Clinton: Schedule as strategy

Hillary Clinton's campaign has been guarded about disclosing the candidate's travel plans -- apparently not wanting to tip her strategic hand to competitors. That's not unusual. Most of the presidential candidates have given only a couple days' advance notice of upcoming trips.

Today, however, the Clinton campaign threw down the scheduling gauntlet, revealing Clinton's travel program right up to the eve of the make-or-break ballots in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont on Tuesday. Indeed, campaign aides Mark Penn and Phil Singer turned the schedule announcement into an expression of Clinton's platform and her character.

"In the countdown to March 4th, we have developed a schedule that demonstrates momentum and underscores Hillary's strengths and experience on the national security front and in her approach to solving our economic challenges," Penn and Singer said. "This schedule reinforces our larger message: Hillary is in the solutions business. She will be ready on Day One to solve our urgent problems and stand up for the voiceless...."

The announcement reads like a response to the growing criticism of the Clinton campaign in recent weeks as Barack Obama has surged in opinion polls and peeled off 11 straight primary and caucus victories. The pundits have suggested she has lost focus with a scatter-shot approach on issues and messages.

--Wednesday: Economic Solutions Summit, "hearing about the real problems people face and the solutions they bring to the table," Zanesville, OH.
--Thursday: "Child Poverty -- Giving Every Child a Chance," Appalachia, OH.
--Friday: Veterans Event: surrounded by veterans and retired officers. Texas.
--Saturday: Get-out-the-vote tour of the state of Texas.
--Sunday: Caravan for Clinton. Friends of Hillary caravan for her across Ohio.
--Monday: Texas-sized Town Hall, on-line and televised forums in eight Texas markets.

The memo also seems to respond to suggestions that Obama has opened up an enthusiasm gap: "Our message complements our organizational strength on the ground in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, including 41,000 volunteers in Texas and 26,000 volunteers in Ohio."

Penn and Singer note that the the campaign has turned out an army of surrogates including not only Bill and Chelsea Clinton but governors, senators, athletes and artists, among them Keyshawn Johnson and Lily Tomlin.