WP: Dan Balz's Take
"Taking Absolutely Nothing for Granted"
Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, sat down with a large group of reporters Thursday morning for a status report on the presidential campaign. "We are taking absolutely nothing for granted," he said soberly. Everything else Penn said during the hour-long session pointed to a campaign that feels increasingly confident of its position....Time and again, including in his opening statement, he went out of his way to underscore the Clinton's is a campaign at full battle stations, no matter what the national polls may show: "We are running a primary campaign. We are taking every primary seriously. This race is not over. Iowa is very competitive."
In between, Penn had difficulty concealing his sense of confidence, even pointing out that the increased attacks by Edwards and Obama reflect their nervousness rather than her vulnerabilities. "That is a spin that people have," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist.
Penn's most provocative moments came not when he talked not about Clinton's Democratic rivals but when he focused on the rising power of the women in politics and Clinton's potential to attract what would be a historic female turnout -- including Republican women and younger women....He cited one poll in which Clinton leads Rudy Giuliani in a hypothetical general election match up. In that survey, Clinton has an 18-point lead over Giuliani among women -- which he interpreted as almost insurmountable, given that women make up more than half the electorate.
John Edwards continues to argue that he is the most electable Democrat in 2008, that he can campaign effectively in places that Clinton cannot. When Penn was asked about resistance to Clinton's candidacy in the South, he said, "She's very strong in Arkansas." He also said she has a very good shot at winning Florida and noted that she is ahead in current general election polls in swing states like Ohio....
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He argued that Clinton is the one Democrat who could neutralize Giuliani's potential strength in the northeast and industrial battlegrounds. "She wipes him out in New York," he said, and would beat him in Pennsylvania. As for battleground states in the heartland, Penn predicted that Giuliani would not travel well from his New York roots....
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/18/post_135.html?hpid=topnews 
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