Posted on 02/14/2008 1:04:26 PM PST by jdm
With all of the drama on the Democratic side of the primaries, Barack Obama wants to put it to an end. He hopes to win enough of a lead in delegates so that even without a clinch by the end of the process, he has made enough of a case for his nomination that the superdelegates wouldn't dare swing to Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Hillary has had to hustle to get organizations running in the states she claims she'll win to blunt Obama's momentum:
Senator Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday’s primaries leading Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 100 delegates, a small but significant advantage that Democrats said would be difficult for Mrs. Clinton to make up in the remaining contests in the presidential nomination battle.
Neither candidate is expected to win the 2,025 pledged delegates needed to claim the nomination by the time the voting ends in June. But Mr. Obama’s campaign began making a case in earnest on Wednesday that if he maintained his edge in delegates won in primaries and caucuses, he would have the strongest claim to the backing of the 796 elected Democrats and party leaders known as superdelegates who are free to vote as they choose and who now stand to determine the outcome.
Mrs. Clinton’s aides said she could still pull out a victory with victories in the biggest primaries still to come, including Ohio and Texas next month. But Mr. Obama’s clear lead in delegates allocated by the votes in nominating contests is one of a number of challenges facing her after a string of defeats in which Mr. Obama not only ran up big popular vote margins but also made inroads among the types of voters she had most been counting on, including women and lower-income people.
Hillary's team believes they can close the delegate gap with big wins in Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. But Hillary's aides haven't talked about how unprepared they are to make those victories a reality:
The Texas and Ohio presidential primaries, on March 4, have become must-win contests for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, her advisers say. So why is she just opening campaign field offices across those states?
The primary in Pennsylvania, on April 22, is also a crucial battleground. So why is her campaign telling its most prominent supporter there, Gov. Edward G. Rendell, that there is not enough money now for his proposed piece of direct mail to voters?
The entire campaign strategy appears to have been based on a belief that there would be no opponent facing her in February. Even while November and December showed Obama gaining strength, no one thought to start rolling out resources in the post-Super Tuesday states. Now Hillary faces a gap in pledged delegates of 102, according to CNN, and it will get worse in Wisconsin and Hawaii before it might get better in Texas and Ohio. (With the superdelegates committed at the moment, Hillary trails by 42.)
Neither candidate can win in the primaries now. However, they both can better their positions, although Obama looks to the future for that while Hillary wants to go back to the past. She has continued her demand that the DNC seat Florida and Michigan delegates. That would give her 55% of the 128 delegates from Michigan and Obama none, and Florida would give her 50% of the 185 delegates and Obama 33%. The combination would make up almost all of the gap.
However, it would call into question the DNC's tactics and motivation. Julian Bond claims that Florida minorities were disenfranchised by the DNC action to strip the delegates from the convention, but at least in that state, everyone was on the ballot. In Michigan, Obama played by the rules while Hillary left herself on the ballot. Reinstating the delegates from Michigan would essentially penalize Obama for following the DNC's demands and reward Hillary for breaking them.
If Hillary wins Texas and Ohio -- and polls show Hillary beating Obama in Ohio handily, as well as in Pennsylvania -- then she could conceivably pull even with Obama and end the momentum. If that happens, Obama won't have the argument with the superdelegates that he thinks he has now, and we can look forward to a good old-fashioned floor fight in Denver.
“close in for the kill” What?! That’s so, so Washington Establishment.
I thought that Hussein was all about “change.”
All he needs is a bucket of water and Hillary within throwing range.
Obama lacks “gravitas”.
This is just too rich. Anyone reember Nancy Kerrigan? The Clintons will “kneecap” poor Barry and he will never even see it coming. Then the Dems can see just what the Toons are about. LOL. Where is my popcorn!
Hillary....”the Tonya Harding of Politics”!
He lacks a lot more than that.
This was supposed to be over on February 5th. The DNC designed this whole front-loaded primary system so Hillary could clinch on Super-Duper Tuesday. They did not expect to have to campaign in Ohio and Texas.
Bill Clinton clinched on Super Tuesday in 1992. They are just following the 1992 Playbook. Unfortunately for Hillary, they do not have the intelligence or flexibility to abandon the plan when reality intrudes. It is a common error to make.
Based on his Communist rhetoric, I have to agree with Coulter that B. Hussein Obama is a much more dangerous potential POTUS than Hillary.
Even to the extent that I think all Republicans in the open-Primary states remaining should vote for Hillary to make sure Obama is not the Dem candidate.
If it comes down to Hillary vs. McCain in the general, then it will be an easy choice for conservatives — Hillary. If it comes down to Obama vs. McCain, some conservatives might be tempted to vote for McCain. So we need to stop Obama now.
Comedy Central played the “change” (homeless zombie) episode last night, where brainless zombielike homeless people wondered around asking for “change” like zombies seeking brains.
Obama’s campaign is a cross between a mindless zombie chanting change and the Bob the Builder theme song (”Yes We Can”).
it is so...1968
What? How did you get on.
I’m quite jealous of the Dims at this point.
At least they have a candidate who can/will “kneecap” and fight.
Ours just lay down, throw the fight, and then claim they have “class”.
Which has gotten Republicans absolutely nowhere in the last 20 years.
How did I get on what ?
If you are implying I’m a DU troll, you couldn’t be more wrong. Check some of my thousands of posts over the last 3 years.
Read some of Ann Coulter’s columns since Super Tuesday. She is very right about McCain being worse than letting Hillary screw up for 4 years ala Carter. Obama, unfortunately, is worse than McCain. That leaves only Hillary. Unless you can guarantee that McCain will drop dead between now and this time next year, Conservatives are going to get screwed either way. Better it be a Dem doing that, so at least a Republican Congress will fight back.
Yeah. We would’t be in this position if Bush took his job as leader of conservatism seriously. I feel like I have put more effort into defending him against the NYTimes than he has. Of course, that is the problem, he never saw himself as the leader of conservatism. That is what we got for “beter than Gore/Kerry”. All we have done is put off the day when we had to ultimately say None of the Above.
No. He will not live to tell about it. The Clintons will call in all their “people” and Ft Marcy Park will be filled with their enemies. Hillary thinks she DESERVES this. She thinks the White House is HERS already. There will be blood. That is how I see the Clintons.
This is part of what’s so hard to believe about the Clintons troubles.
Bill is a good politician, and used to know how to run campaigns. They started out with more money than anyone else. Also, Bill’s ‘92 campaign was all about the “war room” and making tactical changes as things happened in the campaign. It’s so hard to believe Hillary’s campaign seems unable to make changes as events happened. She’s like the Titanic hitting an iceberg and slowly sinking. I never thought a Clinton campaign would be gasping for air like it is now.
It’s very difficult for me to believe that the Clintons are going to be vanquished by a big-eared neophyte whose middle name is Hussein and whose last name rhymes with Osama. Especially when I read people on FR talking about voting for her just to keep the contest going. The old bag may have life in her yet.
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