An International
Herald Tribune story of October 22, 2007, covers the irony
of the Clinton campaign feeding stories to the Drudge Report
as part of its strategy. (It was a repost from the New York
Times, which owns the IHT.)
And the Clinton campaign wasn't hiding their new found
interest in using Drudge to get attention for stories. They
had [and may still have] a designated "liaison" according
to the International Herald Tribune:
Clinton's communications team, led by Howard Wolfson,
is not leaving Drudge to the Republicans. Five current and
former Democratic officials said Clinton has on her side the
closest thing her party has ever had to Rhoades [a GOP leaker
to Drudge] in Tracy Sefl, a former Democratic National Committee
official. The officials said that Sefl had established a friendly
relationship with Drudge and that Clinton's campaign often
worked quietly through her to open a line of communication
with Drudge.
Though liberals say Drudge's ideological imbalance remains
plain, Republicans, who viewed the site as theirs in campaigns
past, say they are noticing what they believe to be more Democratic
driven, often Clinton driven, items on it.
And, as New York magazine reported recently, it has escaped
no one that Drudge has sometimes mentioned Clinton favorably
on his syndicated radio program, even if no one really knows
whether his comments reflect admiration for her or simply
a recognition that keeping her in the news is good for his
business.
(Article continues below)
The International Herald Tribune story begins with a telling
anecdote:
As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech
on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing-red siren alert
went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, "Queen
of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising
Surge," and, "$27 Million, Sources Tell Drudge Report."
Within minutes, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's fund-raising
success was injected via Drudge into the day's political
news on the Internet and cable television. It did not halt
coverage of Obama's speech or his criticism of her vote
to authorize the war in 2002, but along the front lines of
the campaign - the hourly, intensely fought effort to capture
the news cycle or deny ownership of it to the other side -
it was a telling assault.
Clinton's aides declined to discuss how the Drudge Report
got access to her latest fund-raising figures nearly 20 minutes
before the official announcement went to supporters. But it
was a prime example of a development that has surprised much
of the political world: Clinton is learning to play nice with
the Drudge Report and the powerful, elusive and conservative-leaning
man behind it.
So, today's
non-denials from the Clinton camp notwithstanding, it is
clear that the campaign has cozied up to Drudge -- even if he
trashes the senator from time to time -- in an effort to make
use of his vast audience, and to use them to their advantage
to the extent that they can.
That's not coming from BuzzFlash; that's directly from
the International Herald Tribune, in an article reposted from
the New York Times.
The author is the respected NYT journalist Jim Rutenberg.
