An Army of One

A telling statistic about the Obama/Clinton primary race, based on a poll I conducted of one voter: myself.

When asked to name as many non-elected Clinton campaign advisors as possible off the top of my head, I was able to list the following:

Terry McCullough
Harold Ickes
Mark Penn
Howard Wolfson
Maggie Williams
Lanny Davis

Six. And to be honest, I don't even know what each of 'em do, I just know they were around, because I've heard about in one way or another every week since January.

When asked to rattle off the same list for Obama, I came up with the following:

David Axelrod

That's a grand total of one - his campaign manager.

What does this mean? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps it's just that Clinton's staff are more widely recognizable in the political world. But personally, I think it's more than that. I mean, seriously - regardless of how much CNN I watch, I should not be able to name 6 Clinton campaign advisers.

I think it's indicative of the contrast between these two campaigns. While the Obama team worked as a cohesive, behind the scenes unit dedicated to promoting their guy, the Clinton team was so wrought with self proclaimed big wigs, that the candidate often found herself sharing the spotlight with the very people that were supposed to be shining it on her.

Was this the difference between winning and losing? Who knows. But regardless, it's an interesting distinction and should serve as a lesson for future candidates assembling their teams.