Hillary's Watch: Clinton campaign may get boost from 'independent' spending  As Senator Hillary Clinton fights to keep her head in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, she may get a little help from her friends. Just as some conservative groups like Freedom's Watch hope to spend money that tacitly supports Republican efforts to keep the White House, Clinton supporters are contemplating spending money independent of their candidate to help her defeat Sen. Barack Obama.
"At least two sets of Clinton fund-raisers are speaking with lawyers to figure out how to create independent entities to support Mrs. Clinton in Ohio, Texas and other primary contests," write Brody Mullins, John Emshwiller, and Ianthe Jeanne Dugan in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. "Susie Tompkins Buell, the founder of the Esprit clothing company, says she is deciding whether to start her own entity to fund commercials for Mrs. Clinton, or whether to donate to existing groups, such as abortion-rights group Emily's List, that are already spending money on Mrs. Clinton."
The reporters note that Buell and other Clinton backers may never get started because of the difficulties of campaign finance law. But, they write, it shows that, "wealthy Americans are increasingly funding their own independent political operations to back candidates they support."
Still, Clinton insiders also fear that such operations could give her opponent Barack Obama the opportunity to argue that he is being "swift boated" by the Clinton campaign.
"Some Clinton backers also worry that any new independent organization will be compared to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group founded in 2004 to attack Sen. John Kerry's record in Vietnam," they write. "Other Clinton fund-raisers say that Mr. Obama campaigns against special interests and will surely point out any help that Mrs. Clinton gets from any outside political organization."
But with Obama seemingly far ahead of Clinton in fundraising, and set to win possibly 9 to 10 primary contests in a row, some of the former First Lady's backers feel a need to do something.
"[One Clinton backer] feels he has done all he can for the campaign from the inside," the Journal reporters note. "He says Mrs. Clinton must win in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania to secure the nomination, but he worries that her campaign will not be able to afford to fund the ads she will need."
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