By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer

Posted Feb. 26, 2008 – Until this recent stunt by the Clinton campaign, I had hoped folks would see a contest waged without getting low down and dangerously dirty by Democratic rivals.

But today’s alledged actions by the Clinton campaign, tells me they want a win and they’ll do just about anything to do so.  I’m sure Black Americans will be in no mood to forgive and forget this recent stunt so closely on the heels of a discussion about the safety of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

The release of a photo of Obama in traditional Somali clothing during a 2006 trip to African was sent to the conservative website Drudgereport.com  (without explanation) to get the policy conversation off of NAFTA.  The website says the picture came from the Clinton campaign. 

Maggie Williams, who’s Black, wouldn’t even deny leaking the photo, and released a statement saying, “If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed.  Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.”

They knew the photo could and would be misunderstood, just what they wanted. This dirty little trick could cost the Clinton campaign more than they ever imagined.

 I can’t wait to see what Williams has in store next.

Posted Feb. 27, 2008 – On Tuesday afternoon, I received a call followed by an email from one of the folks at Clinton camp whom I have worked with for a long  time expressing  concern about this blog.  She said the campaign has no proof this photo of Obama was sent to the Drudgereport by a member of their team, and asked that information be shared with my readers.  Here’s what she had to say; 

“Hey Pamela …

Just wanted to follow up with you on today’s blog posting … as we discussed earlier …the first sentence implies that the campaign has put out this photo. Senator Clinton (and the campaign doesn’t condone this type of practice). No one at the campaign had seen this alleged Email or this photo until we saw it on the Drudge Report along with the rest of the media (and at this moment no one has yet to see it). That being said, can you update your blog to reflect that the campaign did not have anything to do with this “stunt” — this, as I said, does not do anything positive for our campaign so the question for you would be “why would we engage in this type of tactic?” Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Best, TRACI”

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