Winning Again, Clinton Ponders Continuing

[tekisui]

WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won another overwhelming victory over Senator Barack Obama on Sunday — this time in Puerto Rico — even as many Democrats, including some of her supporters, suggested it would be best if she dropped her threat to battle on past the end of the primary voting on Tuesday.

“There’s nobody taking Hillary’s side but Hillary people,” said Donald Fowler of South Carolina, a former national party chairman and one of Mrs. Clinton’s most prominent supporters, referring to her campaign’s suggestions that she might seek to challenge the way the party resolved the fight this weekend over seating the Michigan and Florida delegations. “It’s too bad. She deserves better than this.”

In a telephone interview Sunday from San Juan, P.R., Mrs. Clinton still raised the possibility that she would challenge the party’s decision on seating those delegates. “Well, we are going to look at that and make a determination at some point,” she said. “But I haven’t made any decision at this time.”

(snip)


“Most Clinton supporters are filled with bewilderment that this is happening,” said Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania. “We are willing to go on, and we understand the inevitability of this, but we are filled with disappointment and amazement: Why haven’t these results caused the superdelegates to come around?”

(snip)

Mrs. Clinton’s count includes Michigan, where Mr. Obama’s name was not on the ballot, and it does not include some caucus states won by Mr. Obama and where the popular vote was not reported. Mr. Obama’s campaign gently pushed back at her assertions that she had won the popular vote.

“Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have gotten more votes than any presidential campaign in primary history,” said Bill Burton, Mr. Obama’s spokesman. “We are, however, ahead in the popular vote now and suspect will be ahead when all of the votes are counted Tuesday. That’s not taking anything away from what she’s accomplished. It’s just a fact.”

(snip)

Yet in a sign of the difficulties she would face if she chooses to appeal, some of her strongest supporters said in interviews that they thought it would be a mistake to keep the fight going, noting, for example, that the battle was really over the four delegates her campaign argued were improperly taken from her in Michigan.

“Unless something happens that I don’t expect to happen in the next, say, by the end of June, my answer to that is not only no but, hell no,” Mr. Fowler, the former party chairman, said. “What good does it do? What good does it do anybody?” Mr. Rendell said that if the nominating contest were closer, it might make sense to take the fight to the convention. “I think it’s outrageous they took four delegates away from her,” he said. “But I think with 170 delegates separating them, it’s not worth making the case.”

And there were signs that continuing the fight, should Mr. Obama collect enough superdelegates to declare victory this week, could alienate many Democratic leaders who have stepped back as the fight went on.

Art Torres, the California Democratic chairman who has not endorsed a candidate in the race, said it was urgent for the party to avoid divisive battles. “Everyone is paying respects to her — as we would for Obama if he were in a similar situation,” Mr. Torres said. “But it now becomes a matter of commitment to the nation and the party. We cannot allow this election to slip through our fingers.”

more at link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/us/politics/02dems.html?em&ex=1212552000&en=1184f69829b6ffa6&ei=5087%0A

[tekisui]

1. More from Hillary's Supporters, No Support for Convention Fight.

It looks clear that it will end shortly:

"She'll do the right thing for America, and I don't think we're going to fight this at the convention," said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a top Clinton supporter and party superdelegate, speaking on CBS. "Because even were we to win it, unless it's going to change enough delegates for Senator Clinton to get the nomination, then it would be a fight that would have no purpose."

"It would be most beneficial if we resolved this nomination sooner rather than later," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., a high-profile superdelegate who backs Clinton. "The more time we have to get through a general election period and the more time we have to prepare in advance of the convention, the better."

Alice Huffman, a member of the rules panel and a superdelegate committed to Clinton, said she would not support an appeal if Obama has clearly won the delegate fight.

"What's the point for a challenge, if a challenge doesn't change the status of anything?" asked Huffman, the president of the California NAACP.

link: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9452183

[Vinca]

5. It's like she's never going to go away. Ever, ever, ever.

She'll be shoving Obama aside on the Capitol steps next January.

[racaulk]

7. .

[Vinca]

8. LOL - leave it to Lukovich. Thanks for posting it. nt

[Cha]

12. They're so low class and we're suppose to

bow and kiss their dinoass.

[Abacus]

14. !

:rofl:

[Waya]

2. Jesus Christ.............what does it take......

..to get the woman to pack her bags and get back to New York?

[tekisui]

3. It's coming. She wants to finish out the Primary Voting Season.

The good thing is that she won't be fighting past this week. No Convention fight, we will get an actual concession or at least a suspension of her campaign.

[Window]

4. I certainly hope so.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. Glad you posted. This article raised several issues for me.

1. Rendell's and Hillary's amazement of why the supsuper delegates haven't come on board.

Because Hillary ran a campaign that relied on disparaging and belittling her opponent, to the extent that she even praised and elevated McCain above OBama on several occasions. She, in fact, effectively ENDORSED McCain over Obama. I think that was a seminal moment in the campaign, at least it was for me. It was defining of Hillary as a candidate and as a Democrat and she came out sorely lacking in both judgment and temperament.

On a side note,she just never understood that her condescension and disparagement spilled over to the Obama enthusiasts, who consequentially just turned her off , some possibly forever. In a monumental and historic run by 2 candidates, which should have fueled the entire campaign atmosphere with change, hope, and optimism, Hillary just always seemed to think she could only win if Obama lost.

2. The popular vote angle
here is another quote from the referenced article:

Mrs. Clinton, in the interview, in a new television advertisement and in her victory speech in San Juan, laid out why super delegates should rally around her. She argued that by the time the final vote is counted, she will have more popular votes than Mr. Obama, an assertion that has been disputed.

“I think it will be most likely the case in a few days,” Mrs. Clinton said from San Juan. “I will have won the most votes — more than anyone in the history of the primary process.”

She added: “Senator Obama has a narrow lead in delegates. And we’re going to have to make our case to the automatic so-called superdelegates. And I think my case is clear — more than 17 million people voted for me.

“In recent primary history, we have never nominated someone who has not won the popular vote.”

Hillary herself says "I think it will bemost likely the case in a few days. I will have won the most votes - more than anyone in the history of the primary process."

So, she's fine making an assertion before the fact and she is in fact acknowledging that it is not the case right this moment. I saw an ad that she is running that makes this same assertion. No matter that many many credible people take exception to her tallying abilities - it's her reality and that's the end of it. It is a false reality. It is self aggrandizement.

I picture her in later years sitting on the veranda at Chappaqua, finishing off her third gin and tonic and saying to Bill, "But I won the most votes than anyone in the history of the primary process, didn't I Bill?" And he'll say, "Yes, Hill, you did. You won more votes than anyone in the history of the primary process" as he switches off the lights.

[K Gardner]

10. Good OP material here, Phoebe. K&R

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. Thanks! nt.

[MadMaddie]

13. To point #2 she is not counting the Caucus states....

No actual number is given, just estimates. I can tell you in WA, the Caucus I went to was 3 to 1 or more for Obama. I voted for Hillary at the time, I am now supporting Obama.

[IndyOp]

15. Did you see the video with Donna Brazille on Stephanapolous' show this weekend?

She was talking about there having been many uncommitted superdelegates at the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee meeting this past Saturday and she implied that the SDs there were suprised that the Clinton representatives weren't doing more to bring the SDs over to their side -- in terms of how they were behaving before/during the meeting. Brazille was implying (IMO) that even as recently as this past Saturday, some SDs were watching and would have been willing to swing Clinton's direction -- but were turned off by Ickes' antics (among other things). It is my impression that many SDs have remained as open-minded as possible for as long as possible - they haven't been playing games, they haven't been on a power trip, they've been watching and listening and thinking.

I am stunned by the sentence in the OP -- that the Clinton camp just can't understand why the SDs aren't moving their way. They've created their own reality in regards to this primary -- similar to the way in which the Bush administration has been creating their own reality since before the 5 intellectually bankrupt members of SCOTUS stole the election for them.

[discopants]

9. The inspirational message beginning her PR victory speech

"visit HillaryClinton.com!" somehow falls flat.