WASHINGTON - By bringing in Maggie Williams to manage her presidential campaign, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has turned to a trusted confidante with scant campaign experience who served as her top White House deputy during the Clinton presidency.

Williams, the first black woman to run a top-50 public relations firm, replaces Patti Solis Doyle as Clinton's campaign manager as the senator tries to rebound from a series of setbacks at the hands of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Clinton emphasized that Doyle would remain as a senior adviser while Williams takes charge of day-to-day operations.

Williams built a reputation for successfully serving simultaneously as an assistant to the president and chief of staff for the first lady during her five years at the Clinton White House.

Donna Brazile, who managed Democrat Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000, told the Washington Post, "Maggie's tough. She knows how to break some heads."

Williams, 53, joined Clinton on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in August 1992 to serve as her media adviser -- an assignment where she urged, "Let Hillary be Hillary."

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