"Clinton’s Campaign Shows Stress Before Primary"

NY Times:

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Key campaign officials may be replaced. She may start calling herself the underdog. Donors would receive pleas that it is do-or-die time. And her political strategy could begin mirroring that of Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican rival, by focusing on populous states like California and New York whose primaries are Feb. 5.

Everything is on the table inside Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign if she loses the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, her advisers say — including her style of campaigning, which shifted dramatically on Monday when Mrs. Clinton bared her thoughts about the race’s impact on her personally, and her eyes welled with tears.

“I couldn’t do it if I just didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do,” she said here in reply to a question from an undecided voter, a woman roughly Mrs. Clinton’s age.

Her eyes visibly wet, in perhaps the most public display of emotion of her year-old campaign, Mrs. Clinton added: “I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don’t want to see us fall backwards. This is very personal for me — it’s not just political, it’s not just public.”

Mrs. Clinton did not cry, but her quavering voice and the flash of feeling underscored the pressure, fatigue, anger and disappointment that, advisers say, Mrs. Clinton has experienced since her loss on Thursday in the Iowa caucuses and that she continues to shoulder at this most critical moment.

Mrs. Clinton has felt frustrated and at times rejected as she has watched the rise of Senator Barack Obama, her main rival here and the victor in Iowa, advisers say.

But she is also worried that her political strategy, polling and communications message have not reflected the mood and desire for change among Democratic voters.

In an interview on Monday night, Mrs. Clinton said she choked up at the Portsmouth event because the other woman had expressed concern for her feelings, after months when Mrs. Clinton was focused on voters’ anxieties.

“It was just so touching when this woman said, ‘Well, what about you?’” Mrs. Clinton said. “I just don’t think about that, I think about what I can do for other people I have spent a lifetime trying to help others; I’m very other-directed. That’s maybe why people don’t get me in the political world.”

Win or lose, Mrs. Clinton plans to leave New Hampshire with a fighting spirit and moving forcefully to contrast her plans with Mr. Obama’s, most likely including television commercials criticizing his positions on health care and, possibly, Iraq in a point-by-point style. She chose not to do that in New Hampshire, advisers said, because there were only five days between her arrival from Iowa and the primary — not enough time to do damage.

Advisers say they believe she needs a victory before the Feb. 5 primaries — if not in New Hampshire, then in Nevada, whose presidential caucuses are Jan. 19. South Carolina, which votes on Jan. 26, has more history than Nevada as a proving ground for candidates, but Mrs. Clinton fears Mr. Obama’s support among the black voters that dominate the Democratic vote there.

Mrs. Clinton will campaign soon in California, New York and New Jersey, which have primaries on Feb. 5 with large numbers of delegates at stake for the nomination. A decision has not been made about where to go after New Hampshire, advisers said, though some of them would like Mrs. Clinton to rest first.

Mrs. Clinton is not the only candidate seeking to rejuvenate her campaign in other state contests. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is a contender in the Republican race, has been running ads in Michigan, where his father was a governor, hoping for a victory. He came in second in Iowa, and his prospects are uncertain in New Hampshire. John Edwards, who had been hoping to win Iowa but came in second, is banking on South Carolina, which he won as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. And Mr. Giuliani is hoping for a strong showing in the Florida primary on Jan. 29.

If Mrs. Clinton loses badly on Tuesday, campaign officials say she may shake up her team and replace one or more of her senior aides, such as her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle; her chief strategist, Mark Penn; her advertising adviser, Mandy Grunwald; and her communications director, Howard Wolfson.

Officials stressed that any signs of upheaval might weaken her further, and that decisions would be made about her staff after the New Hampshire primary. They also noted that her personal loyalties to members of her team leaned against a major shakeup: Ms. Solis Doyle and Ms. Grunwald have been by Mrs. Clinton’s side since her husband’s 1992 campaign, and Mr. Penn for more than a decade. She is also close to Mr. Wolfson, a veteran of her first Senate campaign in 2000.

It is also unclear who could come in this late to right the ship, especially if Mrs. Clinton is 0 for 2 in the first nominating contests. She faces a four-week calendar of primaries through Feb. 5, when she believes the Democratic nomination will be decided. Two former aides to President Clinton, James Carville and John Podesta, have been mentioned by her allies as potential hires, but neither man has been formally asked, said people with knowledge of internal campaign conversations.

Mrs. Clinton is trying to steel herself against pessimism, but both she and Mr. Clinton are feeling disappointment, advisers say.

“We’re all resolved to the probability that’s she’s not going to win New Hampshire, and the mood has turned very despondent — fatalistic, probably,” one of Mrs. Clinton’s leading fund-raisers and supporters said on Monday on condition of anonymity.

“No one worth their salt is going to jump ship at this point, and she’ll probably play it out till Super-Duper Tuesday,” the fund-raiser said, referring to the Feb. 5 primaries. “But the money dynamic is going to get very, very tough; convincing people to send more money will be very tough.”

President Clinton tried to do just that on Monday, sending an e-mail message to online donors saying that they were the only ones who “can put money in the bank quickly enough to make a real difference in New Hampshire by tomorrow.” Advisers said that Mrs. Clinton’s cash situation was not dire.

Howie P.S.: From Hillary's significant other: "President Clinton Sees Post-Iowa 'Tidal Wave,' Faults Press for Obama 'Fairy Tale'."