In a Race That's Hers to Lose, Hillary Clinton is FalteringFriday , December 14, 2007
By Judson Berger
WASHINGTON —
First there was question planting. Then the polls started to take a turn. Then came the rumors of a campaign shake-up. Then came the "cocaine" story.
Hillary Clinton was the Democratic frontrunner even before she announced she was running for president. From the start, the Democratic race has been hers to lose. And if the marbles continue to tumble in front of her, it just might happen.
The one-time inevitable titan of this primary contest has seen her lead and her aura of invincibility slip in recent weeks, as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama makes his move, state-by-state, in the final stretch before the first caucuses and primaries.
Obama has measurably gained in Iowa and New Hampshire, and though he still trails by 9 points in a new FOX News poll out of the Granite State, he is statistically tied in other recent surveys.
"We are the frontrunner, everybody’s been going after us. We feel very good about where we are," Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told FOX News Wednesday, on the eve of the final debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.
But just one day later, Clinton found herself personally apologizing to Obama for comments made by her adviser and New Hampshire co-chairman, Bill Shaheen, who said in published comments that Democrats should be wary of nominating Obama because Republicans would use his admission of past drug use, including cocaine, against him in the general election.
Shaheen resigned Thursday, after the Obama campaign called his comments an act of desperation.
Shaheen's departure follows a pattern. The campaign asked two volunteers to resign earlier this month after they forwarded a hoax e-mail suggesting Obama is a Muslim bent on destroying the United States. The Clinton camp also had to condemn actions by its staffers after it was discovered the campaign planted a question on global warming at an event at Grinnell College in Iowa last month.
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