Hillary Clinton’s status as heir apparent to the White House has come under a cloud of doubt this week as a rift among top members of her campaign apparatus spilled onto the front pages.
David Brock, a key Clinton adviser and head of her super PAC Priorities USA Action, resigned his post this week amid a fight with other Clinton advisers at the Ready for Hillary PAC.
Brock accused Ready for Hillary of “an orchestrated political hit job” aimed at his pro-Clinton organization, a charge which came on the heels of questionable fundraising practices by the PAC which were exposed in a recent New York Times report.
Insiders say the the rift has put new pressure on Obama adviser John Podesta who is expected to step down from his White House post to formally join the Hillary campaign in the coming weeks.
The fight also underscores recent criticism from her own party that Hillary’s invisibility on the campaign trail is doing her no good and is potentially conveying weakness and disorganization in the face of frenzied activity among Republicans.
Though her poll numbers continue to remain high, the stark absence of excitement leaves open an opportunity for another primary candidate to step into the fray who might better energize the Democrat base. Such a scenario would harken eerily back to Hillary’s monumental collapse against then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008.