My Way

2008-02-14 - 11:43 a.m.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I hope you all get to spend time with the people you care about.

Me? I woke up with a cat sitting on my chest.

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Not much to write about, except this [all boldface emphasis mine]:

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton will take the Democratic nomination even if she does not win the popular vote, but persuades enough superdelegates to vote for her at the convention, her campaign advisers say.

The New York senator, who lost three primaries Tuesday night, now lags slightly behind her rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, in the delegate count. She is even further behind in "pledged'' delegates, those assigned by virtue of primaries and caucuses.

But Clinton will not concede the race to Obama if he wins a greater number of pledged delegates by the end of the primary season, and will count on the 796 elected officials and party bigwigs to put her over the top, if necessary, said Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson.

"I want to be clear about the fact that neither campaign is in a position to win this nomination without the support of the votes of the superdelegates,'' Wolfson told reporters in a conference call.

"We don't make distinctions between delegates chosen by million of voters in a primary and those chosen between tens of thousands in caucuses,'' Wolfson said. "And we don't make distinctions when it comes to elected officials'' who vote as superdelegates at the convention.

"We are interested in acquiring delegates, period,'' he added.

Clinton advisers rejected the notion that the candidate -- and the party -- would be badly wounded in the general election if the nominee were essentially selected by a group of party insiders.

"This is a nomination system that exists of caucuses, primaries, superdelegates and also the issue of voters in Florida and Michigan,'' states whose delegates currently will not be seated at the convention because they broke party rules by moving up their primaries to January, said Mark Penn, senior strategist for the Clinton campaign. But "whoever the nominee is, the party will come together behind that nominee,'' he said.

With the battle for the Democratic nomination excruciatingly close, supporters of both campaigns are questioning the nominating process. The Clinton camp has suggested that the caucuses -- where Obama has bested Clinton in all but one state -- are inherently undemocratic, since only a small percentage of eligible voters are able to make it to a caucus site and commit the time to vote at a particular hour.

Clinton -- who initially joined other Democrats in opposing Michigan and Florida's decisions to go ahead with early primaries -- now wants the votes of those primaries counted. The Obama camp thinks that idea is unfair, since candidates were not allowed to campaign in those states, and Clinton alone kept her name on the Michigan ballot, meaning Obama did not have a chance at getting even provisional delegates.

Superdelegates should "vote their conscience,'' despite how their states voted, Wolfson said. Penn noted that the Obama campaign, for example, has not asked Massachusetts Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry to cast superdelegate votes for Clinton, although the Bay State voted overwhelmingly for her in the primary.

The two candidates head into contests next week in Hawaii and Wisconsin; Obama is leading in the polls in both states. The Clinton campaign is pinning its hopes on the March 4 states of Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island, but Wolfson said yesterday the campaign is opening offices in every remaining primary and caucus state, including Puerto Rico.

Okay. So basically it doesn't matter what the people want - Hillary intends to get the "superdelegates" to vote for her so she gets the nomination.

This is a woman who will stop at NOTHING. She doesn't give a fuck about democracy. She wants this coronation, and by God she will have it. Then she'll complain that all the foreign leaders - the ones whose cultures believe that women are property and should stay out of "men's affairs" - are mean and won't listen to her.

Dick Morris has postulated that, if she is elected, she'll screw up so badly that Republicans will re-take the House and Senate in 2010. It may very well happen.

I say it yet once again. Just not HER.

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It's cold, gray, and windy here...it kinda matches my mood.

I may go to the Park and try to cheer myself up...or I may shelter at home with the cat and movies. I don't know.

I get into these funks sometimes. I get out of them, too. If you're worried about me, please don't be - I know me, and I know I'll be fine. It's temporary. But know that I'm grateful for your concern and love.

Happy Valentine's Day to my readers. I'm grateful to you all.

Be seeing you.

artgnome - 2008-02-14 15:02:02 - http://artgnome.diaryland.com
Happy Valentines to you as well, Dave. :)

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Smed - 2008-02-14 15:02:05 - http://smedindy.diaryland.com
Ah, but that's the way it used to be ALL of the time. There used to be a lot of arm twisting and back scratching involved. And in state primaries and caucuses, it still goes on. In fact, in Indiana, the GOP party bosses used to slate candidates and lean on candidates to drop out before the primaries if they weren't slated. If a candidate didn't go gently into the good night, there would be HELL to pay.

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Bob - 2008-02-14 15:07:33 - http://shadowgm.diaryland.com
Her Hillaryness insisting on having Florida & Michigan's delegates seated despite their going *against* party leadership shows a disregard for the rules, but her campaign flack wants Democrats to queue up behind party leadership and vote for her? My arse. Didn't win enough delegates in straight elections & caucuses? Browbeat the superdelegates! It's clear Hillary will be a disaster if elected anointed.

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Brin - 2008-02-14 17:12:09 -
Happy Valentine's Day, Old Buddy!

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Bob - 2008-02-14 18:20:38 - http://shadowgm.diaryland.com
Smed, I hope that's simply historical context ... wouldn't think you'd approve of Hillary trying to get in by hook or by crook.

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