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Clintons' Harsh Tactics Worry Party

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By ALEC MACGILLIS and ANNE E. KORNBLUT, The Washington Post

Published: January 24, 2008

DILLON, S.C. - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign aired a new radio ad here Wednesday that repeated a discredited charge against Sen. Barack Obama in what some Democrats said is part of an increasing pattern of hardball politics by her and former President Clinton.

The ad takes one line from an Obama interview - "The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years" - and juxtaposes it with GOP policies that Obama has never advocated.

"Really?" a voiceover says. "Aren't those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we're in today? Ideas like special tax breaks for Wall Street. Running up a $9 trillion debt. Refusing to raise the minimum wage or deal with the housing crisis. Are those the ideas Barack Obama's talking about?"

The Clinton campaign argued that it simply was quoting Obama. In the original context, however, Obama was describing the dominance of Republican ideas in the 1980s and 1990s, without saying he supported them, and asserting that those ideas are of no use today.

The ad marked the escalation of a bitter fight between the two Democratic front-runners that has taken on a new dimension because of the involvement of Bill Clinton, the titular leader of the party.

The former president has been making daily appearances in South Carolina while his wife campaigns elsewhere, and he has adopted the role of attacking his wife's opponent the way a vice presidential candidate traditionally does in a general election.

Responding to the ad aired by the Clinton campaign, Dick Harpootlian, the former chairman of the Democratic Party in South Carolina, accused the Clintons of using the "politics of deception" and compared the former president to the late Lee Atwater, the Republican operative from South Carolina known for his tough tactics.

In response, Bill Clinton said Harpootlian's comments were a distraction and accused the Obama campaign of funneling negative smears through the compliant media.

"They are feeding you this because they know this is what you want to cover. This is what you live for," the former president chastised a CNN reporter, Jessica Yellin, who asked him for a response to Harpootlian at an appearance in South Carolina..

"They just spin you up on this and you happily go along," Clinton said. As aides steered him away, Clinton scolded: "Shame on you."

In Washington, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman who endorsed Obama last week, castigated the former president for "glib cheap shots" that he was throwing at Obama, saying both sides should settle down but placing the blame predominantly on Bill Clinton.

"That's beneath the dignity of a former president," Leahy said, adding, "He is not helping anyone and certainly not helping the Democratic party."

That fear was also voiced by some neutral Democrats, who said that former president's aggressive role, as well as the couple's harsh approach recently, threaten to divide the party in the general election.

A few prominent Democrats, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., have spoken directly to the former president about the force of his Obama critiques.

There is fear within the party that if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, he could emerge personally battered and politically compromised. If Clinton beats him, there is a growing concern that it could come at a cost with black voters in particular, who could blame her for Obama's defeat, and stay at home in November.

"I'm not underestimating that this could be divisive, but I think both camps know how important this is, that it doesn't go beyond repair," said Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, the most vulnerable Democrat up for re-election next year, who is unaligned.

"Our party has to remain united: That's the most important thing for November," Landrieu said. "The bottom line is, all this could cause a rift, but I hope it doesn't."

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