Paving the way

I don't really know if this is the sort of excuse-making camp-Hillary really wants to be engaging in.

“Here’s the bottom line: They had not worked this state,” said Teresa Vilmain, the Iowa state director, who was brought in here in a quiet campaign shake-up that took place early last summer, when Mrs. Clinton first saw signs of problems here. “We had a lot of ground to cover. It’s a challenge.”

Iowa, where Mrs. Clinton and her husband do not have the advantage of having run a primary campaign, as they have in New Hampshire, is a place that has appeared to frustrate the Clinton political operation from the day she arrived here.

I think Iowans--and all Americans for that matter--would be sympathetic to several hypothetical Clinton-camp explanations of her flagging campaign. First front-running female. Been a busy senator for the years during which John Edwards was essentially actively campaigning. Republican attacks. Whatever. But "my husband didn't lay the groundwork for me" isn't inspiring and doesn't cut against the I think reasonable criticism that Hillary's viability comes on the coattails of Bill's success.