The bickering is far from over in Camp Clinton, insiders say, even as staffers closed ranks in an effort to leave last week’s campaign gaffes in the past.
“They’re in chaos – there’s definite friction at the top between [Clinton spokesman] Howard Wolfson and [chief strategist] Mark Penn,” said a source close to the campaign.
“Clinton’s doing the best she can to get back on message, but her top echelon’s distracted by its own power struggle, as opposed to worrying about her,” the source said, adding that a serious staff shakeup was unlikely, but “an old Clinton ally could be brought in to mediate between Wolfson and Penn.”
Another former Bill Clinton strategist called attempts to malign Sen. Barack Obama‘s credibility with voters “idiotic.”
“Who cares what Obama was writing when he was in kindergarten?” said the analyst, referring to recent Clinton reports that Obama from an early age had shown an interest in running for president.
“And now we’re moving up the food chain to what he did in high school? It’s an idiotic strategy, and it came at the wrong time for her.”
Clinton was left red-faced Thursday after a New Hampshire staffer told a Washington Post reporter that Obama’s already-admitted drug use left him vulnerable to Republican attacks. Clinton – once the front-runner – found herself having to denounce her staffer’s unauthorized remarks, accept the staffer’s resignation, and then personally apologize to her closest rival in the space of a day.
gotis@nypost.com