29% of Democrats say Sen. Clinton should run an Independent campaign for the White House.

[Douglas Carpenter]

"Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Democratic voters nationwide now believe that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race for the White House. That’s up slightly from 34% in late April, 32% earlier in April and 22% in late March.

However, if Clinton does not win the Democratic Party nomination, 29% of Democrats say she should run an Independent campaign for the White House. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats disagree. Clinton supporters are evenly divided on the question"

link: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/38_of_democrats_want_clinton_to_drop_out

----------

Let me say that I do not believe there is any possibility whatsoever of this happening. But I do think that we should all keep in mind that without Sen. Clinton's supporters, Sen. Obama will lose this coming November.

I agree that the evidence is overwhelming that barring some unforeseen events, Sen. Obama will be the Democratic nominee. I have not come across any credible and independent sources who say otherwise. As the Rasmussen report puts it, "Rasmussen Reports has stated that the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination is effectively over and that Obama will be the nominee. Rasmussen Markets currently suggests that Obama has an 91.0% chance of winning the nomination. Obama is essentially even with Republican John McCain in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. "

Those of us who are now backing Sen. Obama including those who like myself did not initially support him as their first choice, still need to keep in mind that we need Sen. Clinton's supporters or we will will lose.

[Larkspur]

1. And if Hillary steals the nomination, she will lose the GE because many Obama supporters and

Anybody but Hillary and Republican voters, like myself, will not vote for Hillary in the Fall.

[ShortnFiery]

39. Amen!

No truer words were ever typed.

Also, IF Clinton runs as "an Independent" she should BE FORCED to give up her Senate Seat, i.e., she's no longer a democrat.

[John Kerry VonErich]

44. Can't be forced

Look at Jim Jeffords when he was in office.

[Kittycat]

2. Who said it the other night? That's a land that you never return from.

Buchanan I think. She'll be exiled like Lieberman, and rightfully so.

[Pisces]

3. Wonder where she would get the money. Since no one is donating???

[Tesha]

21. She'll just run on her campaign's natural Joementum. (NT)

[ieoeja]

29. She did break all the records this year.

Obama broke them by a much wider margin. But that doesn't change the fact that she has the big money behind her**.

The only reason her elite backers are not giving her more money is that they have already given the maximum allowed for a primary election. But they can give that much again for the general.

In fact, I believe she already had nearly 100 million in her general election fund BEFORE IOWA. Remember when everyone assumed she would be the nominee? At that time the elites saw no reason to waste their money on the primary. But they wanted to get near the front of the line when it comes to payback, so they came out early donating for the general.


**I know how she feels. In 7th grade I barely broke our school's record for the mile run. But still came well behind another kid in our class who shattered it.

[mmonk]

4. It's not up to us.

It's up to those who currently put her above the party.

[havocmom]

5. Been posting all week: bush has his 29% and so does Hillary

There are always some people who can't/won't deal with reality and think the world is obligated to let them decide everything. They will cut off their children's noses to spite their faces.

[rurallib]

6. It will cost big bucks to get on 50 state ballots

which she doesn't have, nor will she probably get donated to her. Not to mention the volunteers needed to get petitions signed etc.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. the republicans will support getting her on the ballot

dont forget, her campaign advisor Mark Penn works for same firm that
advises McCain.

[rurallib]

46. yer right. I forgot that.

[DearAbby]

47. Isnt there "Sore Loser" laws in some states

that will not allow a candidate, who ran as a party candidate before, to get on the ballot as an Independent?

[DearAbby]

48. It would have to be a massive Write in Campaign.

[islandmkl]

7. two things might need to be addressed:

1) what direction do clinton supporters want the country to be headed after november?

2) to what extent does their support for hillary interfere with their answer to question #1?

[crankychatter]

8. I don't negotiate with terrorists, even when they're my own kids

fuckem

[SparkyMac]

9. Good god ! What if she and Barr joined forces ?

[rucky]

25. I don't think it could get any more ironic. n/t

[iconicgnom]

10. 50% of her supporters want that? wow, that says a lot. n/t

[still_one]

12. Clinton isn't going to run as an independent. As for Clinton supporters not voting for the nominee

if it isn't THEIR candidate, they know the conseqences, just as if the tables were reversed

If Clinton supporters either sit out the election or worse, vote for mccain, my only question to them, is what was their reason for supporting Hillary in the first place?

If it wasn't the Supreme Court, civil rights, jobs, healthcare, the environment, the war etc, then it must be some other reason that would make a mccain win irrelevent to them. If that is the case, then obviously they don't have their head on straight

[L0oniX]

13. Yes and then she could pick Joe (the rat) Lieberman for vp.

[Occam Bandage]

14. Looks like half of her supporters are Lieberman Democrats.

[book_worm]

15. It seems many of her supporters don't care if McCain becomes president

This has been the case for quite some time. More Obama supporters would support her if she were the nominee but not the other way around--much less. I think it says something about many of her supporters even some outspoken ones here on DU who have posted that they will not support the nominee.

[NV Whino]

16. Hillary Nader Diane Rodham Clinton

Has a rather nasty ring to it, no?

[Occam Bandage]

22. Hillary Nader Diane Rodham Lieberman-Clinton.

[LynneSin]

17. Sounds like 29% of these 'democrats' are ok with McCain as president

perhaps they're 'democrats' who switched as part of this 'operation Chaos'

[TheDebbieDee]

18. The Supreme Court, people. It's about the Supreme Court!

If Obama is the nominee I will vote for him no matter how nasty some of his supporters on this board continue to be.

As for Hillary making an independent run for the Presidential Office? If Hillary is getting the cold shoulder from Democratic members of the Senate and she has little chance of becoming a leader there, well then, she really has nothing to lose by staging a third party/independent run for President, does she?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

19. Only her reputation...

She would be perona non grata in both parties. Republicans already despise her, and Democrats would despise her even more. And Bill Clinton's place in history? It would be inextricably linked to Hillary's deliberate sabotaging of the 2008 campaign.

I don't believe for a minute she would do it.

[TheDebbieDee]

23. Like I said, she has nothing to lose by staging

a third party/independent candidacy.

According to media reports, she is already persona non gratis in both parties. And as far as her reputation, the Obama supporters have smeared her as an unhinged, manipulative, lesbian, murderer who plays people like a marionette pulls strings on puppets.

"It would be inextricably linked to Hillary's deliberate sabotaging of the 2008 campaign." It seems that the Obama supporters are already laying the foundation for blaming Sen. Clinton for Sen. Obama's loss in the Presidential Election whether Sen. Clinton is on the ticket or not. You can't have it both ways!

The best way to prevent Sen. Clinton from staging a third party/independent run for the office is to put her on the ticket! The sooner the Obama Campaign realizes this the better everything will be.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

33. So...

You're putting a gun to the head of the Democratic Party and saying, "Either nominate me or I'll run as an Independent."

Nice.

I'm not going to attribute this utterly asinie logic to the Clinton Campaign. Only to some of her utterly asinine supporters.

[TheDebbieDee]

35. When all else fails, start with the name calling...........

And when did I ever state that I was a member of the Clinton Campaign? Stop reading stuff into posts that simply aren't there!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. Reading Comprehension Issues?

I specifically said that I wasn't going to attribute your comments to the Clinton Campaign.

And my honest appraisal of your post is that it's asinine to think that Obama is going to drop out of the race based on threats and blackmail.

If Hillary attempted to run as an Independent, she would officially be joining the Joe Lieberman Party and, in addition to losing the White House, would likely be tossed out of the Demcratic Senate Caucus. It would be political suicide, and I really, really don't think she's contemplating this on any level.

Only her more delusional supporters think this is an option.

[TheDebbieDee]

45. "it's asinine to think that Obama is going to drop out of the race"

When the hell did I ever say that, either?

You are a moron with an out-of-control imagination. Most importantly, you've been a total waste of my precious time. Have a nice day, asswipe!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

50. Speaking of out of control

How's that Zoloft working out for you?

:eyes:

[murielm99]

20. What indication do you have,

or do we have, that she would do that? I find it very doubtful. This is Internet speculation.

Let Ron Paul do this, or Barr. I'm not wasting my vote on a third party candidate. That would cause me to work that much harder for the Democrats, even though I do not care for Obama.

[TheDebbieDee]

26. I don't have any indication that she would do that.

I'm merely stating the fact that if she did run a third party/independent campaign, the Obama supporters couldn't say anything worse than what's already been said about Sen. Clinton.

As I said, she has nothing to lose if she's so "hated" by other Dems and repukes in the Senate, her constituents in NY state, the media and 50% of the Democratic voters, as has been alleged by some posters.

[murielm99]

30. She is not hated by other Dems and repukes in the Senate

or her constituents. The media has always smeared the Clintons. Other Democratic voters do not hate her either.

The Internets are overrun with rabid Clinton haters, many of whom are freepers and freeper-types in disguise. Others are new to politics and do not realize that we have to come together whether or not they want to continue to behave like brats. They have to figure out that politicians need supporters, not followers.

[ShortnFiery]

40. Wake up! The Clintons, by their very nature (do any damn thing) are lightening rods.

The sooner you realize that she has astronomically high negatives, the sooner we can unite behind Obama for President. :thumbsup:

[murielm99]

49. I am wide awake.

You are annoying.

[rucky]

24. This is awful.

I know she won't run Indy, but the Democrats are officially the Suicidal Party (which is still better than being the Homicidal Party, but still).

[Larkspur]

27. 29% = Liebercrats and core DLC supporters

This was roughly the same percent in CT who voted for Lieberman in the General Election. It was actually 33% of CT Dems who did.

[lutefisk]

28. Clinton-Lieberman '08 - The Independent Unity Ticket!

I can't contain my enthusiasm.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
:woohoo:

:nuke:

[IndianaGreen]

31. Hillary =Joe Lieberman

and like Holy Joe, she will do anything to win.

[BlooInBloo]

32. How odd that Clinton supporters won't do what Clinton herself promised to do....

Support the Democratic nominee.

[stray cat]

34. Thats alot of dems wanting to throw the election to McCain

Bush must be more popular among dems than it appears.

[barack the house]

37. If the primary created 20 million debt I can't se it occuring, really.

[Cali_Democrat]

38. Lieberman in a pantsuit

[totodeinhere]

41. If Clinton's supporters are good Democrats then they will support the nominee.

However, I think it is very telling that so many Clinton supporters say they won't support our nominee. How can they even call themselves Democrats if they can't even support the nominee in November? And what kind of candidate was Clinton that she attracted so many disloyal Democrats to her side? It's obvious that Clinton's campaign has been a big detriment to the best interests of the Democratic Party. It's outrageous that so many so-called Democrats who support Clinton say that they won't vote for Obama.

And now we see in this poll that a good chunk of them even want her to run an independent campaign, which of course would be tantamount to handing the election to McCain.

[uponit7771]

42. She'll need to rob a bank first then go to jail and by time she gets out of jail well.....

[MindMatter]

43. Clinton / Nader 2008 !!!!

[Douglas Carpenter]

51. Sen Clinton: "I'm going to work my heart out for whoever our nominee is."

and:

Clinton: It'd be 'terrible mistake' to pick McCain over Obama

link: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/14/clinton/?iref=hpmostpop

"CNN) -- "Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reiterated her vow to stay in the Democratic presidential race, but she said it would be a "terrible mistake" for her supporters to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama.

"Anybody who has ever voted for me or voted for Barack has much more in common in terms of what we want to see happen in our country and in the world with the other than they do with John McCain," Clinton said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

"I'm going to work my heart out for whoever our nominee is. Obviously, I'm still hoping to be that nominee, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me ... understands what a grave error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama.""

[Vinca]

52. Guess the 29% don't give a shit about abortion rights . . . among other things.

That would be handing the election to McBush on a silver platter.

[marshall]

53. But will they vote for her?

38% want her to just get out, 29% want her to get out of the party and run as an independent.
The real question is, how many of that 29% mean they would actually VOTE for her if she ran as an independent, and how many just look on it as a way to get her off the staget so that Obama can start his real campaign.
I suspect it would be about half and half.

[Gore1FL]

54. She hasn;t said she would do any such thing--she won't do it.

There are just 29% who can't let it go, but they will be able to as well. This is the anger phase of grief. It is normal.