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Hillary Wants to Flip Pledged Delegates?

March 25, 2008 10:25 AM

In Monday's ed board meeting with the Philadelphia Daily News, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was asked about the basic math obstructing her path to the nomination.

Specifically, she was asked her plans if, come June, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., remains in the lead with pledged delegates, how she would try to convince superdelegates to give her the nomination if Obama does end up the choice of primary voters and caucus goers?

"I just don't think this is over yet," she said, "and I don't think that it is smart for us to take a position that might disadvantage us in November. And also remember that pledged delegates in most states are not pledged. You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They're just like superdelegates."

Say what?

This notion that the Clinton campaign will try to flip pledged delegates has been floated and knocked down before, but I'm failing to arrive at any other interpretation for what she means here other than: we will convince pledged delegates to vote for us, as is perfectly within Democratic party rules, despite the voters who elected them to support Obama.

The Clinton campaign was just asked about this in a conference call.

Clinton senior adviser Harold Ickes said, "No delegate is required by party rule to vote for the candidate for which they're pledged. Obviously circumstances can change and people's minds can change about the viability of a candidate."

Clinton campaign deputy communications director Phil Singer then added: "We are not seeking or asking pledged delegates for Sen. Obama to flip over . . . We are not engaged in any efforts (to flip Obama delegates)."

Is the Clinton campaign's continual reminder to voters (and delegates) that they're allowed to flip not an effort?

It all seems to feed into some negative memes for Sen. Clinton out there -- fairly or unfairly -- of ruthlessness, at the very least.

- jpt

March 25, 2008 in Weblogs | Permalink | Share | User Comments (351)

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Too bad all you Democrats are fighting among each other. When the Democrats elect Hilliary as their candiadate no matter what Obama has....McCain Wins.

Keep fighting. And you all want to run the US.

Posted by: Mike | Mar 25, 2008 3:37:19 PM

Obama is the new Britney it seems lol

Posted by: Sarina | Mar 25, 2008 3:32:54 PM

I agree drop the race issue. It's nothing new to society. The world need a CHANGE... something new and refreshing. We all need to come together and rebuild the United States of America.

YES WE CAN....Obama 08

Posted by: Grace | Mar 25, 2008 3:32:48 PM

It was two months ago that I stood in line, waiting to cast my primary vote in the Republican primary. My state, you see, decided to move its primary past the date the Democratic National Committee set as the earliest a state could be allowed to hold its vote, barring cases such as Iowa and New Hampshire. As a first time voter, I was well aware of this, and knew that my vote, should it be for the Democrats, would play a minimal role in the entire election process, serving only to be a gauge of where Florida voters stood, lacking the campaigning received by the other states.

And so I cast my Republican vote, under the impression that, at the very least, my vote would help determine who was nominated as the Republican candidate; after all, at least some of Florida's delegates would be seated with the Republicans.

Now, however, I am told of a do-over for the Democratic primary, one which will count and allow Florida's delegates to be seated at the convention. Yet, if the primary is redone, I will not be allowed to take part in it, for I chose to cast a vote in one of the primaries that mattered. Nor, if the Democratic primary results from Florida are accepted, I will have not cast a vote where I truly desired to, for I, as well as twenty-six million other voters, were told that my Democratic vote would be meaningless.

If the delegates from Florida and Michigan are seated, I want my vote back, so that I can vote for who I truly wish to.

Posted by: Lloyd | Mar 25, 2008 3:32:01 PM

DAMN so much controversy Around Obama...I smell trouble

Posted by: sanie | Mar 25, 2008 3:31:28 PM

Obama is an American Hater! Look At his SPIRITUAL ADVISOR DAMNing America! the prophecies were right..the Anti-Christ was gonna speak and seemingly unite others.. but the truth is uncovered OBAMA IS THE DEVIL!!!!

Posted by: Miss Jackie | Mar 25, 2008 3:30:08 PM

Wowzer, It's sad how clueless and ignorant most Americans are. Clearly, they need to go back to high school and take a Civics 101 class and learn about how our presidents are elected. It's not a matter of popular vote, it's a matter of the "electoral college," who determines who our president will be. Despite long standing calls to do away with the electoral college, it will not happen. Both parties are too invested in the process to allow it to end, it's the reason why they model the primary election with a similar process which uses "super delegates." The current system we use works. People may not like it when their candidate is not elected, but our system works better than any other.

Posted by: Steve | Mar 25, 2008 3:29:29 PM

DIdn't realize how much Hillary Clinton hated Democracy until she campaigned for President. Now she's acting more like Slick Hillary with all her mischaracterizations and lies about her experience. Let's not forget she endorsed Bush's War even though better experts on foreign policy such as former National Security Advisor to the HW Bush administration Lt. Col. Brent Scowcroft and long-time personal friend of HW Bush wrote in 2002 against invading Iraq and that it would detract from the War on Terror efforts.

George F. Kennan, architect of the successful Soviet Union containment policy spoke against invading Iraq as well.

But what did Hillary do? Trusted the inexperienced and biased foreign policy advisors from the Bush administration. No, I have no interest in voting for Hillary and if she wins the nomination, I'm voting for Ralph Nader.

Posted by: JL | Mar 25, 2008 3:29:04 PM

I was just thinking, I am not sure if the Republicans think they are actually more likely to win against Hillary, they just know that they will get a lot of support from the Christian right if she is the candidate. At the end of the day the parties don't really care who has the most representatives, senators or president, what they care about is campaign contributions. A fired up conservative base will send in checks and vote for McCain or anyone else they are asked to vote for by their pastor.

I believe that the conservative news has been extrememly successful in elevating the emotional rantings of Obama's pastor, into an issue that will help determine our next president. The conservatives have been much better than the liberals at manipulating mews stories for decades now, even to the extent that they still have many Americans convinced that the news is biased twords liberals.

Everyone in politics has some skeletons in their closit. It's the nature of politics that you make deals with the devil to get ahead. What we as voters have to determine is what a particular candidate for president is actually going to do as president. I believe that McCain has made it clear he intends to stick it out in Iraq (a very bad idea in my opinion), he is likely to show the signs of his age, perhaps even die in office, so we better pay attention to his vice presidential selection. Hillary is as much of a political insider as there can be. She will do things the way they have always been done in Washington, but I believe she has good intentions. Obama appears to be the only candidate we have had in decades who actually may try to make some changes in how things get done. I don't think the powers that be in Washington will allow him to make many substantial changes, but he will try. I don't believe for an instant that Obama is going to make any deals with terrorists, or have muslims take over America. I don't believe for an instant that Obama will favor blacks over whites in his policies. I do believe that Obama will help Ameirca rebuild it's reputation around the world, but then again anyone will be so much better than Bush.

Posted by: captbilly | Mar 25, 2008 3:27:41 PM

I am gay I know what is like to be discriminated OBAMA..I don't need to be BLACK to know what it feels like...

Posted by: Jason | Mar 25, 2008 3:23:33 PM

Obama, racist? He's half white. Ever consider that?

Futhermore, intelligent people have the facts before they make statements that make them look stupid. Try listening to Wright's full sermon. Even the most radical of you can agree with a few of his points.

Posted by: Tina | Mar 25, 2008 3:23:32 PM

"Obama and his pastor need to leave America if they hate so much our loving countru...GOD BLESS AMERICA D"

Good grief...

I say, that if everyone with an IQ of less than 80 would leave America, several post (like the above) would vanish, FOX news would go bankrupt from lack of viewers, and we could get on with the election by looking at the facts, not the "spin emotions" that seem to be so easy to use on people.

Posted by: neveragain | Mar 25, 2008 3:23:27 PM

Hey, Reverend Wright was a Marine! That makes him more patriotic and of more moral character than either of the Clintons. He did not lie about dodging sniper fire.

Posted by: mark | Mar 25, 2008 3:21:41 PM

i love our country just as much as you. i just think we need to step back and pick a new direction for a country. one that doesn't include killing 4000 of our own citizens for a pointless war that is only destablizing the middle east further and definitely not protecting our country read the news. there's rioting in iraq and al qaeda is strong as ever.

Posted by: Drew Clark | Mar 25, 2008 3:21:19 PM

I agree with that comment about Obama saying us "non-blacks" don't have a clue...HOW DARE YOU OBAMA...

Posted by: maid | Mar 25, 2008 3:20:24 PM

Wowzer, It's sad how clueless and ignorant most Americans are. Clearly, they need to go back to high school and take a Civics 101 class and learn about how our presidents are elected. It's not a matter of popular vote, it's a matter of the "electoral college," who determines who our president will be. Despite long standing calls to do away with the electoral college, it will not happen. Both parties are too invested in the process to allow it to end, it's the reason why they model the primary election with a similar process which uses "super delegates." The current system we use works. People may not like it when their candidate is not elected, but our system works better than any other.

Posted by: Steve | Mar 25, 2008 3:19:44 PM

UM he didn't say his pastor was wrong..he said "you non-black people don't know the black reality..what is like to be Black" if that's not double-standard racism then I don't what to tell you

Posted by: 1wq | Mar 25, 2008 3:19:07 PM

UM he didn't say his pastor was wrong..he said "you non-black people don't know the black reality..what is like to be Black" if that's not double-standard racism then I don't what to tell you

Posted by: 1wq | Mar 25, 2008 3:18:56 PM

Does anyone remember Hillary's response when the media were asking her to take action to release her first lady records? She said that there are rules and a system they follow.

This is the opposite of what she is saying in regard to Florida and Michigan. She was perfectly fine with those states not counting BEFORE SHE FELL SO FAR BEHIND IN THE RACE. Now she is suddenly concerned about "disenfranchising" the voters in those states. The fact is that those states need to identify who was responsible for knowingly violating the rules of the DNC and with full awareness of the consequences to the voters. Those individuals need to be reprimanded.

Obama has followed the DNC rules from the start. Hillary now wants to change them because she cant win due to how far behind she has fallen.
Obama needs to do whatever he can to win, while following the rules. I would expect nothing less from a great leader.

Hillary's only hope at this point is that she (and her cohortes) can convince the superdelegates to overturn the choice of the voters based on the system that is currently in place. She knows full well that this would destroy the Democratic Party and cause massive disengagement of future voters.

It takes an awfly self-centered person to do what Hillary is trying to do.

Posted by: Mike Denhof | Mar 25, 2008 3:18:31 PM

oh god the reverend's anti-americans are here...god help us from these terrorist!

Posted by: Jess | Mar 25, 2008 3:17:29 PM

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