Hillary Rodham Clinton's latest campaign finance report appeared even to her most stalwart supporters to be a road map of costly mismanagement that hamstrung her competitiveness against Barack Obama. For example:
• Nearly $100,000 for party platters and groceries in Iowa.
• Hotel rooms at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000.
• And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fundraising. (Her communications director was paid twice as much in one month than Obama paid his communications director in a year.)
Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant, said: "It's easy to be critical, but had she won Iowa, none of this would have mattered."
But Joe Trippi, a top adviser to John Edwards' campaign, said the Clinton team had made two key errors: First, he argued, Clinton relied on a core group of donors to write checks early on for the maximum amount, which left few to go back to when money became tight. Second, he said, the Clinton campaign spent money as though the race were going to be over after a handful of states had voted.
FEC LOOKS INTO LOAN MCCAIN TOOK IN FALL
Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason said John McCain can't drop out of the primary election's public financing system until he answers questions about a loan he obtained in November to kick-start his then-faltering campaign. He said McCain needs to assure that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure the $4 million line of credit.
NEWS SERVICES
