Top Democrats defend Clinton in e-mail controversy

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party's establishment rallied to Hillary Rodham Clinton's side Thursday, insisting that revelations that she relied on a private e-mail account as secretary of State would not resonate with the American public nor change perceptions of one of the nation's best-known political figures.

"I don't think this has any legs," said former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, a longtime Clinton ally. "When voters go to the polls in November 2016, they won't be talking about e-mails."

Her use of a private e-mail system for official communications as the country's chief diplomat set off a political controversy for Clinton. She leads the polls for the Democratic nomination but has yet to announce her candidacy or build a full-fledged campaign operation to deal with crises.

Late Wednesday night, Clinton made her first public statement about the flap, tweeting that she had asked the State Department to release her e-mails. Secretary of State John Kerry, attending meetings in Saudi Arabia, said Thursday that the agency was reviewing the e-mails for public release. "We will undertake this task as rapidly as possible," he said.

Clinton's camp has been on the defensive for days about her e-mail practices, first reported Monday night by The New York Times. Her allies and State Department officials have said that her use of a non-governmental e-mail account was not prohibited at the time, as long as Clinton maintained the records.

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Kerry is the first secretary of State to rely entirely on a government account for his official electronic communications.

Clinton reportedly used a private e-mail server installed in her home and her own Internet domain to conduct public business during her tenure. When the State Department requested that she return those government records, she provided the department with 55,000 pages of e-mails, the department has said.

Republicans are demanding an independent investigation to review all her e-mails. The House Select Committee on Benghazi, which already has about 300 pages of e-mails, on Wednesday issued subpoenas for the rest to the State Department and to Clinton individually.

Don Fowler, a prominent Democrat in South Carolina who served as Democratic National Committee chairman during President Bill Clinton's White House tenure, said the e-mail flap "is the kind of nitpicking that Republicans like to do to make something minor seem important."

"If this is their best shot, let 'em have it," he said. "I don't think it detracts in any way from her ability to be president."

This week's controversy "is not a defining issue or a defining moment for Clinton," added Chris Lehane, a Democratic political strategist who served as a lawyer and spokesman in the Clinton White House and helped the administration navigate the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals.

"She's dealt with things that are, frankly, far more challenging than this," he said.

Still, some Democrats are frustrated by what they see as Clinton's slow response to the controversy and argue that her handling of the dustup demonstrates the need for a nomination battle to force Clinton to debate both about policy and her leadership style.

Zephyr Teachout, who challenged New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in last year's Democratic primary, said Clinton should hold a news conference to offer a full explanation and answer questions.

"I don't think a tweet is a press conference," Teachout said. "I think, honestly, all elected and appointed and executive branch officials make mistakes. I'm not going to slam her on this if it's a genuine mistake, but I think we have the right to know more about it."

Had Clinton had a formal campaign operation in place, she might be able to answer questions more effectively, several Democrats said Thursday.

"I might have gotten started a little earlier," Rendell said. But, he added, "in some ways, she's doing the American people a great favor because our campaigns are painfully long."