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Harold Ickes, a senior Clinton advisor, just said on a conference call that the Democratic nomination battle wouldn't be decided before June 7, when Puerto Rico goes to the polls. Ickes said Clinton trails by around 75 delegates, which he categorized as "not a huge number." He said she will "close the gap" by June and "take the nomination by Puerto Rico or shortly thereafter" by convincing superdelegates to get behind her candidacy. This seemed to be a subtle shift from her Texas and Ohio strategy into a longer-term effort to chip away at Obama's lead. Ickes repeatedly emphasized "at the end of the whole process."

Meanwhile, Mark Penn, Clinton's chief strategist, made the rather odd argument that she's the only one who can beat John McCain because she "has faced tough Republican opponents before." Huh?

I can think of several ways to describe Rick Lazio and John Spencer, but "tough opponents" wouldn't be among them.

UPDATE: Asked to clarify, Penn said that Clinton faced a tough challenge from Rudy Giuliani before he was forced to drop out, and that--get this--Lazio "came on like gangbusters as a fresh new face." The reason she faced less opposition in her reelection race was that she was "so successful as Senator."

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