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Posted: July 16, 2007 6:52 PM
Bloggers First to Hear of Clinton Endorsement
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Ambassador Joseph Wilson — the U.S. official at the center of the CIA leak case — announced his endorsement for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in a conference call to bloggers on Monday.

Though Stuart Rothenberg downplays the importance of presidential endorsements, Terry Marsh of the Huffington Post called the move “a huge deal” — both the endorsement itself, and the message it sends about Clinton’s relationship with bloggers. According to Marsh, “That it was broken on the blogs sends a powerful signal. … That Clinton offered the scoop to a group of bloggers shows just how far she’s come and how far she’s willing to engage a community, which on the whole is very critical of her on all fronts.”

In further efforts to appeal to the online community, Clinton has asked supporters to submit YouTube videos expressing their support for her in advance of the July 23 YouTube/CNN debate.

The participants were asked to prepare 30-second videos to be shown during the debate. In a July 10 press release, the campaign stressed that “Clinton has engaged Americans in new and innovative ways. She launched her candidacy with an online announcement and held a series of live video Web chats with voters across the country. Since then, she has launched a text messaging program to reach supporters on their mobile phones and posted HillCast Web videos on a range of policy proposals. The campaign has also launched www.HillaryHub.com to serve as a central repository for news, blogs and videos about her candidacy.

Clinton came out on top in a July 13 national poll by the American Research Group. Thirty-eight percent of Democratic primary voters surveyed said they would vote for Clinton, while 25 percent said they preferred her Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., came in third at 16 percent. The latest Gallup/USA Today poll shows Obama beating Clinton, garnering 53 percent to her 48 percent. Edwards came in between with 50 percent.

Clinton cut short her tour across New Hampshire with former President Clinton to attend Lady Bird Johnson’s funeral in Austin, Texas on June 14. On Sunday she participated in the American Association for Justice Presidential Forum in Chicago, and is in Chappaqua, N.Y. with no public events scheduled for Monday. Tuesday, she plans to address the National Association of Counties Annual Conference in Richmond, Virginia, then attend the Planned Parenthood Public Affairs Retreat and Roundtable in Washington, D.C. Clinton aims to stay in Washington through Thursday, with no public campaign events.