Analysis: First Jolt to the Clinton Campaign

Question marks over a major donor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign are the first challenge to her smooth progress so far

Tim Reid

The revelation that one of Hillary Clinton’s major donors is wanted for fraud is the first time her hitherto relentlessly disciplined campaign has been thrown on the defensive.

So far, it is no more than a temporary embarrassment for Mrs Clinton. There is no suggestion she had any personal knowledge of Norman Hsu’s tainted background. But Mrs Clinton, more than any other candidate — because of the scandal-plagued White House years of her husband – has sought to project an image of financial and moral integrity.

For that reason, anything remotely smelling of scandal — this episode included — revives in people’s minds the sleaze that beset her husband’s presidency. The potential for the words “Clinton” and “scandal” to once again be linked is perhaps the greatest fear among her campaign aides. Any financial problems will also be used by her enemies to remind voters of a huge fundraising scandal that beset Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1996, when it emerged that Asian businessmen with links to China were funnelling money to Democrats to try and influence elections.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2356206.ece

2007-08-31