First there was Reaganomics. Now there’s Clinton Counting. After her win in Pennsylvania, Hillary announced that she’s ahead in the popular vote. Funny so did Obama. Hmmm… Surely you’ve seen or heard the stories. They’re in the major news networks: CNN, MSNBC, FOXNews. Both campaigns made sure of that. That’s all fine and dandy, but to reach her conclusion Clinton included Florida and Michigan, in spite of the fact that the Democratic Party isn’t counting the primaries in those states (back to that in a minute). Then there’s the other problem with the ‘popular vote’ count. The 4 caucus states also excluded. That includes even Washington who actually had a primary with a popular vote. But they also held a caucus to decide delegates so apparently their popular vote doesn’t ‘count’ in Clinton Counting. Check Newsweek’s story about it. They’re calling it Hillary’s new re-count. She apparently still wants to have her cake and call it caviar.
One of Hillary’s main arguments for counting the Florida and Michigan primaries, in spite of the fact that neither state followed the rules even though they knew the consequences, is that the voters’ voices must be heard. So my question is: “What about the voices of the voters in caucus states?” Especially Washington which had a primary with a popular vote that she’s intentionally choosing to ignore. Could it be because she only won one of the 4 caucus states, while Obama won 3 including Washington in which he won in both the delegates and the popular vote? Yes, I realize a popular vote doesn’t exist in the other 3 caucus states, but that doesn’t mean she should ignore them because it looks better for her. She isn’t even acknowledging them when she says “I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else”. Makes you wonder whether she’s deluded or deceptive - maybe both.
So my next question is: “What makes the Florida and Michigan voters more important than the voters in Washington in Clinton Counting?” The answer to that one is easy. They make her position look better. She won Florida and Obama wasn’t on the ballot in Michigan. She says she won more popular votes than any other candidate in Michigan, which is technically true; but there’s no way of really knowing whether Michigan voters favor Clinton or Obama since both names weren’t on the ballot. And that also leads us back to Washington and a 3rd question: “Why aren’t the popular votes in Washington included in Hillary’s count?” One answer that I’m guessing would come from the Clinton camp is because they are a caucus state. The real answer is because Hillary lost that state.
Her claims are kind of a moot point anyway because when it comes down to it, delegates, and not popular vote that decides the candidate. But apparently that’s not enough to stop a Democrat. If I remember right, wasn’t ‘popular vote’ Gore’s argument in the 2000 general election? When will they learn? And when will Hillary learn to count?
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First there was the call for a re-vote in Florida and Michigan. Then there was the statement that pledged delegates didn’t necessarily have to honor that pledge at the convention. Now there’s accusations that her opponent doesn’t want people to vote in the remaining primaries. What is Hillary smoking? Is she honestly that desperate for delegates?
While these tactics may work if she was running for, oh, I don’t know… Prom Queen. But do we really want a prom queen for President?
Continue reading ‘Primary Desperation’
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Hillary is at it again – or should I say still. She’s still trying to get a revote in Michigan, and is going to what some would say is extreme measures – especially since Florida has already said they won’t hold a revote. She’s changing her schedule today to go beg Michigan lawmakers for a revote, and some of Hillary’s supporters are trying to raise funds for a privately funded revote. There are several issues the Legislators in Lansing must look at: cost, legality, logistics, and possibly some ethical issues.
According to an article in today’s NY Times, the cost of the revote would be approximately $12 million; and a proposed privately funded re-vote just adds to the legal issues. If they want it privately funded, maybe it should come out of Hillary’s personal funds – not government funds or even campaign funds. Let her use the royalties from her book, although that would just give her another reason to whine that it’s unfair even.
Of course the accusations and finger pointing continue too. Hillary’s camp says that Obama is trying to disenfranchise the Michigan voters by not urging them to support a revote, as well as trying to block a revote. They claim he’s saying he doesn’t want a primary in Michigan. I think they need a reality check. There was a primary held in Michigan. As simple as it sounds, just because there will be no delegates from Michigan counted for the nomination doesn’t mean there wasn’t a primary held. But of course Hillary doesn’t see it that way because it offers no advantage to her; and after all she won’t do anything or fight (beg, plead, whine) for anything that doesn’t provide some advantage to her or her campaign.
Continue reading ‘Some Cheese with that Whine?’
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There has been a lot of Democratic action over the past two weeks, and its looking like Obama has the upper hand. The dust hasn’t even settled and already bloggers are suggesting that Hillary needs a reality check. I don’t know if its her politics or her name, but it seems likely that Hillary won’t be America’s first female President. Clinton has not yet conceded victory, in hopes that a superdelegate vote in her favor will trump Obama’s lead. I don’t claim to be the smartest guy, but that seems like a longshot. Mark Schmitt had this thought:
It’s well past time to enter the gracious winding-down stage of this long, and until recently, healthy campaign. The last candidate I can remember to keep punching like this even after the race was effectively decided was Jerry Brown in 1992. I’m sure Clinton remembers the unpleasantness of that 1992 convention. I doubt that she wants to be that guy.
Will she have the same dogged staying power that Mike Gravel has? It seems to me that Clinton staying in the race will most benefit John McCain. If she stays and she and Obama continue to publicly shred one another it’ll hurt the Democrats more than it will help either one of them. So I won’t mind if Clinton rides the clock.
By the way, I need to cry uncle. I’ve been claiming that Gravel would be the next candidate to drop since September. I’ll admit it, I was wrong.
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OK, so is it me or does it seem that Hillary is grasping at straws to build her delegate count? As soon as Obama pulled ahead of her in the count, she started calling for the Michigan and Florida primaries to count. If it’s truly important to her, she should have been calling for it earlier while she was still ahead in the count. Or even better she should have tried to convince the Democratic party in those states to follow the rules so that their votes would count when the primary dates were being set. They all knew going into those primaries that the votes and delegates wouldn’t count, but she couldn’t be bothered with it until she fell behind.
Continue reading ‘Primary Fairness’
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Hillary has been attacking Obama as long as the Presidential race has been in progress. I know that negative campaigning moves the meter, but honestly it has gotten pretty nasty between them. From what I’ve heard of Clinton’s plans for America, she would be better served by thinking through her platform than worrying about Barack’s perceived shortcomings. She’s relentless. Obama has had a section of his site devoted to keeping track of Hillary’s attacks. Continue reading ‘Hillary Attacks’
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We’ve been hearing about Hillary’s bout of tears all week now. The way the papers are going on you’d think she was crying so hard she snotted on someone. So much drama over so little. Jon Stewart, as usual, hits the nail on the head in his response. What did Marianne Pernold Young, the photographer that asked the question, have to say about it though?
Continue reading ‘Woman Who Made Clinton Cry Voted For Obama’
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Senator Clinton has been the leading Democrat for a number of weeks, and the gap has been widening in recent weeks. The primaries are approaching so other Democratic hopefuls are feeling the heat. This week while speaking at Drake University Barack Obama accused Clinton of being part of a congress that failed the public by leading the nation into war with Iraq.
Continue reading ‘Dems Lashing Out At Clinton’
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Democratic hopeful Barack Obama is proposing a 35% decrease in the amount of foreign oil that we use, according to Bloomberg. In a speech intended for a New Hampshire audience, Obama says
“Our energy problem has become an energy crisis because no matter how well intentioned the promise, no matter how bold the proposal, they all fall victim to the same Washington politics that has only become more divided and dishonest.”
Obama’s proposed solution is to reduce dependence on oil and create jobs by investing $150 billion in environmentally friendly industries over a 10 year period.
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You’ve no doubt heard Presidential hopefuls thrash Dubya about the war in Iraq for the past couple of years. They’ve been shaking their fingers as long as we’ve been there. Now that they’re getting serious about taking over the oval office, the top three Democratic candidates concede that they can’t promise a complete exit from Iraq. In a New Hampshire Democratic debate held on Wednesday night, candidates Clinton, Obama and Edwards each stated that they could not commit to a complete troop withdrawal within their first Presidential term. Two candidates did, however, promise a complete troop withdrawal in the debate, Christopher Dodd and Bill Richardson. Its very curious that the top three make no guarantees.
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