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Clinton Aides Split On Whether To Attack Obama ... Asking Supporters For Advice

Clinton Aides Split on How to Take On Obama

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: February 21, 2008
WASHINGTON — When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton meets Senator Barack Obama at a one-on-one debate in Austin on Thursday night, one of her final opportunities to change the course of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, she will again face the challenge that has repeatedly stymied her: how to discredit her popular opponent without hurting herself.

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Jacob Silberberg for The New York Times
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday at Hunter College in New York. Mrs. Clinton’s advisers are divided on strategy.

With the Texas primary approaching, Senator Barack Obama’s rally Wednesday in Dallas.
Even now, after a string of defeats, her advisers are divided over how to proceed as they head toward what could be her last stands, in Ohio and Texas on March 4.

Some — led by Mark Penn, her chief strategist — have been pushing Mrs. Clinton to draw sharper and deeper contrasts with Mr. Obama, arguing that she has no other option, campaign officials said.

Others, particularly Mandy Grunwald, her media adviser, have pushed for a less aggressive approach, arguing that attacks would not help Mrs. Clinton’s campaign in an environment in which she is increasingly appearing to struggle, aides said...