Hillary Clinton's campaign moved to downplay the significance of her third place finish as soon as the campaign's press plane was in the air to New Hampshire.

The Wall Street Journal's Amy Chozick reported that a campaign staffer on the plane said Iowa hasn't been a reliable indicator of candidate performance:

"The worst thing would be to over count Iowa and its importance," said chief strategist Mark Penn, just hours after the New York senator finished in a disappointing third place, behind Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

"Iowa doesn't have a record of picking presidents. We're in a strong position to move forward," Penn told a handful of reporters on board a chartered midnight flight that took Clinton staffers and such high-level supporters such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from Des Moines, Iowa, to Manchester, N.H.

The message continued on the ground in New Hampshire.

"Iowa does not have the best track record of determining who the parties nominate," Clinton later told reporters in New Hampshire.

On the Democratic side, six of the last eight top Iowa performers have gone on to win the nomination. See the IowaPolitics.com caucus history page for more.

Labels: Democrats