Hillary on Downward Spiral?

Hillary Clinton appears to be on a downward spiral following a clean sweep by Barak Obama in this weekend's Democratic primaries and caucuses. But do not count her out yet, although she has replaced her campaign manager.

VIRGINIA BEACH — Senator Barack Obama racked up his fourth decisive victory this weekend, winning the Maine caucuses on Sunday, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced her campaign manager and longtime aide in the biggest shakeup of her campaign to date.

In a fast-paced day of striking contrasts, Mr. Obama showed new confidence as he soaked up the roar of his crowds, drawing an audience the campaign estimated at 18,000 people to a convention center here. He referred only in passing to his victory in Maine, where he won 59 percent of the vote in a state that Mrs. Clinton had thought could be hers.

Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, replaced Patti Solis Doyle, who led her campaign since it began last year and whom she regarded almost as an adopted daughter. In her place, she named another longtime aide, Maggie Williams.

The switch occurred at a time when Mrs. Clinton has found her campaign in a slump, coming off a split victory in a multistate round of nominating contests on Feb. 5 and losing badly in a string of state caucuses that relied on a high level of on-the-ground organizational skills at which the Obama campaign excelled.

At the same time, she suffered a setback over money, and though in recent days the campaign has boasted of a $10 million month and many new donors, it never built the online donor base that Ms. Doyle had promised. Nor did it adapt to Mr. Obama’s message of inspiration as his campaign grew in strength, prolonging the battle long past the point when Mrs. Clinton was expected by her strategists to have clinched the nomination.