Hillary supporter slams campaign

By Donald Lambro, Washington Times

A veteran New Hampshire Democratic lawmaker who supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says her campaign has "no clear message," a criticism that is buzzing through party ranks at a time when some polls show her statistically tied with Sen. Barack Obama in the first primary state.

State Rep. James Splaine, whose 1976 law has locked in the state's unique primary status, went public with his concerns about Mrs. Clinton's campaign last week in a blog he writes for the Blue Hampshire Democratic Web site — criticizing her for "talking down" to Democrats and taking "positions that are the result of focus group" surveys.

"I am concerned that her campaign still has continued to emphasize 'experience' rather than 'ideas,' and the 'past' rather than the 'future.' And her advertising in my judgment is crammed full of rhetoric, with no clear message other than this stuff about a president needing to be ready to 'lead from day one.' What does that mean?"

"Hillary Clinton could lose this one," Mr. Splaine wrote, urging her to "reinvent her campaign and show us who she really is and not just what her consultants and handlers from Washington media firms want us to think she is." Mr. Splaine said he still backs Mrs. Clinton as a potential "great president" and hoped that " 'Let Hillary Be Hillary' should be her personal motto during the next three-plus weeks in Iowa and New Hampshire."