Posted on 12/15/2007 10:29:15 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
JOHNSTON, Iowa - Hillary Clinton, who spent the past year as the Democratic presidential front-runner fostering an aura of inevitability, found herself Friday in the humbling position of declaring she won't be knocked out early.
With polls showing Clinton locked in a tough battle in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses and her once dominant lead in New Hampshire now gone, the former First Lady said she is in the race to stay through Super Duper Tuesday, when more than 20 states including New York and California hold primaries.
"I have always intended to go all the way through this process, all the way through the Feb. 5 states," said Clinton when asked during an interview on Iowa Public Television whether her campaign could withstand a loss in Iowa. "Every single place that there's going to be a caucus or an election between now and Feb. 5, I'm going to contend in."
"I always thought this would get close," said Clinton, now facing a tougher challenge by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "This is what happens in a contested election."
For the first time Friday, Clinton also responded to questions about the resignation of her national co-chairman Bill Shaheen, who stepped down after he suggested Obama may have sold drugs as a teenager.
"I not only disapproved but it did not reflect the campaign that I'm running," Clinton said.
Obama said Friday he's become a target for political attacks because the momentum has turned in his favor.
"The fact that we're up in Iowa and we've now closed the gap in New Hampshire and South Carolina, that means we've got momentum and that means you're a target," Obama said. "What it also means is folks are excited; they're energized. I think people are realizing we've got a chance."
Clinton picked up the endorsement Friday of Rep. Leonard Boswell, a prominent Iowan who has considerable credibility in the farming community, and the backing of New York's 1199 SEIU and 32BJ, the health care and building workers unions.
But the union endorsements can't help Clinton where she needs it most right now - in the earliest voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Out-of-state locals can't compete against the candidate chosen by the unions' chapters in those states - in this case, John Edwards.
[”This is what happens in a contested election.” ‘
This is what happens when people discover what you really are.
It does not matter who wins the primaries,
Hillary will be chosen in the "smoke-filled"
back rooms by those how really matter.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yes, I was thinking the same thing.
Not sure I would go that far just yet . I’m sure there are contingency plans .
Mia T’s work is sorely missed by me (and others I would say)
B.S.!! You thought you were gonna be crowned by default.
If she’s said that, she’s DONE. Give her till the Iowa caucuses, and she’s out within 48 hours.
Look for Bill and Hill to file divorce procedings within the month after that.
Noted detectable sign of weakness.
I would guess that the internal polling is even worse than the MSM polling.
I want to see Hillary start calling Obama names.
I’d like to see Edwards bring an ashtray to the next debate and give it to her.
Now she's sinking like a rock in a pond, and the ugly is coming out. All the Botox and lipo in the world can mask her haggard, old-looking countenance, her flat monotone, and her cold, dead eyes. Her phony "radiance" has evaporated. Couldn't happen to a nicer b***h!
I'd bet anything that she did not, in fact, think it would every get this close.
Oprah/Obama is only just getting started. I personally think Bill Richardson may end up being a threat to her, as well. We'll see. At any rate, she is only a strong candidate until people get a good look at her.
After that, that's all she wrote.
doesn’t look like it’s been updated recently.
Obama sold drugs when he was a teenager! Is this supposed to be a surprise? He is from a Muslim background! Their laws are not exactly in line with the Christian Laws.
I never expect to see his real religious background laid out on national media. Truth is deadly for a democrat. Obama is a stealth candidate, Oprah is his Tabloid queen.
Democrats are lower than a snakes belly in a wagon track.
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