The Pre - Season is over and we are going into the final stretch of the campaign , the intensity of the campaign is going to reach a feverish pitch . Going into the fall campaign the position of Hillary Rodham Clinton has strengthened in all facets of the campaign , She has stretched her lead in the polls and soldified her position as the frontrunner both nationally and in all other states except Iowa were She is competitve , its important to note she started her campaign late but her campaign has since picked up steam over the July 4th weekend .

The Associated Press has a write - up that declares Hillary Rodham Clinton the winner of the pre-season and shows how the early states are shaping up 4 months to go , beginning in Iowa . Its a recommended read for everyone , even non clinton supporters.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUmzh pKDYkzYIeGyArNNQRz0bnOg

Craig Crawford also has an interesting analysis of the state of the race going into the final lap of the campaign .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070901/pl_c q_politics/craigcrawfords1600thepreseaso nsover_1  

There are 3 articles I would like to draw your attention to and I think they are worthy of reading . Its kinda of like a flashback , its written by Mark Penn and James Carville on how Hillary could win the presidency and how she would energize different segments of the population , and I must say they were right on point with their analysis , we see the dynamic playing out in the democratic primaries and in states like Ohio , Florida which they discussed.

THE POWER OF HILLARY :

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2006/06/30/AR2006063001478. html

CLINTON'S POWERPOINTER :

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2007/04/29/AR2007042901661. html

MARK PENN ON HILLARY AND LATINOS :

http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/hillary-l atinos

Sure there have been  few stumbles along the way , like the leak of the internal memo about the role of Iowa in the campaign to the New York Times ,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/us/pol itics/23text-clinton.html?ex=1188878400& amp;en=7de1cac395b9e796&ei=5070

And the strong rebuttal from the Clinton Camp :

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/us/pol itics/23cnd-clinton.html?ex=1188878400&a mp;en=09442403394e3c4c&ei=5070

Then there was the Norman Hsu glitch in which the campaign swiftly acted to do the right thing . It helped put out the smoke that was beginning to turn into fire . If you wondered why the other campaign didn't jump on the story , the article below might give you a reason :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070831/pl_c q_politics/craigcrawfordstrailmixedwards andobamathrowingnostonesatclintonshsucon nection_1

There has been significant points in the campaign that were turning points for her ;

The most significant one was at the first debate , when the question was asked of the potential presidents what they were going to do if there was a terror strike on the nation.

There was the unveiling of her first ad , a rallying cry for the " Invisible " which was a great ad in my opinion and is helping her in Iowa.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/46.a spx

She is hitting the talk show circuit more and She has appearances scheduled for popular day time TV shows that appeal to one of her targeted constituencies , women . You can watch her top 10 lists on the Letterman show at the link below :

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/blog/view/ ?id=12377 .

Overall , I am sure most Clinton supporters must be really thrilled where her campaign is as we head into the final Lap . Her field organization is good , you can read this article to have an idea how the campaign is organizing its volunteers :

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg i?f=/c/a/2007/08/21/MN3GRKSGH.DTL&fe ed=rss.news

Her fundraising has been retooled , she is focusing on small donor fundraising more than she did in prior quarters and it is likely She is going to raise significantly higher than She raised in prior quarters . More people are flocking to her campaign as they see her and realize She is not the same caricature they had been led to believe , Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute made this comment about Hillary Rodham Clinton on August 8 , 2007 .

"Sen. Clinton is inching ahead. Not only does she lead by a nose in two of the most important swing states in the Electoral College, but she is turning around independent and Republican voters who previously viewed her negatively,"

"In the last two months the share of voters who view her favorably has increased to about 50 percent - an important milestone - while the numbers who view her unfavorably has dropped. It is not huge movement, but it is consistent across all three states," Brown added.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x2882.xml?Rele aseID=1089 .

She has been endorsed by many of the influential leaders in the early primary states in Iowa , New Hampshire , Nevada and South Carolina. Her endorsements by the most influential African American leaders in South Carolina like Jon Mattews , Dick Riley , Linda Shortt , Joe Riley are going to prove to be crucial in helping her win South Carolina .

To know how important these endorsements are and for a complete guide of how to win the South Carolina primaries , I'll urge those who are interested  to read this whole article , it has all the information you need for victory in the Palmetto State , the information on there is useful for all candidates , especially for Obama for whom I think South Carolina is his " last stand " :

http://newspaperads.thestate.com/SS/Page .aspx?&secid=29013&pagenum=1

As we move into the next phase its going to get tougher and everyone should be ready for the battle ahead . I know the Clinton campaign will be ready and for a preview of what the competitors will be campaigning on in the fall , read this memo.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2007/08/edwards_will_again_push_cli nto.php

The campaign is in great shape and She couldn't have handled the last 6 months any better than She did.

On a lighter note this was the song I hoped She will pick as her campaign song , it gets played at the rallies and events but I was mad it wasn't her top choice although I love Celine too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtYBQXIeL Rw

Its a good song . Who knows She might end up using it in the general election.