Friday, May 16, 2008

Looking Back On The Clinton Campaign

The New Republic's Michelle Cottle was able to get a number of Clinton campaign insiders to offer their anonymous opinions as to what went wrong in their campaign. Starting out as the presumed nominee on the way to a coronation in Denver, Clinton's campaign made serious errors especially up to Super Tuesday. Some blame former campaign director Patti Solis Doyle and strategist/pollster Mark Penn for not adjusting to and anticipating events before it was too late. Some blame former President Clinton for his intemperate and ill-timed outbursts, often tinged with racial meaning, with someone saying:

"She should have kept Bill chained in the basement at Whitehaven with a case of cheese curls and a stack of dirty movies."

If we had to pick the major deficiencies, they'd be 1) presuming that the nomination was hers, and that this was an election about a "resume" vs. "change", 2) failure to organize sufficiently in caucus states, and 3) relying on tapping wealthy contributors who were maxed out at the $2300 per person limit by February.

In any event, the end is approaching.

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