Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Latest Primary News on Hillary Clinton

This bit in The Times' story on Edwards surprised me:

"Since the New Hampshire primary, Mrs. Clinton has reached out to Mr. Edwards aggressively, through telephone calls and private meetings. Mr. Obama has spent far less time courting Mr. Edwards, according to people familiar with the talks."

Clandestine, "private meetings"? I'd love to know what Hillary was offering (or might still have on the table). I had only considered the reasons why Obama would court Edwards' campaign to concede, but it was foolish of me to think Hillary would not be so shrewd as to try the same power play. After all - and it probably would have occurred to me if I had spent a moment to think about it - Hillary definitely knows Edwards much better than Obama, especially since Obama and Edwards' time in the Senate didn't overlap.

Not only has Hillary served alongside Edwards, but the Clintons played a much larger role in stumping for the Kerry-Edwards campaign than they did for Gore-Lieberman (because Al tried to distance himself from Bill). For some reason I had assumed that Edwards felt the same cold indifference to the Clintons as he did for John Kerry, but maybe he and Clinton have a friendship behind the scenes that made her think Edwards would favor her as his second choice.

What has already been decided between the candidates, if anything? Those with the answer to that question know if Hillary spent today scrambling or smiling.

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