More Trouble For Clinton ?

If Hillary Clinton is to do well in Pennsylvania, she must do very well among union and blue-collar workers. Blacks and college-educated professionals are voting heavily for Obama in every state, and Pennsylvania is no different. That means Clinton must carry women and non-college-educated workers by a large margin.

But it looks like she's got some problems she must overcome to do that. First was her support of NAFTA. NAFTA is not liked by union and blue-collar workers because they view it as a job-killer. She claims that she was always opposed to that Free Trade Agreement, but it is now undeniable that she campaigned for NAFTA while her husband was president.

Just as she's trying to put NAFTA to rest, up pops another Free Trade Agreement -- this time with Columbia. It was learned that her senior advisor, Mark Penn, was working with the Columbian government to get the agreement approved by Congress. She demoted Penn and assured workers that she opposes the Columbian agreement.

But that's not the end of the Columbian Free Trade Agreement story. We now learn that her husband is also a supporter of this agreement, and has supported it since 2000. In fact, he was paid over $800,000 to make some speeches in favor of the agreement.

With her (former) chief strategist and her husband both being big supporters of the agreement (probably the two most important people in her campaign), one is left to wonder -- how can we really be sure she will stand firm against these kind of agreements once she gets in the White House?

This is a serious problem for the Clinton campaign. It strikes at the heart of a demographic group that she cannot afford to lose if she expects to make a big showing in Pennsylvania. If working-class voters begin to doubt her opposition to Free Trade Agreements, her campaign will be in even deeper trouble than it already is.

The last couple of weeks haven't been good for Clinton.