Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama are locked in a tight race for the Democratic Nomination, with the race against the Republicans still to come. But their campaign organizations could cause them problems. by rtbohan
(libertarian)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have been giving speeches and encouraging their supporters as the Potomac Primary approachs. Tomorrow, voters in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia all voting, The race between them is closer than it was this time last week, thanks to Obama's string of victories. But attention to the candidates and what they say is being distracted by what is going on behind the scenes.
Senator Hillary Clinton has announced that her campaign Manager, Patti Solis Doyle is stepping downs and being replaced by Maggie A. Williams, who joined the campaign a month ago as Chief of Staff. Senator Clinton says that the change was made at the request of Doyle, who will remain on as a senior advisor, and "from time to time" travel with the Senator.
The former campaign manager is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who began her work in politiics working for Mayor Richard Daley. From there, she was recruited to Arkansas where she became the chief of staff for Mrs. Clinton. From 1993 she presided as chief of staff in "Hilleryland" (her name for the area in the Whited occupied by Mrs Clinton and her staff). During Senator Clinton's first campaign for Senator, she was the director of HilPac, which financed they campaign and continued on the Seator's staff until the campaign for the presidency, which she served as campaign manager.
Maggie Williams is well known black business woman who served both President and Mrs. Clinton in the White House. For Mrs Clinton she was particularly important in the work on the universal health care program which Mrs. Clinton proposed. When the Clinton's left the white, Smith went into the business world and eventually became President of Fenton Communications. From this position she returned to the political struggle and Chief of Staff in the Hillary campaign, as the campaign was reorganized after Clinton's loss in Iowa.
The three women involved in this change of positions are all intelligent, experienced workers in politics. The three of them have worked together before, and presumably there is not jealousy or competition involved. I assume that Doyle's decision to step down may have been caused by the pressure of the work, and the stress of having to take the blame for the recent failures to win primaries and caucuses. Williams may have the logical choice because she is an outspoken supporter of both Clintons. It may be that she was chosen to manage Bill Clinton's increasing role in the campaign and to be sure that his work does not hurt the campaign, as it apparently did in South Carolina.
But if one is inclined to be cynical about politics, and I have developed a certain level of that fault, one sees a more devious motive in the change. There was talk of chnging the campaign manager at the time that Williams was brought in as chief of staff. But Doyle kept the position through the California primary where Clinton's success in attracting hispanid voters played a large part in her victory. She was replaced after the Louisiana primary, which Clinton lost in large part because of Obam'a strong support from black voters. It would seem that with the District of Columbia primary tomorrow, Senator Clinton felt the need to give her campaign a black leader. And does this mean that Doyle will travel with the Senator "from time to time" only for campaign events among hispanics.
Senator Obama, riding a string of victories, does not seem inclined to shuffle his staff. But there are troubles with the campaign organization which could harm him. There are reports that an independent political advocacy group has received a letter from the Obama campaign telling it to cease work on a voter registration project. The program is designed to get unregistered young black voters to register to vote. The project is not connected with the Obama campaign in any way, and has said that it will not stop the effort.
Senator Obama, of course, counts on a base of young black voters. something that the press and the Clinton campaign mention frequsently. But Senator Obama is not running as a black candidate. The staff apparently feel that a registration drive among blacks, even one not run by his campaign, might be portrayed as an attempt to sway the elcection by last minute registration by black voters. A candidate must avoid the"appearance of impropriety".
But this being said, the effort to control the actions of an independent group because the campaign organization wants to completely control the Senator's supporters, is not a good idea. It brings to mind the adverse reaction, many months ago, to the campaign Organization's takeover of a private website established to support the Obama candidacy. It is certainly wise to avoid the appearance of impropriety, but the appearance of arrogance can be just as damaging
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Ron Paul has called for a march on Washington DC!!!! Everybody get ready, we're going to do it...the Ron Paul R3VOLution is taking the country back! He also suggested there might be some dirt coming out on the other candidates between now and the Convention...
