After fund-raising lull, Edwards campaign set to reshuffle team

NEW YORK -- John Edwards is reshuffling the ranks of his top staff, adding two prominent Democratic operatives as senior advisers and shifting some responsibilities from campaign manager David Bonior.

Paul Blank and Chris Kofinis, leaders of the labor-backed anti-Wal-Mart effort "Wake Up Wal-Mart," were expected to join the Edwards campaign as early as next week. Blank would take over day-to-day campaign operations while Kofinis would serve as communications director.

Blank was political director for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential effort and remains close to former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, who is senior adviser to the Edwards effort.

Bonior, a former Michigan congressman, would retain the title of campaign manager but step up his role as public spokesman. He is also expected to travel extensively with Edwards.

The changes come after a disappointing fund-raising quarter for Edwards and some communications challenges, including the fallout over his $400 haircuts and connection to a New York-based hedge fund. Edwards raised just over $9 million from April through June, much less than rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

MUSCATINE, Iowa -- Hillary Clinton assured Iowans yesterday that she isn't asking them to turn back the clock in her bid for the Democratic nomination, only calling for a return to the policies and values of her husband's presidency.

Speaking to more than 1,000 people at a sweltering rally in a park overlooking the Mississippi River, Clinton said she was committed to moving forward while reaching back for policies that left the nation in a better position to deal with its problems. Some critics have accused Clinton of wanting to return to the era of Bill Clinton's presidency.

"You don't go back in America," Clinton said. "If you're smart, you carry with you the values that have worked in the past."

Key to her efforts would be balancing the budget, Clinton said, noting that the nation ran a surplus during her husband's two terms. "Six-and-a-half years ago, we had a balanced budget and a surplus in America," Clinton said. "All of that was squandered by the Bush administration." (AP)

WASHINGTON -- Rudy Giuliani is using his fund-raising advantage among Republican presidential candidates to expand his campaign organizations beyond early nominating contests and into bigger, more expensive states such as Florida and California.

Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime, in a teleconference with reporters, said the former New York mayor's fund-raising -- he hauled in $15 million for the primaries during the last three months -- has given him the flexibility to establish a presence in a dozen states.

The expansion represents a competing view of how to succeed in the primary and exposes a potential weakness for Giuliani in the early January contests, particularly in Iowa where he decided to forgo a popular political straw poll next month. (AP)

BOSTON -- Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who rails against the "cesspool" of pornography, is being criticized by social conservatives who argue that he should have tried to halt hardcore hotel movie offerings during his near-decade on the Marriott board.

Two antipornography crusaders, as well as two conservative activists of the type Romney is courting, say the distribution of such graphic adult movies runs counter to the family image cultivated by Romney, the Marriotts, and their shared Mormon faith.

During a recent Associated Press interview, Romney said he did not recall pornography coming up for discussion while he was on the Marriott board from 1992 to 2001. Despite being chairman of the board's audit committee, he also said he was unaware of how much revenue pornography may have generated for the hotel chain.

Romney said his current concern is not pornography per se, but children stumbling upon it on the Internet or television.