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Clinton Strategists to Media: We're Not Walking Off The Court
May 09, 2008 10:27 AM
ABC News' David Chalian Reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton's two top strategists attended a breakfast with political reporters in Washington this morning to make the case for her continued candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"We are not oblivious to the environment in which we are operating," said strategist Geoff Garin.
He went on to compare the contest to a tennis match -- of course, a best of five set men's tennis match.
"If someone was down a few games in the third set, I think you would be disappointed if the person walked off the court," Garin said.
"And sometimes even when people are down two sets to love and down a couple of games in the third set, they end up winning by the fifth set," he added.
Communications Director Howard Wolfson and Garin made a two-fold electability argument they hope the remaining uncommitted superdelegates will find compelling enough for Sen. Clinton to win their support and upend the nomination race.
The campaign looked at all the most recent general election match-up polls in the 50 states and claimed Clinton leads Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., by 42 electoral votes compared to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., trailing McCain by 8 electoral votes.
They also cited Florida, Ohio, and Missouri as the key differences that tipped the map to Sen. Clinton's favor.
The other argument put forth by the struggling Clinton campaign Friday was an attempt to paint her as the stronger candidate for critical down ballot races.
They offered a power point presentation looking at 20 competitive House districts currently held by freshmen Democrats that also went for President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
Of those 20 districts, Clinton has defeated Obama in 16 of them during the course of the nomination battle and Obama has been victorious in four of them.
Eleven of those 20 members have yet to endorse in the Democratic presidential race. Five have endorsed Clinton - including two this week - and four have endorsed Obama.
May 9, 2008 in Bush, George W., Kucinich, Dennis | Permalink | User Comments (166)
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The Supers need to do their jobs, this is why they are hired. Get a back bone and stand up for who you think will be our next president. End this crap.
Posted by: Becky | May 9, 2008 10:49:53 AM
Maybe she can try begging Justice Scalia for a recount using her new math.
I'd say the odds are 5 to 4 that he'd be open to this suggestion.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | May 9, 2008 10:53:11 AM
Rob: What kind of silly state is that? Men have been president's in this country since time. Yes, there are people that won't vote for a candidate who is part black and white but this is their choice to make. Race will always be a part of this country and there is no one who can change it. Not even Obama can. He quotes RFK's words of hope and change but that is just to get elected. The only change he knows is the change in his pocket. No, I would not vote for him. And neither are members of my family or my friends. He is too arrogant and too sure of himself. No experience in legislature, politics and no capabilities to run this country. Now that NC had a tornado let Obama go over there and give them help since they voted for him.
Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | May 9, 2008 11:13:53 AM
Its unfortunate that everyone percieves Clinton as a monster and wil not listen to her argument. Its a good one and she has a point.What has brought Obama over teh top in the primaries is not what will allow him to survive the general election. The AA vote has worked for him in the primaries beacause they make up such a large percentage of the Democratic party, in the general election this will not help put him over the top, AA's are only 12% of teh general population. To ASSUME that it will be a cakewalk for Obama is crazy, he has lost the support of white americans and his associations make him appear to be far left. McCain is considered too liberal to be a republican - yet he won anyway. Come general election time, people will seek middle ground, and that appears to be McCain.
Posted by: AL | May 9, 2008 11:15:38 AM
Its unfortunate that everyone percieves Clinton as a monster and wil not listen to her argument. Its a good one and she has a point.What has brought Obama over teh top in the primaries is not what will allow him to survive the general election. The AA vote has worked for him in the primaries beacause they make up such a large percentage of the Democratic party, in the general election this will not help put him over the top, AA's are only 12% of teh general population. To ASSUME that it will be a cakewalk for Obama is crazy, he has lost the support of white americans and his associations make him appear to be far left. McCain is considered too liberal to be a republican - yet he won anyway. Come general election time, people will seek middle ground, and that appears to be McCain.
Posted by: AL | May 9, 2008 11:15:44 AM
What if Clinton drops out now but goes on to defeat Obama in Kentucky and West Virginia? Why will we have to believe the Media on their black propaganda against Clinton. They have been at it since the start. But Hillary has been always proven them wrong! GO HILLARY!
Posted by: merryweather | May 9, 2008 11:21:13 AM
Why should she quit? Panetta and some supers have switched to Obam because they want party unity. This is muddy thinking If the supers start switching to Obama before we see how Obama plays out down the line then we will really have party defections. North Carolina means nothing. Indiana Hillary won. Obama has not done well lately after more was known about his judgemaents. If he loses big from now on then how that be ignored. You know the party has the right to bring in Florida and Michigan and to let the supers look at that. In the early primaries Obama had almost no negatives and now he has lots.
Posted by: bruce | May 9, 2008 11:22:11 AM
geevill: You are right. He would like he to be VP because for sure the democrats would win but the way the situation is now if he should win the general election, I believe no matter what Hillary says, her voters are going to vote McCain and give him the win. Even the battleground states. Let him go back to the senate where he belongs. And let's hope he doesn't get elected again. He has been nothing but trouble since he campaigned for president. The democrats were never in a mess like this until he announced his run for the presidency. He was the first one to pounce on Hillary and didn't expect to get a pounce back. Obama has the public fooled by quoting the speeches of RFK whose book of speeches he read. He is very arrogant, a liar and a fake. Its most of this generation's college students that are probably on drugs and booze like he used to take and plenty of it. No candidate that ever ran for the office of president had a reputation that and that's why he won in NC and almost in IND. The college's. Those students don't care if he had a long prison record and neither do the blacks. The should shake hands with each other.
Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | May 9, 2008 11:24:06 AM
AL: It is not unfortunate that everyone perceives Clinton as a monster, she earned that title the hard way. She brought it all on herself.
Posted by: Joeforsure | May 9, 2008 11:24:09 AM
I just find it curious that Ms Clinton would send a letter to Mr Obama stating that the voters in Florida and Michigan should not be disenfranchised and their votes should count, but at the same time try to convince the Superdelegates to ignore all those who voted for Mr. Obama and place her in the nominee position. If that is fair then why go through the charade and expense of having a primary season? Should they just not pick a nominee in January, save time and money and all gather around that person? I was one who loved Hillary, especially when I thought it would be her against Giuliani. I voted for her against Rick Lazio in 2000. But since the primaries she has shown a side that I am uncomfortable with. She would have probably made a good president but I believe she has lost a lot of prestige in the past few months. I do wish her well though!
Posted by: Stanley | May 9, 2008 11:31:55 AM
Well hillary,
If you have moved the goal posts (or basket for this "one of many" analogy) out to the parking lot, you have no choice but to walk off the court
Posted by: Omentum | May 9, 2008 11:36:37 AM
It is just amazing to me that DEMOCRATS are threatening to vote for McCain if Hillary is not the candidate. She ran the race, threw every single dirty trick she could at Obama -- including lying about shooting and drinking and being "blue collar". Can't everyone see this for the lie that it is? She and Bill made 100 MILLION dollars in the past couple years. Blue collar my ass. The Clintons tried everything they had, and they lost and they have lost dignity and respect and Obama is still poised, intelligent, and a very worthy opponent. I wanted Hillary to win very badly at the beginning of this race. Right up until the day that Bill C. played the race card and a lightning bolt struck me. EIGHT more years of Clinton lies? It just is not good for this country. It is time for Democrats to look at the big picture. McCain is not a maverick, he is a right-wing Republican, who will (as he has said) take away our right of choice, make the Supreme Court even less honorable than it is now, and keep our troops in Iraq for 100 more years. Thank you, Barack for tolerating all this crap, and maintaining your dignity. THAT is why I am voting for OBAMA in 08.
Posted by: jj | May 9, 2008 11:36:52 AM
Stay in Hillary. The Mr. feel good candidate will take a beating in the GE.
He's unelectable and the DNC knows it, although they are too afraid to stand up and admit it. They would rather lose the election.
Posted by: Mack | May 9, 2008 11:36:59 AM
Stay in Hillary!
There are six more primaries to go and Florida and Michigan must be counted to reflect the will of the voters OR we have to have a re vote in July.
IF not--the nominee is not valid.
The Party will be Split.
And expect a Million Hillary March to descend on the Convention in Denver if it seems that the Party Crowned Obama without FL and MI being fully included.
Posted by: Evelyn | May 9, 2008 11:39:58 AM
mariann - xlent post. Send all the children of immgrants back to their parent's country of birth. Priceless.
Now here something 4 u. It's from the ecomonist. Enjoy.
"In cartoons there is often a moment when a hapless character, having galloped over a cliff, is still unaware of the fact and hangs suspended in the air, legs pumping wildly, until realisation dawns, gravity intervenes and downfall ensues. Hillary Clinton's campaign looks a bit like that this week. After her heavy loss in North Carolina and her barely perceptible victory in Indiana, a state she needed to carry triumphantly, Mrs Clinton's campaign is surely close to its end."
But then again people who believe in Gravity are probably ELITISTS anyway, ain't they babe.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | May 9, 2008 11:40:47 AM
Obama, the done nothing slacker candidate. He has the full support of the slacker community. 2nd week in office, he'll probably be vacationing in St. Thomas.
Posted by: Mack | May 9, 2008 11:46:24 AM
I agree with you Mack. Hillary should stay and fight to the end. Just look at the States Obama wins, we know for sure that most of them will go to Republican in November anyway. Obamites are afraid to accept a real result!
One more thing, Obama can not beat McCain without support from Hillary fans!As we can see that a lot of us will not vote for Obama...at all costs!
Posted by: AsianAmerican, TX | May 9, 2008 11:46:43 AM
The feeling that I get when I hear someone say "We Hillary supporters will stay home or vote McCain if Obama wins" is that How dare Mr. Obama follow the rules set by the DNC? and how dare he play the cards that were dealt him? And how dare he win the popular vote? And how dare he have more delegates? And how dare he run a successful campaign and expect to win? How dare he expect us to support someone who did it the way it was set up to do?
Doesn't that seem extreme to suggest that there is only one person who has the right to expect loyalty when both are representing the party we all claim loyalty to?
Posted by: Stanley | May 9, 2008 11:48:56 AM
Abe
Yes it is time to unite. The Fat Lady has sung.
Obama has more SupaDs that Hillary now. And the trend is rising.
Posted by: The Commander Guy | May 9, 2008 11:50:14 AM
The expert political pundits say that once the nominee has been decided, empirical data shows that most voters will fall in line. They believe that Hillary supporters are bluffing. Well, call our bluff then.
Posted by: Mack | May 9, 2008 11:52:44 AM
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