Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: The backstory to Bill Clinton's New Hampshire endorsement

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' NH-Gov: So we've got yet another "Bill Clinton endorses candidate who endorsed his wife in 2008" story, though this one has some contours that are worth exploring a little further. The recipient of Clinton's largesse this time is ex-state Sen. Maggie Hassan; her primary opponent, ex-state Sen. Jackie Cilley, wasn't just a run-of-the-mill Obama backer but actually endorsed him very early on, in July of 2007. That would be notable anywhere, but especially in New Hampshire, where most politicos are in the habit of being courted heavily and wait until the last minute to come off the fence. Cilley, though, stuck her neck out and took a real risk in supporting the insurgent Obama almost half a year before the primary.

Meanwhile, Hassan's actions during that campaign should not be swept under the rug' after all, Bill Clinton is returning the favor for a very specific reason. Two days before the primary, Hassan co-signed an email (along with two dozen other women prominent in New Hampshire politics) attacking Barack Obama as weak on abortion rights. The missive read in part:

"The difference between Hillary's repeatedly standing up strong on choice and Obama's unwillingness to vote 'yes' or 'no' is a clear contrast, and we believe the voters in New Hampshire deserve to know this difference. We support Hillary Clinton because she never ducked when choice was at stake."

The Clinton campaign also sent out a related mailer hitting the same message, relying on a series of votes Obama took while in the Illinois legislature where he voted "present" rather than "aye" or "nay" on bills related to reproductive rights. These attacks rightly infuriated the Obama campaign, seeing as an Illinois Planned Parenthood official had explained that the "present" votes "were part of a deliberate strategy to protect other pro-choice legislators, other than Obama, in vulnerable districts."

Not long after the primary, Hassan and two other signatories tried to heal the wounds caused by their email, concerned about lingering hard feelings. Hassan claimed she was unaware of the Illinois Planned Parenthood defense of Obama and, in reporter Alec MacGillis's phrasing, said "it was wrong for anyone to suggest that Obama was not pro-choice." Yet she nevertheless stuck to her guns:

But Hassan stood by what she said was the main point of the initial e-mail, that Clinton was the most staunchly pro-choice Democrat. "All of the leading Democratic candidates are strongly pro-choice but I think Hillary's record is unparalleled. I stand by what I signed before the election and don't think it's inconsistent with" the new e-mail stating that Obama is strongly pro-choice, Hassan said. "Everybody's going to interpret these letters and e-mails as they want to."

As Paul Harvey would say: "And now you know the rest of the story."