Tomorrow Hillary Clinton gets a do-over, a political mulligan. She has played concession much like Bill Clinton plays golf. Given this second chance, what will she do?
Her choices crouch between temptation versus expectation.
I suppose there was some sense of "I told you so" after Clinton's Tuesday non-concession speech, that red meat speech aimed at her followers and at her struggle. "Not gracious," "not smart," and "WTF" come to mind as typical reactions. She's been roundly hit by high profile supporters and critics alike.
But her peeps loved it. They rallied to the "fight on" flavor of Clinton's words. Maybe they thought her hints at wanting the vice presidency were fantasies put forth by overeager donors. No matter, many of those who rallied to "fight on" now demand she be named to the ticket.
This is a quick diary to remind folks that Daily Kos is a site aimed at electing democrats, not smearing them. For any possible Obama vice presidential pick, there will be diaries written by those who oppose them or those with different agendas. If we don't demand evidence of extraordinary claims against our own democratic politicians, we will be no better than LGF or RedState. In my opinion, this site should not be a source of harmful innuendo.
The DNC Rules Committee meets on May 31 and decides to seat both the Florida and Michigan delegations in their entirety and allow the full assigned complement of super delegates.
That's a least favored scenario for Obama, but it could get worse: Even if the DNC seats the full delegations, how the Rules Committee apportions those delegates could favor Clinton to Obama's detriment.
Fortunately, the likelihood is that even if that happened, Obama would still win the presidential nomination.
A massive sinkhole has opened in the Clinton campaign according to confidential sources inside the campaign itself.
Shown in this video, the sinkhole began to open earlier this year and has only gotten bigger, blowing open with Hillary Clinton's appeal for funds after her massive loss to Barack Obama in North Carolina.
Officials believe the ground started giving way due to lack of victories after February 5 of this year, but really opened up after the March 4 Texas primary.
Update: Lake County results are outstanding. Lake County is heavily demo'd for Obama. Gary is a major city in Lake County and Gary's mayor just made major news.
Keith Olberman just reported that the Washington Post has reported the following news from the mayor of Gary, Indiana:
As the fate of a nailbiter Indiana primary -- and possibly the course of the Democratic race -- hung on his city, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said just now that it might take a while yet to finish counting the vote in Lake County, which includes Gary, and said tonight his city had turned out so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama that it might just be enough to close the gap with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"Let me tell you, when all the votes are counted, when Gary comes in, I think you're looking at something for the world to see," Clay, an Obama supporter, said in a telephone interview from Obama's Gary headquarters. "I don't know what the numbers are yet, but Gary has absolutely produced in large numbers for Obama here."
Chris Matthews and Bob Herbert are watching another race, one different from what we're seeing. I think he's seeing John Kerry v. Norma Ray, but I'm not sure.
I know how folks feel about Matthews....I agree. Matthews wears his heart on his tonsils and he's in a bit of a panic these days. He's seeing Obama as elitist and Clinton as "Norma Ray coming out of Pennsylvania." But Bob Herbert (African American New York Times columnist) and Matthews just said Obama will lose the nomination if he doesn't take up populist issues, if he doesn't fight, if he doesn't lose the "ride it out" attitude. I'll paraphrase the show, since no transcript is available yet.
Update: Oh fun, Olbermann picked up the booing incident on Countdown tonight. The story made the show opening along with something like "What if they gave a controversy and nobody came?" Even reporting Rendell has played down the dust-up and asserting it won't cost Obama the nomination. Bad day for Clinton.
Anyway, Clinton was speaking at a manufacturing meeting and mentioned how she was disappointed in Sen. Obama for his "Bitter" remark.
MSNBC reported on and played a sound bite of the crowd groaning and booing in response. The reporter clearly stated that the crowd was showing displeasure at Clinton for bringing it up. The crowd reaction is at the 1 minute mark.
Just a little video for your entertainment, here's a video of Shelia Jackson Lee getting booed in at a Texas Senatorial District Convention for the Houston area.
Here district went 90% Obama. She's a national co-chair of the Clinton campaign.
UPDATE: We went from two comments to 15 plus donations. You guys rock. I bet few posts there get as many responses and few of those saying the same thing: The Democratic Party is about the people, not the fat cats.
This will be just a quick diary.
As most of you know, fat cat Democratic Party donors/Clinton supporters have been trying to bully Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an effort to get her to back down from her advice that super delegates respect the number of delegates won and the will of the people.
Senator Chris Dodd has a blog entry up at the DCCC website touting the Democrat's anti-war stance and warning against shadowy Republican groups who will try to swift boat this election.
Two folks have commented on the blog, both have applauded Dodd's cause and both noted they are giving because of Clinton's attack on the DCCC.
I don't know for sure who started the original Rev. Wright fest. Could have been Fox News; a Clinton surrogate, the McCain campaign, or some legitimate source.
People have theories, but I don't think anyone knows for sure. Hell the Reverend's Best Hits DVD were for sale from his website. It was only a matter of time.
But today, Hillary Clinton, proving true leadership capability, took control of the Rev. Wright issue and all your Rev. Wrights are belong to her.
Make no mistake: Slate hates you. They want to torture you with inane election gymnastics. They want to take democrats with them as they jump the shark and pivot into its jaws.
The premise of the article is that Obama and Clinton could come to an agreement that they would run together for president and takes turns switching between commander-in-chief and vice president.
I never thought I'd hear it, but Hillary Clinton has just acknowledged that Barack Obama will be the Democratic Party's nominee for president in the 2008 presidential race.
I think we can assume that should Clinton win the nomination without counting the votes of residents of Florida and Michigan, she will be the legitimate nominee. However, if Barack Obama wins the nomination without those votes being counted, he will not be legitimate.
I love Keith Olbermann like a thirsty partisan likes any sip of water after years of sere and unbalanced Bush cheerleading. I tape his show daily so I don't miss it while taking care of kids. Fresh air.
Last night I was awestruck that he gave voice to the pattern of insinuation coming from the Clinton campaign, putting a finger in that campaign's dogwhistle to certain sections of the voting populace.
But in the cold light of day, I wonder if my hero didn't go too far.
I think Ferraro's remarks were racist and stupid. But not racist in the David Duke kind of way as Olbermann explicitly stated. Ferraro's remarks were racist in the inherent, everyday, low information voter kind of way.
The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson just said something I thought was spot on....The setup, throughout the last hour on MSNBC, is that Obama lost the news cycle to Clinton in the last two weeks. It was all about Clinton. With a little frustration in his voice, Robinson said, to effect, yes, it's good to take the fight to John McCain, but he took the same victory lap he did after Iowa and didn't fight the fight in front of him.
I know the math, I know it's next to impossible for Clinton to pass Obama, but Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear on nearly every morning show tomorrow and has been on Letterman, The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, not to mention every single newscast with attacks.
Clinton is fighting the fight in front of her, consequences be damned and worry about McCain tomorrow.
My four year old son is having his adenoids and tonsils out early tomorrow, leaving me no time to vote in my neighborhood. So I headed to San Francisco City Hall today and underwent my own surgery. On myself. With a dull scalpel, a dirty sponge, and no anesthesia whatsoever. With eyes squinched I extracted my vote. It wasn't joyless, but it still hurts.
Update: I've got to hand it to you folks, great discussion, lots of information backed up with links. Thanks, Karen
I lean Edwards, but will vote for the Democratic nominee. Of the current field, Obama would be my second choice. I’ve given money to Edwards, Obama, and Dodd. I like Obama more than Hillary, less than Edwards at this point.
I don't believe in candidate tear-down diaries (hell, I barely believe in diaries at all lately), but I have some concerns/fears about an Obama candidacy and really want to be convinced that my fears can be put aside. Especially in light of recent polling.
As you can probably guess, my concerns involve electability, especially as it relates to race, experience, and temperament. I would like to have a constructive conversation on these issues in a political context, but on showing this diary to fellow Kossacks and Docudharmentarians, I’ve been told it will be interpreted as a hit piece. That’s not my intention, but I can’t control how readers perceive my writing or slant. I also threw in some general campaign questions I have if anyone's interested.
Ok, ok, I know I shouldn't read this shiz, I don't even care about celebrities, even if our recent spate of young trainwrecks is mildly interesting. But c'mon, you got to laugh at anyone who draws horns on George Bush, poop coming out of Beckham's butt, or a large penis aiming for Posh Spice's pearly whites.
All this aside, Perez has been reporting on rumors that Castro has died and today, well, look for yourself: the Cuban American "Queen of All Media" is reporting a press conference in which they announce Castro's death is imminent. For the record, I wouldn't be gleeful about Castro's demise and would see it as the end of an era.
