Tough Luck, Hillary

A federal court yesterday dealt a bad hand to Hillary Rodham Clinton, smacking down an effort to stop Nevadans from caucusing at Las Vegas casinos like Caesars Palace and the Flamingo hotel.

The Nevada teachers union, which has strong ties to Clinton, sued with other plaintiffs in Las Vegas this week to halt an effort to let casino cooks, maids and card dealers caucus at nine downtown casino sites.

The effort to create "at large" precincts - backed by the state Democratic Party - was aimed at getting more low-wage workers to participate in the election process.

Clinton and Barack Obama are running neck and neck in Nevada, which holds its caucuses tomorrow.

Although the casino plan passed unanimously when the state party approved it in March, the Nevada State Education Association and people tied to the Clinton camp filed suit just two days after the powerful, 60,000-strong Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama.

But the judge who made yesterday's ruling didn't buy the argument that the precincts violate the "one man, one vote" principle

"We aren't voting here, we're caucusing. That's something that parties decide," Judge James Mahan said.""

The Clinton camp says it was never behind the lawsuit - although Bill Clinton ripped the process as unfair in comments this week.

Why "make a special rule only for these workers?" he said. "For the rest of you other workers, tough luck. I think the rules ought to be the same for everyone."

The Clinton camp worries that influence would be distributed unevenly, since the number of delegates at stake would be based on attendance at the casino sites - but based on voter registration at other sites.

Sen. Clinton said she has "no opinion on the lawsuit," though she suggested people other than casino workers should get special precincts.

I think it is interesting that for the first time, black and hispanic voters are getting a first hand taste of what it feels like to be coming up against the Clinton poltical machine. I just hope they remember what it felt like to be dealing with the corruption of the Clinton Machine. It is something that the Republican party has been dealing with since 1992. I just hope this little unpleasent experience isn’t easily forgotten.

"Speaking of Perot, keep your eye on Bloomberg. He might think he can be the next Perot and enter as a self-financed independent at the request of his friend, Her Royal Thighness, thinking that he would draw more votes away from the GOP candidate than from hers"

Yep, that is exactly what I was thinking. In fact, I will add more to it. I believe that this increasing talk about Bloomberg running is a reaction to the impending surge of Mitt Romney. Based on the media constantly downplaying, I would say that the Clinton Machine feels threatened by Romney. Plus, the run that Obama is giving Hillary only adds to her anxiety, which is why Bloomberg has been starting to sound more and more these past few days that he will run. I am tired of the Clinton handbook. If they can't win with less then 40% of the general election votes, then they shouldn't be in the White House. And the media needs to stop acting like they haven't noticed these Clinton maneuvers, because they then are nothing more then accomplices to the Clinton Machine. And I am tired of it. Whoever the Republican Nominee is, should Bloomberg jump in, I hope he has the balls to pubically say that Bloomberg is just another Perot stunt designed to get the Clinton's back into the Presidency!

Doubt if Bloomberg’s entry would siphon off more votes from Romney than from Her Royal Thighness. After all, Bloomberg is really another ‘Rat, albeit a Lieberman-style ‘Rat ideologically. His brief flirtation with the GOP was a marriage of convenience.

Despite the fact that he ran successfully for NYC mayor twice on the Republican line, he did not appoint a single Republican to a top-notch job in his city administration!

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