The NY Times has published what I can only call a very devastating—downright brutal--piece on the Clinton Campaign’s reaction to the results of last night’s Iowa Caucus.
I’m not including it in my original diary on this subject; I’m going to let it speak for itself...
Tight Democratic Race in Iowa Unnerves Clinton Campaign
Amy Chozick
New York Times
February 2, 2016
DES MOINES — Late Monday night, supporters of Hillary Clinton gathered for what they expected would be a victory rally.
Over the weekend, her campaign had exuded confidence, with some advisers predicting she would win the Iowa caucuses by several percentage points, and by Monday evening, they were urging news outlets to call the race in her favor. Mrs. Clinton prepared a victory speech in which she virtually ignored her rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and attacked the Republican candidates.
Then the caucus results started rolling in. And everything changed.
The outcome in Iowa — effectively a tie with a far left senator from a small New England state — dealt a jolting psychological blow to the Clinton campaign, leaving volunteers, donors and aides confused throughout the night, and then crestfallen. They had hoped that the former secretary of state would garner a decisive victory here and put to rest any doubts about her strength as a candidate.
Instead, they now head to New Hampshire, where Mr. Sanders is heavily favored in the polls, and brace themselves for another loss before they reach more hospitable states like Nevada and South Carolina.
Even before Mrs. Clinton finished her brief remarks to her supporters late Monday night, discussions were underway among her outside advisers and donors about the need to bring in longtime Clinton aides and diminish the role of Robby Mook, her young data-driven campaign manager. Asked about such discussions, Nick Merrill, a spokesman for the campaign, grew irritated. “Are you serious?” he said tersely to a reporter…
…
...Sanders won several counties that Mrs. Clinton carried in 2008 in conservative-leaning southwestern Iowa and in the northern part of the state, including Cerro Gordo County, where Mr. Sanders drew three times as many people as Mr. Clinton …
This article gets, for lack of a better word...worse.
(The incredible irony of this story, with today being Groundhog Day.)