Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

via The Daily News

The campaign trail tales have started flying.
Someone was bound to write this story. The candidate herself calls it “ludicrous.”

… .. Another Hillary Clinton operative told The News, “Nothing will happen until after Iowa,” referring to the Jan. 3 Hawkeye State caucuses. The candidate last night rejected the scuttlebutt. “These stories are false. I have the best staff in the country, and I have total and complete confidence in them,” she said. Campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle is the biggest target, sources said. She recently took over personal command of the Iowa operation, and a Clinton defeat there could damage her future. As Barack Obama has steadily narrowed Hillary Clinton’s once-impregnable lead, friction inside her headquarters has flared. One post-Thanksgiving meeting erupted into finger-pointing over the loss of her advantage. “They all want to kill each other,” said a source aware of the closed-door meeting. The backstabbing involves several high-level people in the campaign, including Penn, Mandy Grunwald, Ann Lewis and Howard Wolfson, sources said. Penn maintained, “It’s a totally false story.” … .. Bill Clinton to aid Hillary’s campaign

But
this story about Iowa, which we’ve talked about on my radio show, is something that has been in the wind for a while. Iowa has been rough for Clinton, which was expected, but now everybody’s in Iowa working every angle of the state. It started rocky because of no natural ties. Former governor Tom Vilsack, frankly, should have been able to warn Clinton on the minefield ahead. Chase Martyn, a while back, said part of Clinton’s problem is that when she announced events, which were meant to be intimate, small gatherings, a crowd showed up. No deep roots meant a lot more work.

Iowa, where Mrs. Clinton and her husband do not have the advantage of having run a primary campaign, as they have in New Hampshire, is a place that has appeared to frustrate the Clinton political operation from the day she arrived here. Bill Clinton never competed in Iowa caucuses; the state was effectively conceded to Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa in 1992, and Mr. Clinton was unopposed in 1996.

The
Iowa debate tomorrow will likely be must see primary TV, with the Republican
debate set for today. Both debates air at 2 p.m. EST. A lot riding on it; having the potential to solidify views or rock them.

But when you’re talking about the tightening of the race one thing you’ve got to keep in mind. Barack Obama has done a masterful job in the last weeks of taking back attention and driving the narrative in the media. After the Vegas debate, where he nor Edwards did well, which was Clinton’s first direct strike at them both and the negative attacks, Obama changed the subject that weekend after Novak’s smear column. He followed it up by Oprah, which even if she didn’t change caucus goers minds gave Obama a lot of media. Clinton is running against a talented man who is exciting. That is a factor that Clinton can’t control. All she can to is counter it. That’s about to start.

To add, we talked about this, the general electability contest, yesterday.