Knife Meets Back

From Peter Nicholas' LA Times article today "How did the Clinton campaign get here?" we get this juicy bit:

As the campaign faces a make-or-break moment, some high-level officials are trying to play down their role in the campaign. [Mark] Penn said in an e-mail over the weekend that he had "no direct authority in the campaign," describing himself as merely "an outside message advisor with no campaign staff reporting to me."

"I have had no say or involvement in four key areas -- the financial budget and resource allocation, political or organizational sides. Those were the responsibility of Patti Solis Doyle, Harold Ickes and Mike Henry, and they met separately on all matters relating to those areas."

Howard Wolfson, the campaign's communications chief, answered that it was Penn who had top responsibility for both its strategy and message. Another aide said Penn spoke to Clinton routinely about the campaign's message and ran daily meetings on the topic.

If this is what's leaking to the outside, you can imagine what's going on inside. But let's step back and quote some Monty Python: Hillary's not dead yet. She holds a lead in Ohio and is tied in Texas. Unless she wins both, the pressure will be on to withdraw. But what if she wins Ohio and narrowly loses Texas? Is that enough for Obama to claim victory?



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