If Clinton Loses Iowa: Her 'Plan B'

[Pirate Smile]

If Clinton Loses Iowa: Her 'Plan B'

MANCHESTER, N.H.) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's backup plan if she falters in Iowa can be summed up in two words: New Hampshire.
Clinton's Democratic team is preparing television ads here criticizing Barack Obama's health care plan and working to build what campaigns call a firewall. If the Obama presidential campaign ignites in Iowa, she wants to be ready to cool him off in a state where her organization is strong and her support has proven durable.

This past weekend, the Clinton campaign already had volunteers going door-to-door with fliers criticizing Obama on health care, and possible TV ads against him were screened for focus groups.
Advisers to the New York senator acknowledge there's been uneasiness as Obama has risen in national and several early state polls, including Iowa and New Hampshire. But they insist their master blueprint — emphasizing Clinton's experience, toughness and ability to withstand Republican attacks — remains sound.

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Clinton advisers believe she can survive a loss there to Edwards, who is running well in Iowa but has smaller campaign organizations in the other early-voting states.

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Placing second in Iowa to the well-funded, well-organized Obama, the Clinton people acknowledge, could be a much more severe blow.

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To that end, the Clinton campaign ordered focus groups in New Hampshire last weekend to test television ads against Obama on his health care plan, which does not mandate universal coverage as Clinton's does. Her New Hampshire volunteers have begun going door to door with literature arguing his plan could leave as many as 15 million people uninsured.
Asked Tuesday about the Clinton campaign's literature, Obama said he hadn't seen it but believed it was "entirely legitimate" to compare candidates' positions on health care and other matters.
Hinting at Clinton divisiveness, Obama said of overhauling health care, "The issue really is how are we going to get it done because there are all kinds of 10-point plans out there that are gathering dust on the shelf because no one was able to actually pull the country together to deliver."

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1693648,00.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. The importance of Iowa is GROSSLY overstated. nt

[Pirate Smile]

2. We will see.

[nealmhughes]

3. I agree, it isn't even a horserace yet in Iowa, only watching the horses exercise a month or two

before the race at Saratoga when they are still in California, Florida, Tennessee or Kentucky. . .

Now, after the Super Tuesday, that's a horserace!

[Alexander]

4. Tell that to John Kerry, who became the nominee-to-be after Iowa.

[Bullet1987]

6. It's not overrated...

because if Obama wins Iowa and could use that momentum to go on and win NH...creating a landslide effect.

[LiberalFighter]

7. I agree... any contenders need to be in the top 3

If they already have a sizeable war-chest I don't think winning Iowa and NH is as critical.

If they don't have a sizeable war-chest and don't place in the top 3 then it will be time for those candidates to seriously re-evaluate their chances and consider pulling out.

[SheilaT]

5. Well, yeah.

Every candidate who doesn't do well in Iowa hopes instead to do well in NH. It's been known to happen.

[Dawgs]

8. Well, she's only up 5% now in NH. Last month she was up 13%.

She better get to work. A new Iowa poll shows her down 8%.