Former Obama strategist David Axelrod says Hillary Clinton's "sporadic" campaign appearances are hurting her candidacy. Axelrod added that Clinton will have a problem unless she gets into the "routine of campaigning."
"I thinks she's being hurt right now by her sporadic appearances, you want to be the regular routine of campaigning and it's important that she gets there and gets there quickly," Axelrod told ABC Wisconsin-affiliate WISN Tuesday. "If she does, I think all of this will be forgotten. I think if she continues in this fashion it will be a problem."
Axelrod was in Milwaukee to speak about his new book at a Marquette University Law School forum.
Speaking the event, he said it was likely she would be the nominee, although "inevitability" is a burden for her in 2016.
"The high likelihood is that Hillary will be the nominee but having said that I think inevitability is not her friend," Axelrod told a crowd at the school. "I think it's a real burden."
Axelrod said he saw "two Hillary Clintons" during the 2008 race: one that was cautious and one that was "a very effective candidate."
"I saw two Hillary Clintons in 2007, 2008. In 2007 she was kind of constrained in this straight jacket of inevitability and she carried that inevitability around like a porcelain vase and she was very cautious, unadventuresome, unrevealing," Axelrod said.
"And then she lost the Iowa Caucuses and she became a different candidate. She threw all that caution away. She was much more revealing of herself, much more connecting with other people, much more of an advocate than she had been. In my view, a very effective candidate. It was just too late."
Axelrod questioned if Clinton was once again following the "temptation to be cautious."
"The question she'll have to answer is which candidate is she going to be in 2016 because once again there's this veil of inevitability and there's a temptation to be cautious," he said.
"You have to take some risks along the way," added Axelrod. "I think that's the challenge for her if she's gonna go all the way but I think she certainly has a chance to do that."