Hillary advisers fear N.H. loss

No surprise but still great to see that African-American voters are shifting rapidly, and quite remarkable that a Clinton advisor said "We're going to lose South Carolina"!

But Clinton advisers also fear the New Hampshire strategy is a stopgap measure, with a harsher approach likely if she loses New Hampshire. Conversations with campaign officials make it clear they feel besieged and unsure how to sap Obama’s momentum.

In Iowa, Clinton aides have said she drew levels of support that might have been enough to win in an ordinary year, but she was swamped in the stunning turnout produced by Obama’s popularity among young voters. While taking pains to insist in public that New Hampshire’s turnout model is very different from Iowa’s, Clinton’s aides say privately that they still fear a similar wave on Tuesday.

“It’s still possible to win or take a close second in New Hampshire, but if the turnout even begins to mirror what happened in Iowa, all bets are off,” said a Clinton adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The adviser added that the campaign has come to accept another reality of the early process, which is that African-American voters are convinced that Obama is viable and are shifting rapidly in his direction.

“We’re going to lose South Carolina,” he said.

----------------------

Hillary advisers fear N.H. loss
By: Mike Allen and Ben Smith
January 7, 2008 12:14 PM EST

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7759.html

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s strategists, desperate for a win in New Hampshire, have decided against unleashing attack ads against Sen. Barack Obama before Tuesday’s primary, Democratic sources said.