Clinton camp plays expectations game, calls for more debates

NEW YORK – Senior Hillary Clinton staff just spent an entire hour on the phone with reporters across the country making the case that tonight’s results don’t really matter.

“It’s possible that Senator Obama will have come out of the night having won more delegates on the day,” said Clinton’s communications director, Howard Wolfson. “It’s possible that we will come out of the night having won more delegates on the day. I don’t think either side will come out with an appreciably more delegates.”

The race, he said, will go through the March 4 group of states, likely to the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, and possibly all the way to the convention in Denver in August.

But as for tonight, Wolfson singled out Massachusetts as a state where a win for Clinton would be embarrassing for Obama. Even though polls have suggested Clinton had a longtime, substantial lead, he pointed out that Governor Deval Patrick and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy have endorsed Obama.

“They’ve got the Kennedy machine doing everything it can to help,” he said. “If Senator Obama doesn’t win Massachusetts, that would have to be a significant disappointment.”

The Clinton campaign also announced that they have accepted invitation from TV networks for four new debates in the next month. It was unclear if Obama would agree to them.

Typically, it’s the underdog who wants the extra attention – and with it the risk – that comes with a long, unscripted venue like a debate. But Clinton has been seen as the stronger debater in this race.