Clinton looks past New Hampshire to Nevada, Feb. 5

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) sought to downplay a loss in the New Hampshire primary, saying Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination will continue in Nevada and in the big states holding contests on Feb. 5.

Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman, told reporters Thursday, while votes were still being cast in the first-in-the-nation primary here, that “Feb. 5 is the big day.”

{mosads}McAuliffe reminded reporters that President Bill Clinton lost six contests before his first win in the 1992 campaign that won him the Democratic nomination and presidency.

“I’ve been with the Clintons for a long time,” McAuliffe said. “We’ve been up and down, but in the end we’re always in.”

McAuliffe and Clinton’s finance director, Jonathan Mantz, said reports of a campaign money crunch are untrue.

Mantz said the campaign has raised $1.5 million since Clinton’s third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. And McAuliffe added that, not including media, the campaign has already paid all of its expenses through the Feb. 5 states and still has “tens of millions in the bank.”

McAuliffe called Feb. 5 the “mother lode of delegates,” and he laughed at The Hill’s suggestion that the Clinton campaign appears to be adopting the Super Tuesday strategy of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).

“Rudy didn’t play in Iowa,” McAuliffe said. “We played in Iowa.”