Tuesday, February 12, 2008

More on changes in the Clinton org

Yesterday, the Washington Post had a piece about changes going on in the Clinton campaign. You can read it here: ["Clinton Replace Top Aide Amid Losses"].
Two key graphs worth eyeing. First, this one:

The change at the top of the Clinton campaign has been talked about since last month's Iowa caucuses, in which the senator from New York placed third and immediately lost her front-runner status. Still, it came as a surprise to even some senior advisers.

After mounting tensions inside the campaign, fueled by repeated defeats, financial difficulties, inconclusive results on Super Tuesday and Saturday's coast-to-coast trouncing, Doyle told the staff yesterday that she will step aside.

So, maybe pulling out of Iowa or low-keying Iowa or not allowing veteran Iowa field organizers to quit or be dismissed or whatever would have been good ideas after all. John Edwards and Barack Obama were pretty much going at each other there. Better to have walked away instead of blowing all that money maybe?

And this:
Doyle did not tell Clinton how rapidly the campaign was burning through money, according to one campaign official, who said Clinton learned about her financial constraints only after the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8.
Well, that must have been a wake up call.
But, at the same time, as a candidate, you had to have known that you were blowing through money. All those ads and handlers and staffers and everything else. And don't you have a financial person watching over the money to make sure things stay fluid? Where is that person? How come that person hasn't quit or wasn't fire? It would seem that this person would have more to do with watching the money than a campaign manager since they have to watch over the money.
I stand by what I have said previously: The Clintons should get out for the good of the party and the nation. But they won't. In my mind, the campaign isn't the problem; the candidate is the problem. However, in hindsight, she probably should have shaken up the campaign right after New Hampshire if the campaign even needed to be shaken up. It would not have looked as bad as it does right now.

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