FIXING WHAT WASN'T BROKEN ON MONDAY:

Clinton Lets Others Fret Her Hour OnstageRAYMOND HERNANDEZ, 7/15/04, NY Times)

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that she was not upset that Democratic Party leaders had not given her a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention in Boston later this month.

During an appearance on a radio show in Binghamton, N.Y., Mrs. Clinton laughed when asked if she was disappointed about not being included in the lineup of convention speakers.

"No," she said, "I've had many opportunities in the past."

At the same time, however, several of her supporters spent the day negotiating with convention organizers for a solution to the situation, party operatives said.

James Carville, a longtime adviser to former President Bill Clinton, predicted that top Democrats would ultimately accommodate Mrs. Clinton rather than allow the controversy to dominate the news in the days leading up to the convention.

"You want your convention to be about why John Kerry should be president, not why Hillary Clinton is not speaking," he said. "This will get fixed."

The Kerry campaign is so inept it sort of makes one nostalgic for professionals like Carville.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 14, 2004 11:12 PM