Posted on 02/10/2008 3:47:26 PM PST by TornadoAlley3
Top aide Patti Solis Doyle quits and strategy of banking on big wins in March is high-risk, reports Toby Harnden
Hillary Clinton's campaign, in deep trouble following a weekend of heavy losses, lurched into a full crisis Sunday night after her campaign manager and long-time friend stepped down.
Patti Solis Doyle, the first aide Mrs Clinton hired back in 1991, was replaced by another long-time aide, Maggie Williams.
"I have been proud to manage this campaign and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years," Ms Solis Doyle wrote in an email to staff.
In a statement, Mrs Clinton praised Ms Solis Doyle's "extraordinary job" and "outstanding work". Mrs Williams was chief of staff to Mrs Clinton when she was First Lady.
Mrs Clinton's camp was already braced for a string of defeats in the six states still to vote in the Democratic race this month after suffering three landslide losses to Barack Obama at the weekend.
Although she was still in with a good chance in Maine caucuses that were held last night, Mrs Clinton appeared to be turning to the risky strategy of sitting out contests in smaller states and hoping for salvation next month when Democrats vote in the major Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, gambled everything on the "big prize" of Florida, conceding that he would lose the six states before that.
But he crashed out in Florida and dropped out of the Republican race. Few expect Mr Obama to score a knockout blow before March but waiting until later for big wins could be very risky for Mrs Clinton.
The young Illinois senator swept the board in Saturday's votes, winning by 37 percentage points in Washington, 36 points in Nebraska and 21 points in Louisiana. He also scored a lopsided victory in the US Virgin Islands in a performance that stunned the Clinton campaign.
Mr Obama had been expected to do well but the margins of his victories gave him an important boost before "Chesapeake Tuesday" tomorrow, when Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC vote.
Extending his string of wins could help him build powerful momentum for the nomination. "Hillary Clinton is playing the Rudy Giuliani strategy and we've learned that it doesn't work," said Frank Luntz, a leading pollster.
"Voters expect you to woo them. Skipping over states will provoke their ire. There's a real issue of respect in this race, you have a responsibility to try everywhere.
"Obama's busting his ass to compete in every state. That's what you expect from the front-runner, not the challenger. Hers is now a strategy of desperation."
Mrs Clinton looked chastened but defiant as she spoke at the Jefferson-Jackson Democratic dinner in Richmond, Virginia, as the results came in and omitted to congratulate the night's victor.
There were chants of "Obama, Obama" as she briefly mingled with the crowd before leaving as her victorious rival entered the room to an exultant welcome.
Her supporters were shocked by her defeats. Alma Ivey-Mathis, 65, a retired technology specialist from Moneta, Virginia, said: "I'm just crushed but I haven't given up. Hillary's still got a chance."
Underlining Mr Obama's effective status as front-runner, President George W Bush made his first detailed public comments about his would-be successor Sunday.
"I certainly don't know what he believes in," Mr Bush said in a Fox News interview. "The only thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad [Iran's president]."
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr Obama, said the Democratic candidate "doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation".
In a memo released just before Saturday's results, the Clinton campaign said: "Although the next several states that hold nominating contests this month are more favourable to the Obama campaign, we will continue to compete in them and hope to secure as many delegates as we can before the race turns to Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania."
Those three states, culminating with Pennsylvania on April 22, carry 492 delegates, while there are 367 at stake in the 10 contests before them, including the 21 in last night's Maine caucuses.
Mr Obama's aides estimated that his wins would give him an additional 45 "pledged" delegates to the 27 he led by after Super Tuesday last week, when 22 states voted and Mr Obama eked out a wafer-thin victory.
Mrs Clinton has a theoretical overall lead if committed "super delegates" are taken into account but most Democratic officials believe these will swing behind whichever candidate emerges with a clear lead among pledged delegates.
Part of Mrs Clinton's problem is that her finances are now more limited than Mr Obama's. Television advertising in the major media markets of Texas and Ohio is expensive and Mr Obama's grassroots organising has thus far proved much more effective.
The loss in Washington state was a particular slap in the face for Mrs Clinton.
She held three rallies there in the 24 hours before voting compared with Mr Obama's single event, though it dwarfed hers by attracting a record crowd of some 21,000.
Opinion polls have given Mr Obama a 20-point advantage in Virginia and Maryland and he is also favoured in the District of Columbia.
There goes the good china.
huma had better have an appetite tonight, the ‘beast is gonna need a little lovin’.
Wasn't Maggie the aide who helped "sanitize" Vince Foster's office following his unfortunate mishap in a remote park in Washington DC?
With Hillary replacing her campaign manager with Maggie Williams, it may send a signal that she has the Latino vote locked up, they need more black support, and most importantly, Hillary needs a trusted advisor in place to once again help sanitize upcoming Clinton problems. Hillary needs someone around to help tough it out after the Feb 21 kick-off of the campaign fraud trial.
It’s already on its way to Dubai. They’ll sell everything to get into power.
She planted the phony suicide note.
She will be the black face Clinton uses to mug Obama for the nomination.
LOL -- Maggie Williams is one of the two who couldn't remember their names, when Congress had them up the Hill to testify about the Rose Law Firm records. They knew squat about nuthin'!
Hillary's in trouble now, if she's relying on Miss "I Can't Remember".
No problem. Remember Hillary and Slick took all the china from the White House and Air Force One when they left. When she comes back, maybe she'll bring it back. Otherwise, when she leaves this time, we will find out that she sold the White House to the Red Chinese the day before her term(s) ended.
Maggie also took $50,000 from Johnnie Chung...in the White House...AGAINST THE LAW!!! But she married the FBI Waco guy, Ron Noble!!
Vince Foster could opine.. Obama should hire more body guards..
Obama Fruit Fly Lifespan Alert.
That and up to her eyeballs in the Johnny Chung money thing....!
Maggie has most certainly been called upon to perform many more such duties of that sort that we will never know about.
Now that's hard to do, even for a professional actress.
Vince Foster was unavailable for comment.
Whose gonna be at the Elvis train to console the girls when Elvis is gone? Give me a mic. I'll do it.
Newsweek now gives Obama wins in 19 states, Clinton 12.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/68123
Maggie knows where ALL the bodies are buried becasue she HELPED BURY them!
Wasn’t the LA Times rumored to be sitting on a scandal story? I wonder if it’s about Oh Black Obama, and is Hillary getting ready to break it loose?
Ash trays are the weapon of choice for Hillary. It will be a hard hat zone in her campaign center.
The Obama voters RIOT!
Wow, making a black secretary the “campaign manager” is the most transparent tokenism since, well, the last clinton tokenism that was supposed to fool the blacks into staying on the plantation.
Anybody see Pat Buchanan on “McLaughlin” saying the $5 mil that hillary “loaned” her own campaign was a money laundering scheme to clean some of bill’s foriegn bribes?
Patti Solis Doyle out, Maggie Williams in...
Hmmmm. I suspect another suicide in the making.
“Maggie, bring me the suicide note folder. We’ve got work to do.”
Sounds like Hillary has had a “Why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone jus walked ovah yo grave” moment.
Yeah, that will bring the troops home.
With WH china imbedded into her skull, and a lamp shade....... ambulance attendants immediately rushed her...........
I hope some folks’ eyes are opened this summer when the super delegates shove the black man aside for the cranky, cankly cow.
I don't care what people (or I) think of him - 21,000 is impressive to say the least.
Maggie Williams -- will be her black face and one who can be trusted to forget everything she sees or does for Hillary... The poor girl couldn't remember anything about what they found or what the removed from the office of "suicide victim" Vince Foster....
If memory serves - she also ILLEGALLY accepted and envelope KNOWN to be full of cash from one of the Chicoms close to Clinton...... She never spent a day in jail....
"Margaret A. "Maggie" Williams. She never had a falling-out of the sort that Ickes or Grunwald did. But by the start of the second term, she said she was burdened with legal bills of $300,000 and weary of what she regarded as Washington's prosecutorial culture. Newly married, she was happy to retreat to a new life in Paris. Now, still on the other side of the Atlantic, Williams is back in the political mix."
That's all I have to say.
Maggie is the female version of Bruce Lindsay. That pair know where half the Earth’s dirt is buried.
She has been living in France for several years. What in the world is all this about?
Can’t Hillary get anyone credible to front for her?
Yes! I've been thinking the same thing, but adding an additional option of 3rd party...maybe or maybe not Obama, but someone who shares the idealism and hatred of all-things-Clinton at that point.
If that happens, we could also see a 4th party conservative since the election would then be up for grabs.
I know it sounds crazy but...
The old dogs are with Hillary all the way. Just wait 'till Tuesday, Hillary. I'm doing my best to round up as many votes for Obama as I possibly can. There may be too many Asian Americans in Northern VA in Hillary's camp, but I'm hoping the rest of Virginia comes through for Obama.
Anybody know if they have a webcam set up at Fort Marcy Park?
I think you nailed it; hillery canned the previous campaign manager for being a loser. As for the successor, she didn’t look any farther than skin color. Maybe gender, too, but selecting a black woman says it’s pretty clear where hillery is coming from.
I think she’s desperate and on the ropes. Osama is on a roll.
With Hillary replacing her campaign manager with Maggie Williams, it may send a signal that she has the Latino vote locked up, they need more black support, and most importantly, Hillary needs a trusted advisor in place to once again help sanitize upcoming Clinton problems.
Or it may mean the much anticipated dead bodies of close associates (spelled arkancides) are soon to be discovered!
Unlike in 2000, the votes of the people won’t matter to the Dems.
“Selected, not elected” may come back to bite them.
Great piece of reportorial projection, huh? Kinda makes you wonder how that differentiates from looking dyspeptic. Maybe it's dyspeptic without the bicarb.
Hillary is in deep trouble. She is going to lose all the Feb 12th races. It is going to be a hard couple of weeks for the Clinton campaign. She’ll have to recover by taking Texas or Ohio or she is going to be past the point of no return. I’m sure the Clintons will try something to knock Obama out but I imagine it will backfire as their attempts have so far.
Looks like all of us who haven’t voted yet in the primaries better vote for Hillary. She will be easier to beat in the general election, I think.
So gross.
I wonder if anyone whom works on Hillary’s campaign will see their next birthdays after these failures!
I’ve been wondering what kind of sandwich she’ll make me after this is all over. I don’t know if I want to find out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.