Clinton Campaign ‘Constantly Astonished’ by GOP Mudslinging, Senior Strategist Says (Video)

Adrienne Elrod, a key campaign director to the Democratic frontrunner, says every Republican debate surprises the Clinton camp

Hillary Clinton campaign insiders are “constantly astonished” by the escalating insults slung among the Republican challengers for president, senior strategist Adrienne Elrod said Thursday.

“Every time we think the Republicans have outdone themselves in these debates, they surprise us,” Elrod told TheWrap CEO Sharon Waxman during TheWrap’s Power Women Breakfast at Washington D.C.’s W Hotel. “We are constantly astonished.”

As the director of strategic communications for the Hillary for America campaign, Elrod oversees wide-ranging surrogate operations, deploying elected officials, civic leaders, and celebrities to support Clinton’s bid for president.

A political strategist for more than 17 years, Elrod discussed the differences between Clinton’s current campaign for the Democratic nomination and her failing 2008 bid against Barack Obama.

“We are embracing her gender far more than in the 2008 campaign,” Elrod said. “She’s talking about her past, she’s talking about her mother, her mother’s really hard childhood.”

Elrod also discussed the challenges of a former senator and secretary of state competing in a campaign that seems to value outsiders. “There’s an anti-establishment movement going on in this country,” she said. “We’re seeing it with Donald Trump, we’re seeing it with Bernie Sanders.”

“What’s important to us is we’re out there debating the real issues,” she added.

After expanding the Power Women Breakfast franchise to New York and San Francisco last year, TheWrap’s breakfast Thursday inaugurated the series in DC, bringing together influential women of entertainment, media, technology, politics and brands in key cities to network and connect.

The event was sponsored by Box, Okta, Personal Care Products Council, CreativeFuture, Discovery Communications and National Geographic Channels.

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