Mrs. Clinton says she will fight on -- and she's right to do so. We say that not because of Pennsylvania's interest in holding a relevant primary on April 22. Simply put, this fight isn't over.
To be sure, Mrs. Clinton is trailing in the combined totals of delegates and the math looks bad for her chances. Even so, Mr. Obama hasn't clearly won. What we have now is something of a stalemate, one that is likely to harden before it breaks. As Sen. Bob Casey said of the candidate he endorsed Friday, Mr. Obama is "the underdog in our state." Gov. Ed Rendell, who supports Mrs. Clinton, believes the race will tighten.
All of this speaks to the larger picture: It's premature for Mrs. Clinton to quit while the race remains competitive. These calls to step down by Obama supporters are no more realistic than the earlier ones floated by the Clinton camp that Mr. Obama would make a great vice presidential nominee on a "dream ticket."
While Pennsylvania has a late primary, it is not the latest. Among others, the voters in Indiana and North Carolina (May 6), West Virginia (May 13) and Kentucky and Oregon (May 20) will still have to be heard from after Pennsylvanians go to the polls three weeks from today.
As Major League Baseball starts another season, a bit of hardball wisdom from Yogi Berra applies to the Clinton-Obama race: "It ain't over till it's over."
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As Major League Baseball starts another season, a bit of hardball wisdom from Yogi Berra applies to the Clinton-Obama race: "It ain't over till it's over."
^ True! Hillary's only down by five runs with two outs and no one on-base in the ninth inning... but it ain't over!!!
On another note, Bob Barr is expected to announce his candidacy on the libertarian ticket today with Ron Paul as a possible running mate. That'd be great news for democrats.
Using the "superdelegate" can overrule the vote and pick the best candidate to win the election theory espoused by the Clinton camp, here are the latest results from the Gallup poll. Democrats and Republicans CAN actually agree on something.
In your view, would Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama have a better chance of defeating John McCain in the presidential election in November? (asked of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents)
Barack Obama 59%
Hillary Clinton 30%
Same 4%
No Opinion 7%
In your view, would John McCain have a better chance of defeating Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the presidential election in November? (asked of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents)
Hillary Clinton 64%
Barack Obama 22%
Same 11%
No Opinion 3%
These poll numbers are WAY outside any margin of error.
Another worthy comment by the news media why Clinton should stay in the race. They should be applauded for bucking the trend of Obama supporters telling Clinton to drop out. As far as the comment by anonymous about poll numbers of McCain vs. Clinton or Obama, it is too early to place any faith in those polls.
As far as the comment by anonymous about poll numbers of McCain vs. Clinton or Obama, it is too early to place any faith in those polls.
^ Really? Please tell me that that hasn't been one of the Clinton arguments as to why the superdelegates need to overturn the pledged delegates and popular vote if their candidate is still behind at the convention!!!
Remember, just a few weeks ago, one day before the Ohio primary, on March 3, when Senator Clinton - with an assist from Canadian officials - made a mountain out of Canadian press reports that an unpaid economic advisor to Senator Obama had reportedly met with a low-level Canadian diplomat?
Here is what she said:
“If you come to Ohio and you go give speeches that are very critical of NAFTA… and then we find out that your chief economic adviser has gone to a foreign government and basically done the old wink-wink – ‘Don’t pay any attention, this is just political rhetoric’ — I think that raises serious questions…
“I would ask you to look at this story and substitute my name for Sen. Obama’s name and see what you would do with this story… Just ask yourself [what you would do] if some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments.“
Now we get to find out.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Clinton Aide Met on Trade Deal
Penn Held Talks On Colombia Pact Opposed by Senator
By SUSAN DAVIS
April 4, 2008; Page A3
Hillary Clinton’s chief campaign strategist met with Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S. on Monday to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, a pact the presidential candidate opposes.
Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials…
Wait. The plot thickens!
He wasn’t there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm. The firm has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department…
Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Mr. Penn’s campaign-consulting firm, received more than $10 million in payments from the Clinton campaign as of the end of February, according to federal election filings…
A spokesman for Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe said the ambassador met with Mr. Penn to discuss the bilateral agenda…
The spokesman said he didn’t know if Mr. Penn was representing Sen. Clinton or Burson-Marsteller, which signed a $300,000, one-year contract with the Colombian Embassy in March 2007 to work on behalf of the trade deal and anti-drug-trafficking initiatives, according to the Justice Department filings.
Mark Penn is not - as in the case that Senator Clinton cited on March 3 - an unpaid issues advisor, but, rather, the commander-in-chief of the Clinton campaign: the chief strategist, pollster, message czar, and the highest paid member of her campaign staff.
I can’t remember a presidential campaign in my lifetime in which the top strategist moonlighted for corporate accounts during the heat of the primaries (if that’s really what he was doing with the Colombian ambassador, as claimed: note that the Embassy told the Journal that it didn’t know which hat Penn was wearing). The conflict of interest is staggering. Add to that press reports about how former campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle went to Senator Clinton and begged her to fire Penn, but it was Solis Doyle, not the man in charge, that was cut loose as scapegoat for the campaign’s ailments.
Somewhere in Pennsylvania there is a factory that employs Americans at union wages. Somewhere in North Carolina and Indiana, too… The “free trade” agreement that Penn was paid $300,000 to shepherd to passage would open the door for the company that owns the factory to move it to a country where if a worker tries to start a union, chances are he or she will be assassinated. The company will be able to get the same work done, in that case, for slave wages, and without any of those pesky environmental, safety and health regulations that protect the worker in Pennsylvania.
Clinton’s March 3 challenge to the press corps - “”I would ask you to look at this story and substitute my name for Sen. Obama’s name and see what you would do with this story” - is eerily reminiscent of when a certain Colorado senator running for president in 1988 denied reports about his private life and urged reporters: “”Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’ll be very bored.”
Of course, this scandal doesn’t involve sex… just the wellbeing of workers and their families across the United States, with the sword of another dangerous “free trade” agreement dangling over their heads.
I can remember Obama's lobbyist who was on his staff doing the same thing. By the way, no candidate can make a Superdelegate change his or her vote if they do not want to. The DNC rule is clear, Superdelegates can vote their choice and I think the end of the democratic primary season will not end bitterly like some are talking about.
Argo said...
I can remember Obama's lobbyist who was on his staff doing the same thing. By the way, no candidate can make a Superdelegate change his or her vote if they do not want to. The DNC rule is clear, Superdelegates can vote their choice and I think the end of the democratic primary season will not end bitterly like some are talking about.
^You're so right!! See my second comment under the flag attack on Senator Obama towards the top of the page.
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