Clinton Replaces Manager After Defeats

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WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime confidant Maggie Williams yesterday – as she dropped the Maine caucus to Barack Obama.

The move comes at a pivotal and perilous moment for the once- prohibitive Democratic frontrunner, who has now lost four consecutive contests since Super Tuesday and faces a steep uphill climb against Barack Obama in tomorrow’s primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Yesterday, Clinton’s advisers confirmed the former first lady quietly flew to North Carolina last week to personally lobby a still- undecided John Edwards to endorse her in hopes of stopping an Obama freight train that began gaining momentum with his landslide Jan. 26 victory in South Carolina.

In a sign of how radically the dynamic of the race has shifted in recent days, some Clinton staffers now privately concede Obama could lock up the nomination with a single win in Ohio or Texas on March 4 or in Pennsylvania on April 22.

Solis Doyle, among a handful of top staffers on the chopping block before Clinton’s Jan. 8 upset in New Hampshire, announced her resignation in an e-mail, saying, “I have been proud to manage this campaign and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years.”

Solis Doyle said she wasn’t forced out but was simply exhausted by a race she had expected to be won by Feb. 5.

“This has already been the longest presidential campaign in the history of our nation, and one that has required enormous sacrifices from all of us and our families,” said Solis Doyle, one of a handful of top advisers who briefly worked without pay after Clinton loaned her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

In a statement, Clinton thanked Solis Doyle, the highest ranking Hispanic in her campaign, for putting her “within reach of the nomination,” adding, “I am lucky to have Maggie on board and I know she will lead our campaign with great skill toward the nomination.”

After trouncing Clinton in Washington and Louisiana on Saturday, Obama took the Maine caucuses by a 62 to 37 percent margin, with 99 percent of precincts reporting this morning. Obama beat Clinton on delegates 15 to 9 – and could take over the total national lead in delegates as early as today.

The announcement of the shake-up came after Clinton traveled to Dulles International Airport to fly to Roanoke, Va., after a morning rally in Manassas. High winds throughout the Washington area forced the campaign to scrap the flight and she returned to Washington to make phone calls, a spokesman said.

A Mason-Dixon poll shows Obama leading Clinton by 16 points in Virginia and 18 points in Maryland. With both states and Washington having significant numbers of black, high-income and independent voters, the demographics of the region appear to favor Obama. The candidates will battle for 168 delegates in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

In the contest for the Republican nomination, Mike Huckabee said he will not “walk off the field” despite a large deficit in delegates to Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

“I think we have a shot at Virginia. I think we have a shot at Maryland. I think we have a shot at everywhere we go,” Huckabee said yesterday, fresh from caucus and primary wins in the Kansas and Louisiana contests on Saturday and a close fight with McCain in Washington.

“To step aside and have a coronation instead of a nomination, that’s the antithesis of everything Republicans stand for,” Huckabee said.

“Miracles are still happening,” the ordained Baptist minister said. “I still believe in them.”

Originally published by Related stories on Page 6A Newsday.

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