Clinton’s campaign has shifted into high gear on new messaging and outreach efforts following a rocky press conference last week and new accusations from a judge that she did violate government policy by using a private server. Frustrated allies admit that earlier attempts to stonewall what they see as a partisan witch hunt didn’t work.
“The campaign made several really significant mistakes in the way they handled it and the tone they took," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a longtime Clinton ally, said.
Rendell, who ran the Democratic National Committee while Bill Clinton was President, said she should have turned over her server months ago instead of waiting for the FBI to force her, admitted Clinton’s testy press conference in North Las Vegas didn’t help things and called her joke that she loves Snapchat because "those messages disappear all by themselves" last week in Iowa “incredibly tone-deaf.”
“It made light of something people are taking a serious look at,” he said. “There's no question the way the campaign has handled this has exacerbated the problem.”
Other Clinton backers agree - and worry there's no easy solution besides riding out a storm that has no end in sight and could encourage Vice President Biden to enter the race.
A Democratic operative at one of the outside groups supporting Clinton lamented that “such a complex and constantly changing story” made it hard for Clinton to respond effectively.
"It's a simple message to hurt her and they haven't yet arrived at a simple message to defend her," said the operative.