Hillary Clinton vows not to quit BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Saturday, December 15th 2007
(Lienemann/Getty)
Hillary Clinton has seen her commanding lead in the polls slip in recent weeks.
JOHNSTON, Iowa - Hillary Clinton, who spent the past year as the Democratic presidential front-runner fostering an aura of inevitability,
found herself Friday in the humbling position of declaring she won't be knocked out early.
With polls showing Clinton locked in a tough battle in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses and
her once dominant lead in New Hampshire now gone, the former First Lady said she is in the race to stay through Super Duper Tuesday, when more than 20 states including New York and California hold
primaries.
"I have always intended to go all the way through this process, all the way through the Feb. 5 states," said Clinton when asked during an interview
on Iowa Public Television whether her campaign could withstand a loss in Iowa. "Every single place that there's going to be a caucus or an election
between now and Feb. 5, I'm going to contend in."
"I always thought this would get close," said Clinton, now facing a tougher challenge by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "This is what happens in a
contested election."
For the first time Friday, Clinton also responded to questions about the resignation of her national co-chairman Bill Shaheen, who stepped down after
he suggested Obama may have sold drugs as a teenager.
"I not only disapproved but it did not reflect the campaign that I'm running," Clinton said.
Obama said Friday he's become a target for political attacks because the momentum has turned in his favor.
"The fact that we're up in Iowa and we've now closed the gap in New Hampshire and South Carolina, that means we've
got momentum and that means you're a target," Obama said. "What it also means is folks are excited; they're energized.
I think people are realizing we've got a chance."
Clinton picked up the endorsement Friday of Rep. Leonard Boswell, a prominent Iowan who has considerable credibility
in the farming community, and the backing of New York's 1199 SEIU and 32BJ, the health care and building workers unions.
But the union endorsements can't help Clinton where she needs it most right now - in the earliest voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Out-of-state locals can't compete against the candidate chosen by the unions' chapters in those states - in this case, John Edwards.
With Celeste Katz in New York
msaul@nydailynews.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2007/12/15/2007-12-15_hillary_clinton_vows_not_to_quit-4.html
