Posted on 04/26/2008 7:18:06 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton, capitalizing on her Pennsylvania primary victory, reached out this week to uncommitted Democratic superdelegates.
"Her pitch was that she had just had a substantial victory in Pennsylvania and her campaign had raised quite a bit of money because of it," said Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma. "There wasn't a hard push or a hard sell. She asked me what are some of the things she needs to be talking about. I just told her the No. 1 issue is the economy."
Boren remains uncommitted but noted "it's really important to me how my district voted" - for Clinton.
Clinton also met with Reps. Ike Skelton of Missouri, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, Ron Klein of Florida and Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, among others.
Clinton's presidential campaign has spent months playing defense while Barack Obama whittled away at her lead in superdelegate endorsements. Her supporters urged undecided superdelegates to hold off on endorsing a candidate - if they weren't ready to back her. Let the primaries play out, they said, and decide which candidate has the best chance to win in November after all the contests are over.
Obama, meanwhile, urged quick endorsements, hoping to build momentum toward the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination.
Obama has picked up 83 percent of the superdelegate endorsements since Super Tuesday, narrowing Clinton's superdelegate lead to 259-236, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press. Since Tuesday's primary, Obama has picked up three superdelegates and Clinton has added one.
Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who automatically attend the convention and can support whomever they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries. They are in high demand now that neither Clinton nor Obama can win the nomination without their support.
There will be nearly 800 superdelegates at the party's national convention this summer. About 60 will be named at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring.
Obama's campaign sent a memo to superdelegates this week making his case that he has won more delegates and more states than Clinton.
"Our case to superdelegates is the same as it had been, that Barack Obama is the best candidate to bring about the fundamental change that this country needs and the best Democrat to take on John McCain in the fall," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
Obama has a 154-delegate lead in pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Clinton will not catch up in pledged delegates in the few remaining contests, but her campaign hopes to narrow the gap.
In the overall delegate race, Obama leads 1,724.5 to 1,593.5. - a 131-delegate margin.
Altmire, who remains undecided, said Clinton asked him to delay endorsing before the Pennsylvania primary. But she was more emboldened at a private meeting in Washington on Wednesday, the day after her victory.
"Both times, that was her message, let's wait and see how this whole thing unfolds. Don't make any rushes to judgment and we'll just see what happens," Altmire said. "And then, of course, she won decisively and now she says that that is the moment that we've been waiting for. You've seen the outcome, and now I'd love to have your endorsement."
About 240 superdelegates remain undecided, and many said they don't plan to endorse until after the primaries conclude June 3.
The AP interviewed more than 100 of the undecided superdelegates in the past three weeks. Many said they hope the nomination is decided before the national convention in August. But they were willing to wait until after the primaries before endorsing a candidate.
"Hillary's message was she knew I was uncommitted and I should not make a decision too quickly, keep my powder dry," Mike Morgan, an undecided superdelegate from Oklahoma, said in an interview before the Pennsylvania vote. "That's what I intended to do. I have a lot of questions about the remaining two candidates."
Robert Rankin, an undecided superdelegate from California, said Obama had the opposite message. "Mr. Obama stated that for the good of the party he believed that we should come together and get it done in a way we could start working on the general election," Rankin said. "There is a valid point to that. I don't necessarily disagree with it. But I'm not ready to do it until I hear from the other states."
Lobbies = Pays.
The Rat dreamed up super delagate thing is as screwed up as a Chinese roll call.
I don’t think there’s much suspense here. Obama will get the nomination.
Make no mistake here, it is VERY IMPORTANT that Obama win this nomination. Operation Chaos is done. It has done its work. We now face the enormous risk of Hillary, as their more centrist candidate, being able to persuade people. That Must Not Happen.
Obama, as their far left wing extremist, should be pumped up in North Carolina and Indiana to expand his delegate lead. All we can do to make that happen should be done. She will not bow out now, but there must be No Doubt that he wins the nomination.
OC has done great work, but when the risk/reward ratio reverses, you shut down an approach. If you are ahead 8 points with the ball 1st and ten, 20 seconds remaining on the clock and the opponent with only 1 time out left, you do not call a pass play, even if you got that lead by passing. You have the QB take a knee. You understand risk/reward.
It’s time to erase the more centrist of their two. Now.
Dem Supers gotta be worried about Obama’s background BIG TIME but they gotta be worried about their black base
Must be driving them goofy—Frankenstein Monster is stirring
Only possible solution is Hillary as Prez and Obama as Veep
It’s very important that he doesn’t. By your logic that’s what propelled crazy Dean and his moveon fanatics to prominence. Now they’re the “mainstreme” of the Democratic party.
IT’S NEVER GOOD TO ENCOURAGE FAR-LEFTISM.
Better to have a lesser evil-Clinton than a Communist-Islamist (not islamic, but leaning)-Socialist-Racist-Elitits. ARE YOU SAYING YOU WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE (and it will be a Chance) that BARACK OBAMA becomes President?
I say vote against this guy in “operation Chaos” if possible..! STOP HIM NOW. No chances..
Not necessarily. Every dollar that Obama and Hillary suck out of the pockets of their donors, is a political campaign dollar sucked out of the pocket of a Democrat Congressional or local candidate. At the very least, it's a dollar not spent on illicit drugs, trendy baubles, or movies that degrade American culture.
Also, if this is ended right now, that provides valuable make-up time for Barry O to court the feminazis. If he's got six full months to woo them, he'll have way more success at doing that than if he has only two months, with his nomination being the result of a bloody battle in Denver. It's far easier for the Vote Vagina crowd to accept that their candidate lost at the ballot box than it is for them to deal with losing to the gimmie-gimmies that back Obama, who will shut them out at the convention.
Please also consider the media effects of an early shutdown. Right now, the MSM is magnifying every little flaw that Obama and Clinton find in each other, once there is a nominee, that process stops. Even if we wind up with one of those two socialists as President (as opposed to our own socialist), the things brought to light during the campaign will come back to haunt and cripple their presidency.
Operation Chaos is by no means over with, it has done valuable work, and will continue to do so.
Obama is a bumbling idiot who speaks well, but he is inexperienced and is not the cold calculating monster that the filthy banshee is.
What you see with him is what you will get. With Hitlery you'll get far worse, make no mistake about it. Couple with the fact that she is far more ruthless than Obama could ever dream about being, you have the makings of a disaster.
On top of that, McCain CAN'T BEAT HITLERY. Far too many people have been hoodwinked by her "moderate" game, and people in PA, OH, and MI will run to her in droves.
Obama on the other hand CAN'T BEAT MCCAIN. There is no way that the people of PA, OH, and MI are going to vote for him after his comments directed at them, and there is no where else on the electoral map that Obama can make up those loses.
Make no mistake about it. Obama is Jimmah Carter Redux. Hillary is Adolph Hitler 2.0.
We can survive the first, we cannot survive the second.
The reward is sucking away their money.
The risk is elevating Hillary to the election.
Presuming it is a bad idea to advance their most leftist candidate presumes the two are equally likely of election, and that is completely counter to the clear reality that independent moderates elect presidents. He does not have an equal chance at those votes in comparison to her. Therefore, risking her ascendancy is far too great a risk to take for the marginal reward of consuming their money.
McCain’s best chance is running vs Obama. That is why the risk portion of risk / reward is now too high and Operation Chaos is now complete.
She is less liberal, if you don’t believe me then you are living in fantasy land- Has hillary ever been connected to Nation of Islam, Has hillary ever been connected to Hamas?
Yes and Yes. How easily you forget the meetings with Yasser Arafat who actually coordinated and authorized Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacks on Israel.
(No wonder She gets money from the American Muslim Alliance.) She was also involved with both the Nation of Islam AND the Black Panthers.
Not to mention Hitlery's direct hand in the scandals involving Ron Brown, Vince Foster, the Rose Law Firm, White-Water, Mena, The Red Chinese, Juanita Broderick, Jennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Waco, the destruction of the military and general thuggery and murder.
You forget that Hitlery worships Karl Marx and Socialist principles and wants "to take things from you on behalf of the common good."
obama had a communist mentor, not too mention he attended a church (debatable) that welcomes Nationa of Islam founder-..FOR 20 Years!!
Hamas has publicaly stated the WANT Obama to win (not to mention his radical madrassa Islamic background in Indonesia as a Child!).
He’s definately WORSE-at least she hasn’t been ENDORESED by TERRORISTS HAMAS!!
Amen to all you say. I FEAR hillary! much more if she wins the WH than I could ever fear obama.
Not to mention that Obama is not nearly as smart or ruthless as the filthy banshee.
I am sorry she has you hoodwinked.
That's only part of the reason, really, in my eyes, it's not even the primary one. This election has already been the longest lasting one in recent American history, and we've still got six months of it to go. Overexposure of Presidental candidates has the effect of tiring people of them; to me, it seems certain that whoever occupies the majority of our television screen time between now and the conventions is the one folks are going to get the most tired of. Hillary and Obama are not just writing McCain's playbook, they're also writing the jokes of the late-night comics and the themes of the political columnists if one of them should get elected.
I just don't see that big a risk, the "losing" side in a convention battle will have a vested interest in seeing that the winning Democrat: a) doesn't win the general election, or b) is unable to effectively govern if it achieves the White House.
Frankly, a Hillary or Obama perceived victory scares the pants off of the folks in the red districts that sent Rat congresscritters to Washington the last couple of elections, just because they were becoming wary about the war. Conservatives have lost the White House, at least until 2012, we severely need to get the Congress back to act as a very important check on the power of a liberal (be it any one of the three still in the running) to preserve our nation. For me, Hillary Clinton motivates more people to vote for a Republican for the House or Senate that does Obama.
See, that all makes reasonable sense if the presumptions were accurate. We always presume that whoever is in the WH got there to advance an agenda for the country.
In Clinton’s case, that’s not so. The agenda for her is almost 100% personal ambition. Bill Clinton has essentially no legacy past Monica because he didn’t do anything important. The only reason why that worked was because he faced no crisis. That’s not going to be so for her.
Obama would have his own warped sense of what is good for the country, and this would largely trump his personal ambition because he is younger and isn’t thinking in terms of history.
She is closer to the center. She is the greater risk of taking independent moderate votes from McCain. We need her erased.
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