Blue Spot

US elections: Infighting doomed Clinton's campaign, biographer reports | World news | guardian.co.uk

A fuller reckoning of the extent of the infighting in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign began to emerge today -- just as Democrats were stepping up their efforts to unite around Barack Obama as the party's presidential candidate.

In the August edition of Vanity Fair, Gail Sheehy, a Clinton biographer, describes a candidate who deliberately neglected to set up clear lines of authority, opting instead for an organisation which was a "team of rivals".

The picture of discord emerges a day after Bill Clinton held his first extensive telephone conversation with Obama since his wife's defeat a month ago.

The discussion seen as an important and much-needed symbol of healing between the two camps. The Obama campaign is anxious to win over Hillary Clinton's supporters -- women, working-class white men, and Latinos -- especially in the swing states where she won the primaries and to unite the party before the coming contest against Republican John McCain.

A Clinton insider said the former president was committed to helping Obama win the election against McCain. The insider dismissed media reports of continued rancour between the former president and Obama.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary