WASHINGTON — Old enemies of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are out in force. Just weeks after she joined the Democratic Party's flock of presidential contenders, Clinton is being targeted by conservative and Republican-allied activists intent on derailing her campaign before the start of next year's primaries.
They have surfaced with a flurry of planned projects: a Michael Moore-style documentary film, book-length exposes, and websites such as StopHerNow.comand StopHillaryPAC.com.
Conservative admirers of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth media blitz that helped torpedo Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential candidacy in 2004 are now agitating to "Swift-boat" Clinton.
"People are doing what they're doing because they want to defeat her before she has a chance to win. You can't hold off your silver bullet to the end," said veteran Republican operative David N. Bossie, who is involved in the film project with Dick Morris, a former advisor to Bill Clinton.
The emerging moves against the New York senator reflect the accelerated pace of the 2008 race and conservatives' growing conviction that she poses a formidable threat that requires fast and early footwork.
Clinton has been publicly bracing for "Republican machine" attacks from the moment she launched her exploratory committee last month.
Whether she can strike back quickly may prove crucial to winning over Democratic primary voters looking for assurance that she can survive a bruising general election and Swift-boat-style attacks.
"For Democrats, there's a strong sense this time around that they can't allow those same tactics to define Democratic candidates," said Democratic media consultant Jim Margolis.
At a recent Democratic National Committee gathering in Washington, Clinton told party officials, "I know how they think, how they act and how to defeat them" -- a battle call echoing her 1998 evocation of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" during the furor over her husband's affair with intern Monica S. Lewinsky.
Long-standing aversion
Every presidential candidate is scrutinized by opponents. But conservative antipathy toward Clinton is especially deep and long-standing -- inflamed in part by her husband's two terms in the White House, her steady rise from first lady to senator, and the widespread belief on the right that the Clintons evaded justice during the nonstop investigations of the 1990s.
