Spin Cycle

The NYT this morning pairs up shots at the two leading Democrats.

One piece identifies some of the big and heretofore hidden donors to the Clinton Foundation. No direct hits on Hillary, but some strong reminders of how Bill did business -- huge bucks from some people with very serious business before the government at the end of his term. Grist for the is-he-an-asset-or-liability debate.

A second piece takes a somewhat critical look at Obama's 130 "present" votes as an Illinois state legislator, suggesting that he may have been trying to avoid taking a stand for political convenience sometimes.

Quick on the draw, the Clinton campaign -- which was pitching some aspects of this story a couple of weeks ago -- has already registered two "micro-sites" on the Internet to be used to attack Obama on this issue, ABC reports. They're to be called Votingpresent.com and Votingpresent.org and will try to cast Obama as cowardly.

The Clintons, of course, have never straddled or hedged or obfuscated their position on issues, and have always been direct and forthright in taking stands on things like licensing illegals. No word on whether Obama will exploit the other Times story by starting a "Moneyforinfluence.com" website.

On another front, a pro-Clinton "independent" labor group in Iowa is sending out a mailer in Iowa attacking Obama's health care plan that contains the fairly indefensible claim that, "For those without insurance, Barack Obama's band-aid solution is no change at all." In addition to accuracy issues, the Edwards campaign is mad because the literature apparently makes it look like he's behind it!

As for Hillary herself, in person, the LAT says she is "Toeing the Line of Campaign Negativity:"

"She never lays out incidents from Sen. Barack Obama's past that could be exploited in a general election contest; doing so might be considered an unseemly personal attack. But with the Iowa caucuses just two weeks away, she is sidling up to that fine line -- and, in some cases, her campaign surrogates are fleshing out what the candidate leaves unsaid."