Will Hillary Clinton Go After Obama’s Pledged Delegates?
Will Hillary Clinton go after Obama’s Pledged delegates? The issue has come up before via unnamed sources in news stories but never addressed by Clinton until now — and it sounds as if it is an option.
Note this quote from an interview with Newsweek:
How can you win the nomination when the math looks so bleak for you?
It doesn’t look bleak at all. I have a very close race with Senator Obama. There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and superdelegates, all for different reasons, and they’re all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose. Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to. This is a very carefully constructed process that goes back years, and we’re going to follow the process.
If the Clinton campaign goes after the pledged delegates she will split the Democratic Party. The bitterness between Obama and Clinton supporters is so bitter now that if delegates voters voted for thinking they had cast votes for a specific candidate are peeled away and jumped ship, the Democratic Party would likely lose big chunks of some segments of voters (particularly young voters and African-American voters.
Could Clinton still win in a general election if she got the nomination this way? Nothing is impossible. But she would then assume office a more polarizing figure than ever.
H/t Political Wire
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15 Responses to “Will Hillary Clinton Go After Obama’s Pledged Delegates?”
[...] The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWill Hillary Clinton Go After Obama’s Pledged Delegates? March 10th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN Will Hillary Clinton go after Obama’s Pledged delegates? The issue has come up before via unnamed sources in news stories but never addressed by Clinton until now — and it sounds as if it is an option. Note this quote from an interview with Newsweek: How can you win the nomination when the math looks so bleak for you? It doesn’t look bleak at all. I have a very close race with Senator Obama. There a [...]
Them's the rules, and as Obama supporters are so fond of saying, those were the rules that existed when the campaign started. Not fair to change them midstream.
Neither candidate has enough “pledged delegates” to win. Neither has a mandate. Both will go after the “pledged”. Sure, there will be some hurt feelings, but the party will fall in line.
Just a hint, women voters who support Hillary in numbers are just as important as African Americans who support Obama in numbers.
I'm not sure what she means by going after the pledged delegates. On the first ballot at the convention, the pledged delegates are bound to their candidate (including Edwards' by the way). On the second ballot the pledged delegates can switch. Maybe that's what she means.
As for caucus delegates, states are still working through district and state conventions before selecting official delegate slates for Denver. Along the way some delegates can switch. Ironically, it seems more likely that Obama would pick up delegates than Hillary because Obama's delegates are actually trained on the process. Hillary couldn't even get a full slate of potential delegates for Pennsylvania.
I think this story is more bluster than anything, meant to buck up her supporters. But the fact of the matter is: this won't happen. Obama will achieve a true and final majority of pledged delegates by May 20 and unless Clinton has a lead in the popular vote, the superdelegates will swing to Obama at that point.
Of course she will. For Sen.Clinton there is no next year.
And for the general election to matter for her she's got to get onto the ballot. One fight at a time.
Actually Elrod, I've read that they aren't bound even <a href=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>on the first ballot. (read the comments). Another site I read called it the Democrat's dirty little secret.
hrm, here's the <a href=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>link again
Ok it's not working for some reason even though I am closing the tag.
I had the same problem with links yesterday.
* * *
Clinton and Obama should go after each other's candidates, of course. Poach, poach, poach!
Enjoy the thought — Clinton in a Cupid costume or outfit.
Trying that <a href=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>mikkel link.
Wish me luck!!
BTW, doesn't this mean Obama can “go after” Clinton delegates?
Trying that <a href=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>mikkel link.
Wish me luck!!
BTW, doesn't this mean Obama can “go after” Clinton delegates?
<A HREF=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>One more time….
<A HREF=”http://coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=FB4D08ADD61795E4D6797453A7C5E513?diaryId=3325″>One more time….
Do you think a Dem can get elected if the blacks in this country boycott the general?
No. And that's what will happen if O is screwed.
This is just Hillary's 'I'm melting, I'm melting' mantra.
Do you think a Dem can get elected if the blacks in this country boycott the general?
No. And that's what will happen if O is screwed.
This is just Hillary's 'I'm melting, I'm melting' mantra.