The Clintons’ enemies list: not too exclusive

By J. Patrick Coolican

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | 9:54 a.m.

Here’s a genius story by The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich (one of the best in the biz) on the Clintons' enemies list.

I've scanned the story for Nevada names and couldn't find any, though caucus states are mentioned, and you can be sure Nevadans such as state Sen. Steven Horsford and Billy Vassiliadis, the CEO of R&R Partners, are on someone's mental list. It's a little odd how vindictive, almost totalitarian, the whole thing is. Makes for very entertaining reading, however.

Here’s a snippet:

The lists maintained by supporters tend to be less formal documents than spoken diatribes, with offenders’ names spat forth in rants, gripe sessions and post-mortems.

Several names and entities are common among various list makers. The lineup invariably begins with A-list members like Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico; Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the House Democratic whip; Gregory B. Craig, Mr. Clinton’s lawyer in his impeachment and trial; David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist; Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri; and several Kennedys. Some members of the Democratic Party’s rules committee, the state of Iowa and the caucus system in general are also near the top.

The news media have already focused on some list entries, including the online gossip purveyor Matt Drudge (who had the nerve to show up at Mrs. Clinton’s departure speech on Saturday), Todd S. Purdum of Vanity Fair (the author of a recent profile of Mr. Clinton) and the cable network MSNBC (whose hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are charter list members, Clinton associates said).

The lists are also reported to include lesser-known Obama-supporting members of Congress (for whom the Clintons campaigned), former ambassadors (appointed by Mr. Clinton) or Clinton White House officials turned Obama advisers (like Anthony Lake, a former national security adviser, and Susan Rice, a former White House and State Department official).

These are people who should know better than to ask the former president or first lady for a job recommendation for a son-in-law.

Prominent list entries tend to be philosophical about their status. “When you’re on the losing end of a campaign, your sense of victimization is higher,” said Joe Andrew, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (appointed by Mr. Clinton) who joined the lists after he switched his superdelegate allegiance from Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Obama just before the primary in his home state, Indiana.

Mr. Richardson, the former energy secretary and United Nations ambassador under President Clinton who endorsed Mr. Obama after leaning toward Mrs. Clinton, said, “I know they’re unhappy, but I’ve been on these lists before.”

While Mrs. Clinton has a short list of people who disappointed her, Mr. Clinton, who reportedly has an encyclopedic memory of all the people he has helped, employed or appointed over the years, apparently has a far longer one, the campaign officials said.