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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Valerie Plame Unmasked As Clinton Supporter

Filed under Hillary Rodham Clinton
Posted at 3:00 PM
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Dismissing calls for her exit -- and setting aside for the moment her $20 million debt -- Hillary Rodham Clinton this weekend pressed ahead with her campaign in West Virginia and Oregon, expanding her ad buy in both states. Breaking the mold of previous Democratic primary contests, both she and Barack Obama have so far refrained from negative advertising in the run-up to votes in both states -- reflecting a larger shift in tone from Clinton's camp.

In a new spot (subscription) released Friday in Oregon, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, say they support Clinton because she can best end the war in Iraq. "She has been a leader in pushing the administration for a serious exit strategy," Plame says. "She'll get the job done," agrees her husband. Equally positive is a second endorsement spot (subscription), which aired in Oregon on Mother's Day, featuring Chelsea Clinton discussing how her mother's values would be an asset to her as the first female president.

Clinton was no less active in West Virginia, where voters head to the polls today, releasing a slightly updated version of a populist economic spot (subscription) that ran previously in Texas. She also put out a last-minute radio ad to counter pundits who have written off the Mountain State as an easy Clinton win. "In Washington, some people say the presidential primary in West Virginia doesn't much matter," an announcer says. "But you know what? Tuesday we can show them." He goes on to remind listeners that "no president has been elected president without winning West Virginia for almost 100 years," and he praises Clinton's economic policies.