The sun was not yet up yesterday, and members of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign team were confronted with the kind of attack that most infuriates them: one questioning the character of Mrs. Clinton and her husband.
To make matters worse, it came from David Geffen, the Hollywood executive who was once a big supporter of the Clintons but has since turned on them and is now backing Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.
What followed was a remarkably caustic exchange between the Clinton and Obama campaigns that highlighted the sensitivity in the Clinton camp to Mr. Obama’s rapid rise as a rival and his positioning as a fresh face unburdened by the baggage borne by Mrs. Clinton, the junior senator from New York. The Clinton camp seemed also to be sending a warning to mudslinging critics that they would be dealt with fiercely.
It began with a column in The New York Times by Maureen Dowd, in which Mr. Geffen said the Clintons lie “with such ease, it’s troubling” and that the Clinton political operation “is going to be very unpleasant and unattractive and effective.” Mr. Geffen called Mr. Clinton a “reckless guy” who had not changed in the last six years, and suggested that Mrs. Clinton was too scripted.
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Obama advisers described the Geffen remarks as an insignificant blip and said they saw no political danger in letting them stand. While some supporters of Mrs. Clinton said they were worried that the campaign had lost its cool over Mr. Geffen, several Clinton advisers insisted that they were not overreacting.
One adviser, who is not part of Mrs. Clinton’s day-to-day inner circle but speaks to her regularly about politics and fund-raising, said Mr. Geffen’s comments might not shock “political insiders” in Washington or New York who are used to hearing bad things about the Clintons. But such criticism, especially from a former Clinton supporter like Mr. Geffen, could surprise and concern average voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and in other politically important states where they are starting to form impressions of Mrs. Clinton as a presidential candidate.
Other advisers said the Clinton camp was simply frustrated that Mr. Obama had received glowing media coverage, and was eager to call out his campaign for hypocrisy by contrasting the Geffen remarks with Mr. Obama’s pledge to be positive.
“Obama has gotten under the campaign’s skin for weeks now — especially his free ride in the media —and Hillary’s people were just waiting for their first chance to attack his image as Mr. Positive,” said one Clinton adviser who is not part of the day-to-day political operation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/us/politics/22feud.html?hp
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