The Small, 15-Year-Old Detail NBC's Chuck Todd Missed in Praising Hillary Clinton That Forced Him to Change His Mind

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Monday was forced to "update" his initial praise for Hillary Clinton's unique rollout of her 2016 White House bid, after it became clear that Clinton used very similar tactics when she ran for the Senate 15 years ago, in 2000.

After a delay of several hours, Clinton finally announced her presidential campaign on Sunday, and followed that up by launching a multi-state bus tour.

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd was forced to admit his praise for Hillary Cilnton's 'spontaneous' 2016 campaign tactics was misplaced.

By early Monday, it was widely reported that Clinton nicknamed the van "Scooby," because it reminded her of the Scooby Doo van that a bunch of meddling cartoon kids used to solve crimes with the help of, or sometimes despite the presence of, a huge dog named Scooby Doo who had inexplicably developed the capacity to speak a sort of broken English to his human companions.

The bus tour idea so impressed Todd, who is also the political director for NBC News, that he praised Clinton in a tweet for effectively creating a rare spontaneous event in politics.

So hard in this new media age to do anything that looks spontaneous to political world. This Hillary road trip idea has done just that

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd)

April 13, 2015

But by Monday, Sean Spicer, communications director for the Republican National Committee, noted that a book about Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign showed that she did almost the exact same thing, and did it for "optics." The book was Clinton, Inc., by Dan Halper.

"They were driving around New York in an armored brown van, 'which we had called the mystery machine, the Scooby Doo van,' " one person was quoted in the book.

That prompted some to question why Todd would call Clinton's campaign stunt "spontaneous" at all.

.@chucktodd What, exactly, feels “spontaneous” and original about Clinton’s Iowa caravan? This is from 2000: pic.twitter.com/YJHl80SEvh

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) April 13, 2015

Todd acknowledged Monday afternoon that his first take was proven incorrect, and thanked "everyone" for pointing it out.

So it appears everything Clinton camp is doing is right out of NYSEN playbook including the van and Scooby. #rutroshaggy H/t. Everyone.

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) April 13, 2015