It wasn't supposed to work out this way. After the perils of the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire was supposed to be a safe haven for Hillary Clinton. This is the state that brought her husband back from the political dead in 1992. This is the state that resurrected her own political campaign in an upset win over candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
And New Hampshire's the state where Hillary's previous friends and supporters were supposed to rally behind her once again to crush Bernie Sanders and propel her forward into the upcoming cascade of primaries. Except it didn't work out that way. Bernie Sanders crushed her instead by a stunning 60-38 percent margin, beating her among men and women, young and old. The only two voter groups Hillary won were people over 65 and those making more than $200,000 per year.
There were several factors behind such a humiliating defeat. Yes, it helped that Bernie comes from neighboring Vermont – though not nearly as much as the Clinton camp claimed, and only in certain northwestern parts of the state, not in the vote-rich, Massachusetts-oriented south. Clinton was also handicapped by the fact that 44 percent of New Hampshire voters are independent, or "undeclared." By their very nature, they tend to favor the outsider in any race. Plus, 30 percent of Granite State voters were different from 2008: either had come of age or had moved into the state since. Hillary was a stranger to them.
The combination of those factors certainly contributed to Clinton's lopsided loss. But they were far outweighed by the No. 1 factor: Sanders' message resonated with New Hampshire voters, and hers did not. For many, among those both inside and outside the Clinton campaign, that raised the obvious question: How should Hillary adjust as she moves on to more friendly territory in Nevada and South Carolina?
That speculation was fueled by an article by Politico's Glenn Thrush and Annie Karni forecasting an imminent "shake-up" in the Clinton campaign. Citing 10 sources inside or close to the operation, Thrush and Karni reported that both Hillary and husband Bill were so frustrated by their razor-thin win in Iowa and their failure to connect in New Hampshire that they were determined to make some big staffing changes immediately after the Feb. 9 primary. Clinton immediately denied the rumors, but that only raised the question: If not, why not? Because what they'd been doing so far clearly wasn't working.
As results poured in Tuesday night, former Al Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile was seated alongside me on the set of CNN. Around 1 o'clock in the morning of Feb. 10, Donna nudged me and pointed to a commentary she'd written on her iPad, titled: "What Clinton Must Do Now." "When did you write that?" I asked. "While we've been sitting here," she smiled. "I'm always multi-tasking."
So, following my friend Donna's example, I offer my own suggestions on "what Clinton must do now." First: Chill. The odds are still strongly in your favor to become the Democratic Party nominee and the next president. There are still 48 states to go. No time to panic.
Second: Call off the dogs. Stop the daily string of attacks on Bernie Sanders and tell your surrogates, starting with your husband, to do the same. They make you look like just another politician. And, besides, they're just not credible. Two examples. You accuse Bernie of running a "smear" campaign by questioning your independence from Wall Street because you've raised so much money from financial institutions. Yet you accuse him of being in the pocket of the NRA because he voted against the Brady Bill. Both are legitimate questions. Neither is a smear. Drop it.
Or the latest charge, perhaps the silliest of all: that Bernie's actually the one who can't be trusted to tackle Wall Street because he once accepted $200,000 in campaign funds from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Oh, really? That presumes that every dollar of DSCC money comes from Wall Street firms, which is simply not true. And it invites more scrutiny of the $21.4 million in campaign contributions you've received directly from hedge funds, banks, insurance companies and other financial services firms, as reported by the Washington Post. Drop it.
Third piece of advice: Be positive. Do what you do best: Talk about your own vision, where you'd like to take this country as president, and how you'll fight for the American people. Instead of saying, "No, we can't," start saying, "Yes, we can." It worked in 2008. It'll work again in 2016.
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