Hillary began her campaign with one clear message: experience.

Obama began his campaign with one clear message: change.

Actual elected posts each held: She spent 6 years in the US Senate compared to Obama's 8 years as an Illinois state senator and 2 as US senator.

Hillary's entire platform relied on convincing people her experience in the White House - where, unfortunately, she apparently spent less time with Bill than people in the mail room did- actually meant something. The sad thing is that her plan would've went off without a hitch if not for a peasant city organizer from Chicago.

To her credit, Hillary has been an exceptional First Lady since 1978, when Bill was elected governor of Arkansas. But the "ready to lead on day one" focus of her campaign was a huge miscalculation that led to desperation and eventually, to defeat.

She touted a "foreign affairs" trip to Bosnia as real experience, going so far to say that she was told there were snipers awaiting the landing of their helicopter. Turns out they were just people waiting to see the other passengers, Sinbad and Sheryl Crow, perform.

Foreign Affairs is a weak spot for both candidates - which is not a good thing for obvious reasons - but at least Obama admits it.

As this excerpt from Greg Craig, a former counsel member to President Clinton, clearly shows, only one of the candidates can claim ownership of their original message.

Q: But was that experience, do you think, that is -- having a lot of influence with advisers, giving private advice to her husband -- was that experience that has helped prepare her to be commander in chief?

Craig: Oh, I don't doubt that. The point that I am making is that her claims of the nature of that experience are overstated. The fact is she did not sit in on national security meetings. She did not have a security clearance. She did not attend meetings in the situation room. She conducted no negotiations. She did not manage any part of the national security bureaucracy. She did not have her own national security staff. That's the fact. Now the experience that she did have -- watching and sometimes sitting in the room where discussions were going on and also meeting heads of state and foreign ministers -- that is good experience, and it's invaluable to understanding how the world works when it comes to international organizations as well as international negotiations.

You can read the entire interview here:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/14/bills-excounsel-hillar_n_91582.html