December 2007: A Tightening Contest
By early December 2007 the race between her and Obama had tightened up, especially in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. With real voting less than a month away, Obama was now ahead in some Iowa polls, and had brought in ultra-popular television host Oprah Winfrey to conduct joint campaign rallies in three states before large crowds. Partly in counter of the latter, Clinton brought into Iowa her daughter Chelsea and a very rare campaign appearance from her 88-year-old mother Dorothy Rodham. Veteran political observers such as Bloomberg News' Al Hunt reported that "things are tense in Hillaryland these days," that the camps of Clinton and her husband were at odds, and that the campaign's "plan A" of being the dominating, inevitable, establishment candidate was at risk of failing.
On December 13, 2007, Bill Shaheen, co-chairman of the Clinton campaign in New Hampshire, resigned his position after saying that Obama's admission of past drug use would hurt his chances in a general election matchup: "The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight ... and one of the things they're certainly going to jump on is his drug use ... It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?' There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome." Shaheen, husband of former Governor of New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen, apologized for his comments. In addition he indicated that "they were not authorized by the campaign in any way." The final Democratic debate before the caucuses was held the same day by the Des Moines Register; it was peaceful and polite among all candidates there.
The two most influential newspaper endorsements for the early states were split: Clinton gain the endorsement of The Des Moines Register, which had endorsed Edwards in 2004, while Obama gained the endorsement of the circulated-in-New Hampshire Boston Globe. Bill Clinton assumed a more central role in his wife's campaign, trying to focus the day-to-day message on her being a "change" agent, while sometimes getting her campaign into further difficulties with his public statements.
By mid-month, prompted by continued high negative ratings in polls, Clinton staged an explicit "likability" drive, using testimonials from friends and constituents on the campaign trail and on a new "The Hillary I Know" website. When the close proximity of the first contests to the holidays led to many candidates putting out Christmas videos — allowing them to keep presenting their message but in a more appropriate setting — Clinton chose one that showed her wrapping various "gifts" she would give the country, such as "universal health care" and "bring troops home", with a bit of humor added when she momentarily could not locate "universal pre-K". It was one of the most issue-oriented of the candidate holiday videos.
Read more about this topic: Clinton Hostage Situation
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