The American Spectator

“Moore or his people have been all over us,” laughs a Kerry campaign staffer in Washington. “We were getting free passes to the premiere. It’s obvious that when we beat the Republicans, they want to get the credit for it.”

p> HILLARY AT BAY br> The Kerry campaign heard and approved the remarks made by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in San Francisco on Tuesday. There, in a speech that almost certainly will come back to haunt the Democrats, Clinton stated to the Democratic audience gathered in support of Sen. Barbara Boxer , “Many of you are well enough off that … the tax cuts may have helped you. We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” /p>

Clinton did not have prepared remarks for the event, though a Clinton aide did discuss the gist of the remarks with a Kerry campaign adviser in Washington prior to Clinton’s arrival in San Francisco. “Everything Senator Clinton says has national import, so we try to stay on top of things and communicate with her and her staff as much as possible,” says the Kerry aide. “This is her opinion, it’s not the opinion of the Kerry campaign. My guess is she was speaking of the Senate, not a Kerry administration.”

But did the Kerry campaign disavow the remarks? The Kerry adviser couldn’t or wouldn’t say: “It’s not like Senator Clinton is a surrogate for the campaign. No one should presume that. She is more important than a mere surrogate.”

Senator Clinton’s remarks were made on the same day that hubby Bill was signing his book in the foggy city. They were not traveling as a couple. Hillary left San Fran almost immediately for a fundraiser in Monterey with Leon Panetta, while Bill was to stay in San Francisco overnight after attending a fundraiser for a charity run by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband. The group is called the American Himalayan Foundation, and no doubt Bill was to regale the gathering with more stories about how his dear wife got her name after Sir Edmund Hillary mounted the tallest Himalayan peak of them all.