Interesting dispatch just filed for tomorrow's New York Times by Adam Nagourney and Patrick Healy detailing some of the internal dynamics inside the unraveling of the Clinton inevitability machine:
The piece recounts how key operatives such as Howard Wolfson are now en route to Iowa to perform critical triage on the campaign.
Nowhere are her problems more on display than in this state, where success lies in building a person-to-person network of supporters. And nowhere is the Clinton campaign — which to some Iowans had appeared ignorant of the political subtleties, if not arrogant about them — working more urgently to recalibrate and head off defeat as the Jan. 3 caucus approaches.
Elsewhere the article captures the dynamic:
A poor showing in this state on Jan. 3 could have ramifications in New Hampshire five days later, where polls suggest growing support for Mr. Obama, particularly among independent voters, who can vote in either party’s primary.
They are trying to do damage control with Yepsen:
The signs of Mrs. Clinton’s concern have been on increasing display here in recent days as the campaign has been moving rapidly to make up for earlier mistakes.
Her aides said she had largely cleared her schedule this week to prepare for the Democratic debate on Thursday sponsored by The Des Moines Register, the final encounter here among all the candidates, which they now view as one of their final opportunities to shift the momentum back to her favor.
Needing a strong performance to head off inroads made by Mr. Obama and tamp down questions about whether she is too calculating, she is reviewing past Register debates and issues of particular importance in Iowa, and hoping to win The Register’s endorsement, the aides said. (She went from East High School to downtown Des Moines for a private dinner Friday evening with David Yepsen, the influential Des Moines Register columnist, who has repeatedly questioned whether Mrs. Clinton appreciated the nuances of the state.)
They have doubled the money they are sinking into Iowa TV. They are putting their chips on Iowa. It's high risk.
Hillary is not used to places where celebrity alone cannot win the day:
Mrs. Clinton repeatedly expressed frustration, confiding to one associate that she "had no feel for the place." She responded with bewilderment when informed that she should not assume that she now had the support of an Iowa Democratic leader even after spending 40 minutes over coffee with him.
More:
Mrs. Clinton spent much of the early part of the year working huge rallies in the state’s major news media markets in the belief that the coverage would reverberate into the more sparsely populated areas. But that is not the way things work in Iowa.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards methodically worked rural areas, appreciating the importance of personal appeals to small groups of voters.
They are so worried about Obama's continued surge that they would rather have Edwards win Iowa if they can't. That tells you a lot about what we'll see from their campaign tone over the next three weeks.
LINK TO ARTICLE