John Edwards, behind in the polls, goes on the offensive vs Hillary Clinton: "In a scathing attack, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards went after front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Friday, calling her a "corporate Democrat," comparing top Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn to former Bush aide Karl Rove and assailing Penn's ties to Blackwater USA, the embattled private firm of military contractors accused by the Iraqi government of firing upon and killing 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians last month. "Bush has been a perfect example of cronyism because Blackwater has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans and to President Bush," Edwards said in an interview with the Associated Press while campaigning in Iowa. "I also saw this morning that Sen. Clinton's primary adviser, Mark Penn, who is like her Karl Rove -- his firm is representing Blackwater."
This reflects the general line of attack that anti-Clinton Democrats have been taking--that Senator Clinton and her campaign won't act as an agent of change, that it's establishmentarian, almost pseudo-conservative. There's an element of truth to it. One would think that Democratic primary voters--they tend to be to the left of the general electorate--would be sympathetic to it. Yet so far it hasn't worked, judging by the national polls. On the other hand, could Senator Clinton begin to suffer from these bites and cuts? Norman Hsu, her obvious question-dodging in the last debate, now this...?
