Council Bluffs, Iowa — In her revised stump speech today to kickoff a five-day “Hil-a-copter” tour of Iowa, Hillary Clinton added a new riff to her latest meditation on change.

After repeating the riff she debuted at Thursday’s Iowa Public Television debate that change must be worked for, not hoped for (Barack Obama), or demanded (John Edwards), Clinton added that to achieve necessary “change” a president needed to know “when to stand your ground and when to find common ground. ” Lest anyone miss the point, Clinton added the rhetorical candied cherry. “This is not a dictatorship.
It was safe to assume this was a direct reference to John Edwards. But assumptions usually work out poorly. Clinton staff confirmed Edwards was the target.

Clinton drew (by my count) fewer than 250 people to her much-ballyhooed “Every County Counts ” launch at Thomas Jefferson High School here. Twenty minutes before the event was scheduled to start, the room was nearly half empty. But even when the crowd trickled in to fill the available seats, all the tell-tale signs of advance team “shrinking the room” tactics were well in evidence.

The rows had double-First-Class leg room. The aisles were unnaturally large. Clinton’s podium was shoved into the room. And the press corps and risers were unnecessarily close to Clinton (unless, of course, the idea was to make the room look small and packed on TV cameras). Big swaths of unused space was filled up by three tables of coffee and cookies (who said small crowds are all bad). In characteristic Clinton fashion, the event started late — 30 minutes late this time.

Team Clinton announced the event on Friday and brought former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey from neighboring Nebraska (just across the river from here) in to announce his endorsement. Kerrey appeared genuine and that struck me. I well remember his often biting criticism President Bill Clinton’s political timidity.

“Please don’t let us down,” Kerrey implored, speaking to potential caucus-going Democrats. “We are counting on you.”

Then Kerrey, one of those politicians least likely to invoke prayer in public, concluded with this: “I give you my senator and soon, I pray, our president.”

Despite Kerrey’s presence and all the advance hoo-hah of the Hil-a-copter, the event still felt underwhelming — especially since camp Clinton pointed to it as a demonstration of newfound energy.

Clinton gave it her best, promising to bring “perseverance and perspiration” to the Oval Office. “Our campaign is energized, we’re picking up momentum and we’re going all the way to January 3rd.”

On the road to January 3rd, Clinton will no doubt keep an eye peeled for looming Democratic dictators.

6:31 p.m. NEWEST UPDATE — ON THE RECORD FROM CAMP CLINTON:

Phil Singer, deputy communications director for the Clinton campaign, denies any uprising from Clinton African-American supporters played a role in the ouster of Billy Shaheen, Clinton New Hampshire co-chair (see post below).

“That report is not true,” Singer told me. “Senator Clinton has personally apologized to Senator Obama for Mr. Shaheen’s comments. They were not authorized by Senator Clinton or her campaign. She made it clear that negative personal remarks have no place in our campaign.”

5:45 p.m. UPDATE:

Obama campaign weighs in on Shaheen’s departure. Says nothing about the circumstances that led to it.

“It is clear that the politics of false attacks and innuendo are being rejected by the voters from New Hampshire and around the country,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “Barack Obama is focusing his campaign on the positive change he is going to bring to America as President.”

MAIN STORY — SHAHEEN OUSTER BACKSTORY

Two Democratic sources tell Fox that outrage expressed by African-American supporters of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign led to the resignation today of New Hampshire Clinton co-chair Billy Shaheen.

The Clinton campaign denied the story. It also declined to discuss the circumstances of Shaheen’s departure.

The sources said these supporters, whose names are not yet known, told the Clinton campaign they found Shaheen’s comments to The Washington Post yesterday about Obama’s admitted teen drug use out of bonds and offensive.

The sources said the African-American supporters were angry that Obama’s drug use would come up in the final stages of the campaign and expressed resentment that a high-ranking official with Clinton’s campaign would take out so aggressively against Obama, the first African-American candidate ever to have a serious shot at the Democratic Party nomination.

The crux of the complaints, the sources said, was that while they support Hillary’s bid for the presidency, these African-American supporters did not want to see Obama, who wrote that he turned away from the temptations of marijuana and cocaine use as a youth, vilified for doing something the black community tries so hard to convince other at-risk black youth to do everyday.
The issue came to a head in at least one conference call late Wednesday. Clinton apologized personally to Obama this morning in Washington. Shaheen stepped down from the Clinton campaign late today.

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Quick impressions of early stages of Democratic debate on Iowa Public Television.

Edwards: Looks crisp and confident and has clearly honed his populist message about the role of corporate influence on American political life, his line “corporate power and greed have literally taken over the government,” will stand as one of the punchiest of the day and crystallizes his campaign theme. His fumbling of his desire that this generation leave the nation in better shape than it was found left a humanizing and humorous feeling in the air

Obama: Hit solid notes on root causes of mortgage crisis and willingness to pay for new programs with spending cuts or higher taxes. Didn’t get bogged down in policy fine points, but sounded skilled enough to deal with any lingering concerns about “experience” on core economic issues. Line about 12,000 U.S. corporations on an offshore island representing either the biggest building on earth or the biggest tax scam is likely to be remembered, in part because it was delivered as if not obsessively rehersed (which it probably was).

Clinton: Went straight to glory days of Bill Clinton’s roaring ’90s economy and “fiscal discipline,” playing straight to Iowa Democrats who still fondly recall the Clinton economic years and the balanced budgets and surpluses that came with them (even if the GOP-controlled Congress of that era drove some of the politics and policy toward balanced budgets). Clinton looked a bit tense and sounded a bit more harsh than she probably realized, but that might just be opening debate jitters. Very solid on health care issue, showing she’s ready to debate that issue vigorously in the campaign’s closing days (Clinton camp already prepping attack ads on Obama in New Hampshire on this issue).

He has participated in all debates to this point but now….the Des Moines Register/IPT have banned him from the stage, along with Mike Gravel. He is upset, he says he meets the criteria that the Des Moines Register required and wants to know why they are stopping him now.

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman , Terry McAuliffe wants all those concerned to know all is well in camp Clinton.

“You know, you hear this in campaigns all the time, McAuliffe said, referring to persistent reports of turmoil, panic and back-biting as Hillary’s numbers slide in early primary and caucus states. “We are the front runner, everybody’s been going after us. We feel very good about where we are. I’m chairman of the campaign and I can tell you we are happy. Everybody’s working together. We’re all focused to get people to the polls on election day and getting them to vote for Hillary Clinton, the candidate of choice and the candidate who can bring change.”

Without prompting McAuliffe named names in how integrated things are in the Clinton campaign, and sounding very much like a general manager of a sports team, made sure to send a vote of confidence to campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle: “There could be 5 or 6 polls out on a day and Hillary could be up in four, but if we’re down in one, that one gets played. And then all of a sudden the campaign is in trouble. Everyone outside the campaign likes to make circular firing squads. I talk to the president every day, I talk to Hillary every day and I talk to Patty Solis almost every day. We’re all focused and working hard. People on the outside like to chatter, but you know that’s not going to get us off our mission of getting Hillary Clinton elected.”

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