Clinton Advisers Point to Edwards Threat

[JohnLocke]

Clinton Advisers Point to Edwards Threat
By Anne E. Kornblut--"The Trail" Washington Post blog
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
----
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa -- Clinton advisers have been pushing the notion that former senator John Edwards poses a growing threat in the Iowa caucuses, suggesting their internal data show something of a mini-surge for the North Carolinian. Obama advisers have countered that it makes for a convenient storyline -- and is evidence the Clinton campaign is threatened by a two-way race with Sen. Barack Obama.

Today, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took Edwards on over his signature issue, indicating she may view the Edwards improvements as quite real. "People talk about poverty in this campaign," Clinton said during a crowded event here. "Well, we lifted more people out of poverty during the 1990s than at any time in our history."

Clinton went on to dismiss the notion that her candidacy is backward-looking in a bad way. "Some people say, 'There she goes talking about the '90s again,'" she said, drawing laughter from the crowd. "Well, it wasn't so bad. We had policies that actually helped to create 22.7 million new jobs. The typical Iowan family saw an increase of $7,000 in their incomes during the '90s."

Clinton is continuing a five-day blitz across Iowa, where a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows her in a statistical tie with Obama, with Edwards trailing close behind. The poll indicates that there is hope for each candidate to land a first-place victory -- but that it will turn largely on the ground game, depending on which candidate can mobilize voters, many of them new. Edwards, though behind nationally and in some Iowa polls, has a steady corps of supporters who have been through the process before and are thus expected to be more reliable about showing up on Jan. 3. Edwards and Clinton are also dueling over rural voters.

But that is not to say that Clinton no longer views Obama as a formidable challenge. Perhaps the greatest sign that she does is in the form of a literal sign -- the one hanging behind her at events, that says she is "Working for Change, Working for You." And like a holistic healer, she has also injected a promise of Obama-style hope into her stump speeches over the last few days, promising on many fronts a "new beginning."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/19/post_244.html

[robbedvoter]

1. As with everything with Edwards - it comes down to doing vs speechifying.

media is now pushing Edwards hard - NYT had 2 photos on the cover - Hillary with Bill and Edwards with the flag behind him. No Obama or anyone else - no explanation for the choice.

[maximusveritas]

2. The Clintons have been pushing Edwards for a while now

It wouldn't surprise me if they were behind all those stories about an Edwards surge. She's banking on him taking votes from Obama, thus allowing her to come in 2nd. And then she can beat him in every other state.

[ellacott]

3. That's the way I see it also n/t

[underpants]

4. OR that she gets to claim victory over a late surging foe

either way this is pure pulp

[JohnLocke]

5. If so, she and her campaign staff are idiots.

[maximusveritas]

6. I think it's kind of smart

It gives her an additional way of winning and doesn't really hurt her. She knows Edwards will disproportionally take voters from Obama.

[creeksneakers2]

14. She has a sort of unspoken truce with Edwards right now

She's very smart to keep it. If Edwards wins Iowa, he punctures Obama's momentum, if he still has any. Edwards is weak almost everywhere else. He's no long term threat.

[oasis]

10. If it is so, then so be it. Hillary's in it to win it.

"Nothing succeeds like success".:applause:

[surfermaw]

13. Edwards, has never been behind in Iowa, why do you think the others spent millions.

[geek tragedy]

7. "We had policies . . . "

What part of the economy was Hillary in charge of?

[MasonJar]

8. Iowans like Edwards; they did in 04 also.

[AmBlue]

9. "Mini-surge" my a$$...

It's a freaking RIPTIDE!! The folks on the ground in Iowa tell me that EDWARDS is the man with the MO.

GO, JOHN, GO!!
:kick:

[flyarm]

11. i am hearing the same thing!! ..eom

[foo_bar]

12. who the heck is "we"?

Today, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took Edwards on over his signature issue, indicating she may view the Edwards improvements as quite real. "People talk about poverty in this campaign," Clinton said during a crowded event here. "Well, we lifted more people out of poverty during the 1990s than at any time in our history.
<...>
We had policies that actually helped to create 22.7 million new jobs."

I don't think Hillary is crediting "We the People" with creating new jobs sans my-and-Bob-Rubin's policies; either she's exaggerating her influence, or she really is a Rasputin character who parlayed a sinecure into a cabinet-level executive position. I mean, Eleanor Roosevelt was more of a "goodwill ambassador" than wielder of the sort of power-sharing agreement being intimated.