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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/289f5b7e-aa45-11db-83b0-0000779e2340.html
Clinton and Obama campaigners trade insults
By Edward Luce in Washington
Published: January 22 2007 18:27 | Last updated: January 22 2007 18:27
The Democratic partys presidential campaign got into full swing on Monday with campaign staff for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton already indulging in sniping contests over the relative merits of their candidates.
Campaign workers for Mrs Clinton, who on Monday signed the papers to set up a presidential exploratory committee the first step before declaring a formal candidacy made indirect attacks on the relative inexperience of Mr Obama, who entered the race a week ago.
Democratic consultants said the campaign, which already includes five other candidates, most notably John Edwards, the partys 2004 vice-presidential candidate, was shaping up to be the most intense and long-running in the partys history.
Polls show Mrs Clinton leading by a wide margin among registered Democrats. Hillarys Democratic primary support is climbing while others are stalled or falling, wrote Mark Penn, Mrs Clintons chief pollster, in a memo. She is not just strong, but the strongest in the field.
Joe Trippi, who was campaign manager for Howard Dean, who almost took the 2004 Democratic nomination, said both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton had been bounced into declaring their candidacies early by the strength of the others campaign.
George Soros, the New York-based billionaire, declared his support for Mr Obama the moment the first-term senator from Illinois signed the papers last week. Mr Soros, who has been one of the most generous supporters of Democratic campaigns in recent years, gave Mr Obama the maximum permitted individual donation...