Is Hillary Getting Desperate? (updated)

Watching helplessly as her once seemingly insurmountable leads in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have all dissipated, the Clinton campaign can't seem to right itself and instead, keeps shooting itself in the foot.

The latest eye opener is just your basic Clinton smear; they intend to highlight Obama's admission that he used drugs as a young man because "the Republicans will bring it up if we don't:"

A top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said Wednesday that Democrats should give more thought to Sen. Barack Obama's admissions of illegal drug use before they pick a presidential candidate.

Obama's campaign said the Clinton people were getting desperate. Clinton's campaign tried to distance itself from the remarks. Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman of Clinton's front-runner campaign, raised the issue during an interview with The Washington Post, posted on washingtonpost.com. Shaheen, an attorney and veteran organizer, said much of Obama's background is unknown and could be a problem in November 2008 if he is the Democratic nominee. He said the Republicans would work hard to discover new aspects of Obama's admittedly spotty youth. "It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'" said Shaheen, whose wife Jeanne is the state's former governor and is running for the U.S. Senate next year.

"There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome," Shaheen said.

Clinton's campaign said it had nothing to do with his comments. "Senator Clinton is out every day talking about the issues that matter to the American people. These comments were not authorized or condoned by the campaign in any way," spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said.

Of course the remarks were "not authorized or condoned" by the campaign. But we know the Clinton smear machine by now. Somehow, even if the remarks aren't "authorized," they end up out there anyway, don't they? Someone passes the word to a flunkie who places the smear somewhere it's sure to get media play and the rest is history.

Attention Republicans: This is what you can expect next fall.

Meanwhile, it appears the charge may have backfired as most media sources and the other campaigns have roundly criticized the attack. For the moment, it makes Obama look the aggreived party and gets him some sympathy.

Clinton has lost the one thing that she had going for her above all else; the idea that she was the already crowned, inevitable choice of the Democratic party leaders. She still has tons of money and will no doubt right her campaign somewhere down the road. But there is now nothing inevitable about her candidacy and Obama, who is also loaded for bear money wise, will be able to challenge her far beyond Super Tuesday on February 5.

Update: Gateway Pundit notices that Hillary has a few stories circulating about youthful pot use. 

Hillary also has her own hazy pot past:

According to Edward Klein's new book The Truth About Hillary, she smoked pot while a student at Wellesley with her boyfriend David Rupert, and met Bill Clinton at a commune called Cozy Beach that was affiliated with Ken Kesey's Hog Farm. "During their remaining time at Yale, Bill and Hillary often grooved the night away at Cozy Beach, spinning the latest Jefferson Airplane platters and eating Kris Olson's hashish brownies," Klein wrote. During President Bill Clinton's last week in office, he told Rolling Stone magazine he thought marijuana ought to be legalized. But in a Senate debate in Manhattan on Oct 8, 2000, Hillary took the middle road, advocating Drug Courts and weekly drug testing for those with an "addiction."

Hat tip: Larwyn