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Clinton Skips the Heartland?
May 23, 2007 4:33 PM
ABC News' Kate Snow and Eloise Harper Report: Senator Hillary Clinton's, D-N.Y., campaign is in full damage control mode, scrambling to respond to the leak of a memo that suggests that Clinton will be skipping the Iowa caucuses.
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson tells ABC News that Clinton's deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry, wrote an unsolicited memo "which does not reflect the thinking of the campaign or the candidate."
"Senator Clinton is one hundred and ten percent committed to Iowa," Wolfson said.
Wolfson noted that Senator Clinton is scheduled to travel to Iowa this weekend as well as the first two weekends in June. The campaign has ten offices in the state and is "rapidly expanding our staff," he said.
Wolfson maintained the memo does not represent any split within the campaign staff and suggested it was simply the musings of one lone staffer.
"This is the thinking of one member of our staff," Wolfson told ABC News. "It is absolutely not shared by either the campaign or the candidate."
But Henry's memo is sure to prompt comments from other candidates and campaigns, who will see it as a sign that Clinton is not fully committed to the Hawkeye state.
The memo said that Clinton should skip the Iowa contest and focus on states that hold their nominating contests later in 2008. It argued that Clinton could devote time and money to New Hampshire and to the many states slated to hold primaries on February 5, 2008, instead of focusing so much money and attention on Iowa.
Former President Bill Clinton employed a similar strategy when he ran for President in 1992.
Until now, Senator Clinton had appeared to be following a different path, embracing the state. Iowa was her first campaign stop after announcing she would run for president.
In addition, she also brought on popular former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to lead her efforts in Iowa.
Vilsack, who served two terms as Iowa Governor, dropped out of the race for president on February 23, saying his campaign could not raise enough money to continue to be viable. Vilsack and his wife Christie then endorsed Senator Clinton's bid for the White House on March 26 of this year. Vilsack is campaigning on behalf of Clinton in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
Henry is still employed by the Clinton campaign, though many staffers are none too happy with the leak of the memo. Prior to his work at the DSCC, Henry managed the 2005 campaign of Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.
May 23, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (8)
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Its alright Iowa I wouldn't vote for her anyway!
Posted by: Texas | May 23, 2007 5:12:23 PM
She's a fake and she hasnt done anything for NY state or its citizens. Things are worse here then before she was senator here. I just pray she never becomes president.
Posted by: Dirka Dirka | May 23, 2007 6:19:17 PM
I am a very big fan of hillary and she will get my vote no matter what goes on in Iowa
Posted by: Phil | May 23, 2007 8:12:47 PM
She has done more for New York City Firefighters than any Senator or Politician that has ever represented NY. I cant wait to see her take the oath of office as the first Woman President of The United States.
Posted by: william Gates | May 24, 2007 12:20:01 AM
She should debate Ron Paul!!
Posted by: Bill Hicks | May 24, 2007 7:05:22 AM
Tell her to skip the heartland, as well as the rest of the U.S. and go to China where her fascist perspective is more at home!
Posted by: a.copley | May 24, 2007 7:25:44 AM
RE: HILLARY's NOT Gonna Win IOWA
WHEN are you political reporters from DC and NYC going to GET IT??!!!
Vilsack's running for Prez was SOLELY a SET-UP job BY the Clintonistas!!
It was NEVER really about trying to get ol' Tom elected hisownself -- nope, nope -- but it was ALL about HIM running as a 'favorite son' candidate in Iowa, and supposedly winning (what a good laugh that was!) as THE reason for WHY Hillary hadn't won the Caucuses, because she sure as heck wasn't projected to THEN, and even MORE isn't likely to win them NOW, either!!! WHY do ya think the Clintons made sure that Tom V. was made the DLC Chair last year, huh???
Geez, wouldja get it through your thick skulls that Hillary is NOT liked here, and Vilsack's lame-o attempt -- funded almost entirely by OUT-of-state Hillary-supporter $$, too -- was 'cut short' NOT by his inability to raise funds -- hey, dontcha think that IF Iowans HAD been hugely backing of his candidacy that we would have actually supported it with our own dough??? -- but rather -- now are you LISTENING?? -- because once so many other states started moving up their dates, many campaign-types incorrectly thought that Iowa would matter LESS (HA!), and so thought that it no longer mattered that much if Hillary DID lose Iowa, so the word was put out to stop giving Vilsack donations -- and his campaign fizzled.
SEE??!!!
So Hill's dep.camp.mgr., whose memo is NOW causing SO much uproar, is actually just stating the OBVIOUS -- that since she has NO chance of winning here, that they might as well not 'waste' their cash trying too hard to twist Iowans into NY pretzels -- when they are soooo much more likely to continue to expand on the John Edwards love-fest that's been growing here since '03.
Sure, there are some hard-core Hillary fans here -- and by the way?, please understand that Tom Vilsack's support of her does NOTHING to increase her backing by Iowans, as he just doesn't carry that much 'weight' with many Dems here -- but that support has its upper limits, and is NOT likely to be much expanded from where she sits in the recent Iowa Poll just released, where she came in *3rd*! Iowans are smarter than that, and they aren't interested in carrying on a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton 'legacy' in the White House.
Iowans just laugh out loud whenever you east-coasters solemnly declare that Hillary is going to be the next nominee, because she just won't have the kind of traction after the huge loss that Iowa will give her on 1/14/08 -- or earlier! -- to be able to have that great a showing in the rest of the country's contests.
And look for Richardson to do much better here than you expect, too. Dodd and Biden are quietly building a LOT of interest because of their foreign affairs and domestic policy backgrounds -- we do, after all, have two very long-time senators of our own, and they are both highly respected for their Senate service, so no, we DON'T mind having 'career' Senators run for Prez here, just FYI.
EVERYbody in Iowa is looking for that candidate who can beat WHOever the GOP puts up, and even the independents (called 'no partys' here) will be showing up at the Dem caucuses in force this time around (they do have to re-register that night as Dems, though), so we expect a gigantic turnout -- unless we're forced to move up the whole damn thing to Dec., in which case turnout might be lousy if it conflicts with pre-Christmas activities!
A woman as the next president? Not something that Iowans are particularly against -- if ELIZABETH Edwards was running (and, well, if she did have a clean bill of health), it would be NO CONTEST! Iowans would overwhelmingly make her the Iowa Caucus winner! She is even more beloved here than her husband, and his support here is growing every week. Look for JRE to take 35%+ on caucus night -- enough to push him through the next tier with a huge momentum.
'Nuff said.
Iowa Dem
Seen it, done it, lived it.
Posted by: IOWA DEM | May 24, 2007 11:01:14 AM
That's pretty shallow thinking there, because she did something for a certain group she should be elected. Well she's not running for some firefighter's union! Hillary "Rosie O'Donnell" Clinton is running for President of the USA. There's enough stupid people out there who will vote for her. Just what our country needs, a Clintonista!
Posted by: Nick | May 25, 2007 3:40:50 AM
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