To: Interested Parties

From: Howard Wolfson, Communications Director

Re: South Carolina, Florida, and February 5

Date: January 26, 2008

The Obama campaign has been so confident of winning South Carolina that six months ago they flatly predicted victory in the Palmetto State.

Cornell Belcher, Senator Obama’s pollster, stated explicitly to the Politico on July 25, 2007, “We are going to outright win South Carolina.”

And today, Senator Obama leads by 12, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls taken in South Carolina over the last 10 days.

Despite Senator Obama’s large lead, Senator Clinton has campaigned across the Palmetto State, reaching out and asking for each and every vote. She has heard directly from South Carolinians about their concerns and their hopes for a stronger, more prosperous America.

Regardless of today’s outcome, the race quickly shifts to Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Democrats will turn out to vote on Tuesday.

Despite efforts by the Obama campaign to ignore Floridians, their voices will be heard loud and clear across the country, as the last state to vote before Super Tuesday on February 5th.

This remains a delegate fight, with 1,681 delegates at stake on February 5th, and 2,025 needed to secure the nomination — and we are ahead in that fight.

As Senator Clinton has said from the beginning, we have built a national campaign with the resources to compete and win across the country.

Coming off of victories in Nevada, Michigan and New Hampshire, Senator Clinton has demonstrated the importance of focusing on achieving real solutions on the economy, health care and Iraq .

As she campaigns throughout the United States over the coming weeks, Senator Clinton will continue to work hard for every vote, making sure that Americans know she will be a President who focuses on what matters most—making a difference in people’s lives.

“It should not be surprising given recent events that the Clinton campaign would in one breath say the election is about winning delegates and then tout their success in states that don’t award any delegates in the next breath. The DNC has made clear that the winner of the contest in Florida will not receive any delegates, so the next step in this nominating process is February 5th. If the Clinton campaign’s southern strength rests on the outcome in a state where they’re the only ones competing, that should give Democrats deep pause. Again, no one is more disappointed that Florida and Michigan Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party’s standard bearer than Senator Obama but he looks forward to vigorously competing for their votes in the general election.”