Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

Right but there seems to be a clear cut argument that this is already the case. at least the path to a close second place. The exit polling showed a dominant majority of voters think Hillary has "unfairly" attacked Obama. I'm not sure what benefit it is to wait and see how she's going to use the Rules Committee meeting on May 31st to lock her nomination against her deficit of delegates, to decide her method is shrill and underhanded to a degree that her presidency could be considered dangerous to the country.

I mean we know what she's going to do. Why decide if she's electable based on whether or not she gets away with it? Again I'm talking to the general democratic voter, here, not you cacophony.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

Wondering why Hillz cancelled all her breakfast tv interview spots this morning. Is it a sign that reality has punched her on the nose so she will pay attention to it? :confused:

I dunno. Her "victory" speech last night was kind of bizarre - on the one hand she was talking about being on the road to the Whitehouse... doesn't seem to be the same road we are looking at somehow but hey... but... BUT... for the first time she seemed to acknowledge that she might not be the candidate and talked of rallying round whomever is selected.

Even with her so-called "nuclear option" of Florida and Michigan, it is unclear how even she can claim to have the people's mandate somehow.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

It's just a relief to have the media and everyone else finally off the back of the Obama campaign for a bit. Last night was exactly what he needed. A big night to kill that false perception that was being pushed of Hillary maybe having some kind of big comeback.

I won't be surprised to see her stay in through June, but there's really no justification left for Hillary to keep campaigning against Obama. The Republicans are showing signs of weakness ( http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10138.html ), and if Hillary had any real concern for the Democratic party, she'd bow out now and throw her support behind Obama to get maximum benefit from the current situation.

But I don't believe for a second that she'll do that. She'll stay in and offer only one lingering contribution - making it harder for Obama to win the general election by continuing to try to raise questions about his electability, and blaming him for Michigan and Florida.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

Good question. Thought about that myself this morning. I don't for a minute believe the decision was based on an emotional response to last night's events. Its more believable that there is some strategy at play. She's too much in control of herself.

What is she avoiding? My best guess is she doesn't want to be asked how she can possibly win at this point, and be forced to give the honest answer that she can still win by strong arming the dnc rules and regulations.

This thing has to be pitched, marketed and sold, presented in a controlled way, not through ad hoc questioning but by a staged press conference.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

i guess that's sort of my argument. if they find a way to fairly hold a revote for michigan and florida and she still comes out ahead and that tips the balance and puts her in first, i might consider supporting her campaign post-nomination.

but we know that's not going to happen. howard dean is going to dig the hole deeper and there's no good solution. so her only way to come out ahead is to be subversive. which means the only way she can come out ahead in a realistic scenario will be to do the things i refuse to support.

and therefore john mccain will have my vote.

i suppose the simpler thing would have been to post, "obama is the clear front runner, if he doesn't get the nomination i'll vote mccain." but why be simple when you can be convoluted?

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

ah, there's the rub.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

Yep....unfortunately.

And of course Hillary replaced those cancelled morning interviews with a speech at a college (I think) in West Virginia. When my wife said from the other room that Hillary was about to speak, I had a brief moment where I thought "wait...she cancelled all her morning appearances...is she gonna drop out of the race right now?" I went and watched until it was clear that she wasn't dropping out, and then I stopped watching.

And as I'm sure everyone's seen, Hillary loaned her campaign another 6.5 million dollars recently.

And they're saying that it looks like Obama's picking up at least 4 superdelegates today, including Jennifer McClellan of Virginia, who used to support Clinton.

And lastly, Hillary now says she'll stay in the race "until there's a nominee". That's a positive change from saying she'll stay in through the convention.

All in all, a good day for Obama supporters.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

most of the democratic party leaders are starting to put internal pressure on the campaigns. rahm emanuel said on NPR this morning that he felt very strongly that there would be a candidate by the end of may. he had a peculiar firmness to his voice, too. without putting it in so many words the implication was that enough of the superdelegates agreed to not let it drag out into june.

he also said something interesting that i think was very targeted at clinton. he said, "the way the loser loses will determine how the winner wins." meaning, if the loser bows out gracefully and throws everything into uniting the party and backing the nominated candidate (and by this he meant by end of may, not by the convention) the democratic candidate will go into the general election strong. but if the loser continues to hang on and insist on dividing the party, the democrats will have no chance in november.

he was very neutral in his remarks but it felt very strongly like he was referring to clinton. perhaps that was wishful thinking, but he was basically saying michigan and florida just had to be let go because it wouldn't be resolved until the convention. take whoever is the winner in may and back that person. and in delegates and popular vote that's obama.

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

And now Hillary is really pushing the divisive point that she has white support that Obama doesn't have. Here's an article on it, and here's an audio quote from Clinton herself on it.

I had been thinking she should stay in the race as long as she wasn't doing anything destructive, but it's clear to me that she is incapable of that. No surprise really, but I'm now hoping beyond hope that the floodgates of superdelegates opens for Obama as soon as this gets more widely reported - which will probably be on all the cable election coverage shows this evening. We really don't need Hillary out there pushing divisive ideas like this, especially when we know it can't change the outcome of the nomination race.


EDIT: They finally decided on a way to seat Michigan.

Seems fair enough to me. And both campaigns are talking with Florida to solve that one too.


EDIT AGAIN: Whoa! Hillary's team has rejected the plan submitted by Michigan Democrats! So now who's blocking the seating of their delegates?

I'm so sick of her on this issue. She keeps claiming that "we must let the voters of Florida and Michigan be heard", yet the entire concept that her continuing campaign is predicated on is to have superdelegates overturn the will of the voters of the entire country. How is it that no news organization is reporting that blatantly obvious, hypocritical point?

Re: U.S. Presidential Election 2008
 

someone explain to me the logic behind the michigan delegate allocation. why the 10 delegate split? how did they decide on that?

i'm not agreeing with clinton at all, because frankly i don't think the delegates should be seated, but i don't really see how any realistic results correlate with what they came up with. i don't know, maybe i missed the explanation in the article.

also:
not bad for a guy who didn't campaign. that should say something for his electability, eh? and as someone born and raised in michigan, i can assure everyone that there's no overwhelming "elitist" population there to explain it away.