Clinton-Drudge Backscratch Pact Intact

Can Hillary Clinton's campaign strategists be shamed into laying off their heavy-handed manipulation of the press? Apparently not.

From "Bunker Hillary: Clinton's Strategy for Crushing the Media," The New Republic, Nov. 12, 2007:

Many reporters also suspect the Clinton camp of employing outside proxies to attack troublemakers in the media. After Hillary's shaky debate performance late last month, the Drudge Report--whose author, Matt Drudge, the campaign has assiduously courted--quickly featured an unusual blind quote on its homepage in which an unnamed "top Hillary advisor" said debate moderator Tim Russert "bordered on the unprofessional."

From today's Drudge Report:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux...

Incidentally, exactly who is it that Blitzer "has been warned" by? I'd bet it was the same "top Clinton insider" who leaked the story to Drudge, or one of his/her associates, and not by anyone at CNN. I've emailed a CNN rep to confirm that but haven't heard back yet.

UPDATE, 5:33 p.m.: From a CNN spokeswoman: ""CNN knows nothing of this report. No communication of this kind has been sent to anyone at CNN."