Hotline After Dark -- A Picture's Worth ...

Most of the TV talk last night concerned the Hillary Clinton campaign -- with pundits trying to figure out exactly what strategy the senator is employing. There was also plenty of talk on the photo of Barack Obama in native African dress:

NBC's Mitchell: "With Hillary Clinton slipping in those national polls, she is taking a noticeably harder line
against Barack Obama" ("Nightly News," 2/25).

National Journal's Douglass, on HRC: "Clearly, she's listening to the people who said, Look, this is your last stand. You've got to do everything you can to try to reinforce any doubts that are growing among people who still aren't sure they know enough about Obama. So she's decided just to go for it" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 2/25).

CBS' Axelrod: "A senior Clinton aide told me Hillary Clinton doesn't like it at all the way her final warm remarks were seen as a farewell so she is leaving no doubt that she will fight and fight fiercely for the Democratic nomination" ("Evening News," 2/25).

More Clinton talk and the Obama photo after the jump. [EMILY GOODIN]

CNN's Borger: "It's clearly an inconsistent campaign. She hasn't had one clear message. She's had three messages. One day, she reaches over and she touches Barack Obama's arm. The next day, she's saying, shame on you. The next day, she's running as an experienced commander in chief. You know, it's difficult to win with one message, much less three messages. ... This has all the trappings of a campaign that is having an internal argument about how to proceed, because there isn't any clear direction" ("AC 360," 2/25).

Ex-WH spokesperson Dee Dee Myers: "It's been a frustrating campaign for her. ... Early on the campaign was praised for message discipline and strategic discipline and it turned out that the strategy didn't work. And all of a sudden, they are running against this phenomenon called Barack Obama. And it's really difficult to run against him and they haven't figured it out" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 2/25).

A PICTURE'S WORTH ...

NBC's Todd: "I think that the one thing that Obama knows how to beat back is this stuff. I mean, he's lived with this name his whole life, you know? You know, 46 years he's had to deal with this. So I think he knows how to handle this stuff. And they beat it back fast" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 2/25).

Newsweek's Wolffe: "I think the Clinton campaign could have done itself a world of favor whether or not they wanted this photo out there to say, listen, this is not the kind of tactic that we Democrats stand for. We're all patriots here. That's not the thing we condone. And let's move on and discuss what really matters. Instead of this idea of we didn't sanction it, we didn't know about it and the other side is behaving badly. It just doesn't seem to be rising above it, which again, that was got people applauding to their feet last week" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 2/25).

CNN's Crowley, on the Obama camp: "They think that some voters really fear what his background is, aren't quite sure. And they think this picture was intended at least to feed into that. ... There's been denial from the Clinton campaign that it came from them. ... They, in fact, think that this is the Obama campaign trying to sort of whip things up" ("Election Center," 2/25).

Dem strategist Donna Brazile: "I have been to Africa seven times. I probably have pictures like Senator Obama. African-Americans are proud of their heritage. We are Americans, but we are from African descent, and, clearly, so is Senator Obama. There's nothing wrong with showing him with that picture. But there's something wrong with a campaign the would to somehow or another insinuate, because of his name or his heritage, that something is un-American about him" ("Situation Room," CNN, 2/25).

OBAMA -- THE STATE SENATE YEARS

ABC's Moran examined Obama's past political record for a package on "Nightline":

Moran: "Emil Jones was the Democratic party leader in the Illinois state senate and when Democrats took over in 2002, Obama came to see him."

Jones: "And he said to me, he said, you're the Senate president now and with that, you have a lot of power. I said, Barack, what kind of power do you think I have? He said, you have the power to make a United States Senator. So I asked him, I said, if you think I have that kind of power, I said do you know of anyone I can make a United States Senator? He said, me."

Moran: "So he was a young politician on the make, but his colleagues, Democrat and Republican, say he was also eager to get things done."

More Moran: "What is Obama's record on the longest period of public service in his career? ... Obama's major piece of
legislation was challenge, a complete overhaul of Illinois's campaign finance and ethics laws. It was a heavy lift. Obama's Democratic colleagues resisted reform fiercely, as did Republicans. But the bill passed in large part of the rookie senator, the bill's cosponsor."

Moran continues: "But not all of his former colleagues are impressed."

State Sen. Dan Cronin (R): "You know, I hate to burst the bubble. There's been a lot of hype and, you know, when he served down here, his career was not particularly distinguished."

More: "129 times in his eight years as a state senator, Obama refused to cast a vote for or against a bill, but simply voted present. It's a fairly common tactic in Illinois, but Obama used it a lot, and sometimes on issues that could have cost him politically."

Moran also examined the Obama's relationship with Tony Rezko. Moran, on Rezko: "In Springfield these days, nobody seems to know him" (ABC, 2/25).