Nah... They're Not Worried... LOL !!! - 'Clinton Opens The Spigots On Sanders' - Politico [View all]

[WillyT]

Clinton opens the spigots on Sanders
She insists that she doesn't pay attention to polls and is 'not nervous at all' about Sanders' recent surge.
By Nick Gass and Eliza Collins - Politico
01/13/16 01:15 PM EST Updated 01/13/16 03:05 PM EST


Hillary Clinton insisted that her stepped-up operational tempo was always the plan. | AP

<snip>

For months, Hillary Clinton's campaign played it relatively cool with Bernie Sanders.

That's over now.

With the clock ticking toward Iowa and New Hampshire and her poll numbers on the wane in those early states, Clinton and her staffers are blitzing the talk shows and Twitter, hammering the Vermont senator on everything from guns to health care to taxes to sheer electability — all at a furious pace that almost rivals Donald Trump's.

Clinton played notoriously hard-to-get during the first phase of her campaign — so much so that it was considered breaking news when she agreed to a sit-down interview with CNN.

But over the past 10 days, she has appeared no fewer than nine times on five major networks — CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and MSNBC, including live three morning-show appearances Wednesday. The former secretary of state has averaged one interview a day since Friday, Jan. 8, when she called into MSNBC’s "Hardball." Three days earlier, she also appeared in an extensive sit-down interview with “Hardball” host Chris Matthews. And the appearances don’t seem to be slowing down: She’ll appear on NBC's “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and sit down with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday, all at the same time her campaign looks to get a boost amid sagging poll numbers.

Before the crack of dawn on Wednesday, Clinton rose to assure George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "Good Morning America" in person that she was not concerned—that, despite Bernie Sanders' blazing poll numbers, despite the fact that he overtook her in Iowa and opened up a comfortable double-digit lead in New Hampshire, despite the fact Sanders hours earlier had disputed her daughter Chelsea's assertion that he wanted to scrap Obamacare entirely, despite the fact that the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary are mere weeks away, the Clinton campaign is not sweating the challenge. And then she appeared on NBC's "Today" with Savannah Guthrie, again rejecting the notion that her campaign is suddenly feeling pressure from Sanders. An hour later, Clinton fielded similar questions from the co-hosts of "CBS This Morning."

Clinton insisted that her stepped-up operational tempo was always the plan, that she doesn't pay attention to polls and is "not nervous at all" about Sanders' recent surge.

But with the glow of magnanimity surrounding Sanders' "damn emails" debate moment from October largely faded, both campaigns have sharpened their attacks. In the past, Sanders would speak of his plans to reform Wall Street in broad terms that only hinted at his differences with his primary opponent, while Clinton branded herself as a "practical" progressive who could get things done in Washington. Not anymore: Over the last week, Clinton and her surrogates have assailed Sanders' ideas in increasingly pugilistic terms.

On Monday, she rang the opening bell...

<snip>

More: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-2016-217711