getting near the end of the first half and our team has 450 yards of total offense and the other team got 110, but nobody has put any points on the board. ... We just have to keep working."
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