Bill Already Spinning - Timing of Primary Caused Hillary Loss

Heh. The no longer inevitable First Spouse is already blaming everything but his wife for her predicted loss today in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, the Manchester Union is reporting:

Former President Bill Clinton said the timing of the New Hampshire primary is to blame if his wife, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, doesn't beat Illinois Senator Barack Obama in their quest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Asked by a voter in Claremont how the Clinton camp planned to propel itself past Obama, Clinton said, "The answer is there might not be enough time, because New Hampshire made a decision that I didn't agree with."

He said the state gave up much of its political sway by holding its primary so close to last Thursday's Iowa caucus. With more time, he said, more voters would begin to question the substance behind the Obama campaign.

"The point is the momentum is broken when people get to think for themselves and not get caught up in the press hysteria," he said.

About Bill's claim that he was against the earlier primaries, I'd like to see someone with more media resources that I do a search on this. I'll bet that there's nothing in the public record on Bill Clinton criticizing the New Hampshire primary timing. In fact, I believe that the earlier, front loaded primary schedule was central to the Clinton's strategy of steamrolling through the primaries, then spending the extra time replenishing their campaign accounts. The Clinton's have spent 8 years making inroads with the Democratic apparatus in each of the 50 states, making sure that Hillary supporters are in charge. If the Clintons put out the word a year ago that they wanted no tomfoolery with the primary dates, none of this "frontloaded primary schedule" garbage would have happened. Remember, Howard Dean, who is no friend of the Clintons, was the main Democrat fighting the states when they wanted to move up their primary dates. The Clintons were silent.