...or screw up a campaign, for that matter...
The New York Sun: Hillary Sees Bill's Allies Fall Away
One of the biggest advantages Senator Clinton enjoys as she launches her presidential bid is the vast web of politically active Democrats who worked in the federal government under her husband, President Clinton. But not everyone who served during the Clinton years is promoting a reprise.
A handful of top Clinton administration officials and a smattering of lower-ranking ones have taken up with Mrs. Clinton's rivals for the Democratic nomination. Most cite pre-existing personal or professional loyalties. In some instances, however, the Democratic activists seem to have concluded that they will have more of an impact in the leaner ranks of a rival campaign than in the hierarchy of Mrs. Clinton's long-planned bid. And a former White House counsel to Mr. Clinton, Abner Mikva, told The New York Sun he thought the candidate he is backing, Senator Obama, has a better chance of winning than Mrs. Clinton does. The highest-ranking defectors include a political aide who shadowed Mr. Clinton for years and is advising Senator Dodd of Connecticut, Douglas Sosnik; a former secretary of commerce now backing Senator Obama of Illinois, William Daley, and a former chief of staff to Vice President Gore now in the camp of Senator Biden of Delaware, Ronald Klain.
"Most of the people have some sort of pre-existing connection or relationship," a former Clinton White House aide, Christopher Lehane, said. He said he doubted there were hard feelings in those circumstances, though there might be in cases where people had no obvious prior ties to one of Mrs. Clinton's rivals. "There are different gradations to all of this," Mr. Lehane added.
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