Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Wednesday, December 26, 2007
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 26 Dec 2007 06:36:54 -0500

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT NEWS BRIEFING (Executive Version)
Full version is attached and available online at http://www.bulletinnews.com/clinton

TO: CLINTON CAMPAIGN

DATE: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2007 6:30 AM EST

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Clinton's Experience During Husband's Presidency Said To Be Limited.

+ Clinton Campaign Manager Said To Be Gaining Influence.

+ Clinton To Focus On Her Experience In Days Leading Up To Iowa Caucuses.

+ Clinton Interviewed On Inside Edition.

+ Candidates Kick Off Campaign Home Stretch In Iowa, New Hampshire.

+ Clinton Opens Big Lead In Iowa In ARG Poll.

+ South Carolina's Democratic Race Will Likely Boil Down To Clinton-Obama Battle.

+ "Hangdog" Photos Can Undermine Candidates' Messages.

+ "Roguish" Chair Of Obama's Florida Campaign A Prolific Fundraiser.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

CLINTON'S EXPERIENCE DURING HUSBAND'S PRESIDENCY SAID TO BE LIMITED. The New York Times (12/26, A1, Healy, 1.18M) reports in a front page story that during her husband's "two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda." And "during one of President Bill Clinton's major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, Mrs. Clinton was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Lewinsky scandal sizzled." In "seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton lays claim to two traits nearly every day: strength and experience. But as the junior senator from New York, she has few significant legislative accomplishments to her name. She has cast herself, instead, as a first lady like no other: a full partner to her husband in his administration, and, she says, all the stronger and more experienced for her 'eight years with a front-row seat on history.'" An interview "with Mrs. Clinton, conversations with 35 Clinton administration officials and a review of books about her White House years suggest that she was more of a sounding board than a policy maker, who learned through osmosis rather than decision-making, and who grew gradually more comfortable with the use of military power."

CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER SAID TO BE GAINING INFLUENCE. In a front page story, the Wall Street Journal (12/26, A1, Langley, 2.06M) profiles Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who is "trying to re-energize Mrs. Clinton's campaign. For both, it's the fight of their careers." By this month, Clinton's "problems" in Iowa "had stirred speculation about a campaign shake-up, including a demotion of Ms. Solis Doyle. Yet even as this idea circulated, Ms. Solis Doyle was gaining influence inside the campaign. She is moving beyond executing strategy to helping make it."

CLINTON TO FOCUS ON HER EXPERIENCE IN DAYS LEADING UP TO IOWA CAUCUSES. The Des Moines Register (12/26, Beaumont, 158K) reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton on Wednesday "will begin to frame the final eight days of the Iowa caucus campaign as a choice between what she says is her preparedness for the White House and her rivals' lack of experience at a critical time for the nation." Clinton "also tried, in an interview this week with The Des Moines Register, to dampen expectations that she will win the leadoff contest on Jan. 3. ... Implicit in the closing argument Clinton plans to make across southern Iowa today is that her chief rivals for the 2008 nomination are inexperienced for the challenges she says await the next president. However, Clinton declined to say whether she will try to make the caucuses a choice between...Sen. Barack Obama and herself. 'I want people to imagine what is going to be waiting on the desk in the Oval Office...the whole range of pressing issues that are going to bear down on the next president, plus everything we can't predict,' Clinton said in the interview. 'No one brings the mix of qualifications and experience, the vision and plan, that I do with a proven, tested record of being able to produce results.'" Clinton wasn't willing "to say whether she expects to win the caucuses. She tried to limit expectations with the argument that some people who would support her might be unable to attend the caucuses, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 'I don't know what is going to happen on January 3rd, and I don't think anybody does,' she said."

CLINTON INTERVIEWED ON INSIDE EDITION. A taped interview with Hillary Clinton was show on yesterday's CBS' Inside Edition (12/25). A wide range of topics were covered, mostly focusing on what life was like on the campaign trail and covering few policy issues.

CANDIDATES KICK OFF CAMPAIGN HOME STRETCH IN IOWA, NEW HAMPSHIRE. The Wall Street Journal (12/26, Holmes, 2.06M) reports the Republican and Democratic presidential "contenders are back in action today for the home stretch leading to next week's Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary a week later. Where they head first may reveal something about their short-term strategy." The Democratic front-runners "seem to be favoring Iowa, with Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama heading there, and John Edwards taking advantage of their absence to campaign in the Granite State." Among Republicans, Mitt Romney "hopes to head off a John McCain surge in New Hampshire with appearances there, while Mr. McCain heads to Iowa. Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee will also be doing a little campaigning in Iowa before replenishing their campaign coffers for the final sprint with fund-raising appearances in Florida."

The CBS Evening News (12/25, story 9, 1:00, Mitchell, 7.66M) reported, "For the Democrats, Iowa is shaping up as a three-way race. The latest poll gives Hillary Clinton a slight lead over Barack Obama and John Edwards, but all three are within the four-point margin of error. On the Republican side Mike Huckabee is now the front-runner ahead of Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. The story in New Hampshire is John McCain's resurgence. A University of New Hampshire poll puts him within striking distance of front-runner Mitt Romney on the Republican side. That same poll puts Barack Obama slightly ahead of Clinton among Democrats, though other polls put Clinton in the lead."

NBC Nightly News (12/25, story 7, 1:30, Holt, 9.87M) reported, "Does John Edwards still have a chance?" NBC (Harwood) added, "If he didn't, Barack Obama wouldn't have attacked him over the weekend. Rising concerns about the economy may be helping Edwards' populist message." Holt: "Is there such a thing as a front-runner among the GOP candidates?" Harwood: "There, the front-runner's mantle has already been re-gifted several times and sitting under the Republican tree waiting for somebody else to grab it. In Iowa, appears to be a two-way race between Huckabee and Romney but John McCain is coming on strong in New Hampshire and Rudy Giuliani still has leads in some of those big states that vote on Super Tuesday, February 5th."

Democrats Making "Unprecedented" Effort To Turn Out Caucus-Goers. Bloomberg (12/26, Goldman) reports on last-minute efforts by Democrats to woo Iowa caucus-goers, focusing on the importance of a statewide organization. Bloomberg writes, "The relatively small numbers of voters involved in the caucus means the campaigns are putting a premium on on-the-ground organization because a close race will be decided by a candidate's ability to turn out the vote. ... Caucuses make far greater demands of voters than primary elections, which usually only require the pull of a lever or push of a button to cast a ballot. On Jan. 3, Iowa caucus-goers will need to travel to their precincts, possibly through a snowstorm. Then, they will engage in a multiround process of public negotiation and cajoling with friends and neighbors --unlike the Republicans, who can keep their votes private -- that may last more than two hours." The Democrats "are deploying unprecedented resources to ensure that Iowans turn out -- and champion their cause once the voting begins." The Clinton and Obama campaigns "have each fielded at least 300 paid staffers -- and many more volunteers -- to fan out across the state."

CLINTON OPENS BIG LEAD IN IOWA IN ARG POLL. GOP Race Tightens. CNN (12/25, Sinderbrand) reported on its "Political Ticker" blog that an American Research Group poll of 600 likely Iowa caucus-goers from each party shows Hillary Clinton opening a wide lead over Barack Obama in Iowa, while the GOP race has narrowed significantly. The poll shows Clinton leading with 34%, followed by John Edwards, 20%, and Barack Obama, 19%. On the GOP side, Mike Huckabee leads with 23%, followed by Mitt Romney, 21%; John McCain, 17%; Rudy Giuliani, 14%; and Ron Paul, 10%. The survey was conducted from December 20-23.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S DEMOCRATIC RACE WILL LIKELY BOIL DOWN TO CLINTON-OBAMA BATTLE. The Greenville (SC) News (12/26, Hoover) reports, "Some polls suggest a statistical dead heat in South Carolina between" Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. However, national surveys "paint a starkly different picture, that of a lopsided Clinton edge. But there's a cautionary note for Clinton: Her lead nationally is shrinking and has evaporated in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first states to vote. The lone constant in the polls is" South Carolina "native John Edwards, who "is a consistent and distant third in virtually every poll, whether it's for his native state, Iowa or the United States as a whole." The Democratic race in South Carolina is "tinged with racial, gender and class overtones. Nearly 56 percent of South Carolina's registered voters are women, a critical segment for any candidate, but especially for Clinton. Blacks are expected to constitute up to 50 percent of the Democratic primary turnout, and how well Obama, the only black in the field, does there can determine the outcome." Clinton "has pushed her experience," while Obama "has focused on change." And Edwards "has pursued a populist strategy."

"HANGDOG" PHOTOS CAN UNDERMINE CANDIDATES' MESSAGES. The Washington Post (12/26, C1, Kennicott, 723K) reports on a "useful, though very tricky, class of images in this roller-coaster ride of a presidential campaign. Call them the 'hangdog' candidate photographs: They capture the politician with eyes downcast, looking tired, stressed. When the headline is about poll numbers dropping, fundraising tanking or verbal gaffes from soon-to-be-cashiered campaign advisers, the hangdog candidate image is sure to make its appearance." The "grim-faced photograph confirms the suggestion, in the story it illustrates, that the campaign is imploding." The "popular Drudge Report Web site recently ran a particularly notorious picture of Hillary Clinton, showing her face riven with deep furrows and wrinkles. She looked so awful that even some conservative commentators noted the unfairness of using such a manifestly unflattering image."

"ROGUISH" CHAIR OF OBAMA'S FLORIDA CAMPAIGN A PROLIFIC FUNDRAISER. The St. Petersburg Times (12/26, Smith) reports, "In any conversation of more than a few minutes, Barack Obama's top advocate in Florida is apt to bellow, 'I'll kick your a--,' become agonizingly corny about the greatness of America, make an off-color ethnic joke, and predict that Republicans will nominate John McCain 'because he's like the last chick left in the bar.' Suffice to say, Miami lawyer Kirk Wagar, Obama's roguish Florida chairman, has not mastered the soaring rhetoric of the politics of hope. But at 38, this cocky, born-again son of an arctic ship captain has emerged as one of the most important and courted Democratic players in America's biggest battleground state. Beneath Wagar's legendary political incorrectness is a ferociously loyal and idealistic champion who, not incidentally, can reel in reams of campaign checks." Wagar, who "raised hundreds of thousands of dollars" for Sen. John Kerry in 2004, "has helped Obama raise about $4.5-million out of Florida this year."

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