Clinton Conference Call

I got the chance to participate in a Clinton campaign media conference call this morning with Ann Lewis, Senior Advisor for Hillary Clinton for President, and Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's Communications Director.

This was not a special call for bloggers, it was for the media (AP, Gannett, Pacifica, Andrea Mitchell, etc.) including some bloggers. So, yes, kudos to them for blogger outreach.

Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake gives her account of the call here which includes the following:

I will say, however, that the Clinton campaign has been much more open when it comes to letting people ask tough questions of them. Something like what happened the other night -- when Obama general counsel Bob Bauer got on a Clinton conference call and hammered Wolfson -- could never happen in reverse. I've asked to be on the Obama calls and they've never allowed it, because I certainly would've liked to ask similar questions of them about the Harry & Louise ads, so points to Clinton for transparency.

Many of the questions asked by the media were about how should Florida and Michigan be handled by the party. While, not surprisingly, maintaining that the delegates should be seated from those states, they did seem open to do-overs or, at least, stated a preference for primaries versus caucuses if it comes to that. They also said that the pledge not to campaign in FL and MI ended on February 5th.

Ann Lewis credited some of their win in Ohio to campaigning in "urban, suburban, exurban and rural areas" as Clinton had for her NY Senate run and said that that strategy would also do them well in states like Pennsylvania.

A couple of questions were asked about the release of Clinton's tax returns and they did say that they will be released before April 22nd (PA primary date).

They also said that the campaign had taken in 3 million dollars in the 24 hours following Clinton's wins this week.
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