Major changes could be coming to Hillary Clinton's campaign staff after Tuesday's New Hampshire primary because the former secretary of state and her husband, Bill, are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the campaign's messaging and digital game, Democratic operatives say, according to a Politico exclusive published Monday.
"The Clintons are not happy, and have been letting all of us know that," one Democratic official told Politico. "The idea is that we need a more forward-looking message, for the primary - but also for the general election too... There's no sense of panic, but there is an urgency to fix these problems right now."
Clinton, who won the Iowa caucus by so little - less than a half of a percentage point - that many consider it to be a win for Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, is expected to take a beating in Tuesday's contest in New Hampshire well into double digits. Although Clinton has been able to significantly close that gap, according to The Wall Street Journal, a gap which was more than 20 points in January, it has become increasingly clear that she has grown frustrated by her campaign's inability to present a coherent and positive view of her candidacy.
"There's nobody sitting in the middle of this empowered to create a message and implement it," one former Obama 2008 aide told Politico. "They are kind of rudderless... occasionally Hillary grabs the rudder, but until recently she was not that interested in [working on messaging]... Look, she's going to be the nominee, but she's not going to get any style points and if she isn't careful she is going to be a wounded nominee. And they better work this sh-t out fast because whoever the Republicans pick is going to be 29 times tougher than Bernie."
Sanders, however, has been able to boast many online victories, including more donors contributing to his campaign than any other in history, even Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. The Sanders campaign said earlier this month that it had raised $20 million for the month of January from a record-setting number of small donors. The campaign says that more than 770,000 individuals contributed over the month with an average of $27 per contribution, putting the total number of donations past the 3.2 million mark, according to USA Today. The campaign also said that 99.9 percent of the donors gave less than the maximum limit, making them eligible to contribute more later in the race.
In recent polling, Sanders leads Clinton in New Hampshire by more than 12 points. According to recent polls compiled by RealClear Politics, Sanders has 53.3 percent support, while Clinton has 40.5.
