Posts with the tag 'Democratic Convention'
Amie Parnes and Ben Smith put a bright face on what may end up quite a catastrophe for Obama, Hillary and the Democratic Party:
Rep. Loretta Sanchez says she’s happy for the chance to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Democratic National Convention — and she predicts that as many as half of the Democrats in the House could join her.
Just how many former Clinton supporters will vote for the former first lady during the symbolic first ballot is anybody’s guess, but each of them will be called upon to do so — whether they want to or not.
On Friday, the Obama campaign confirmed that the floor vote in Denver, intended to assuage Clinton supporters still stewing over her narrow loss, will be conducted as a state-by-state roll call…
…For Obama’s camp, the roll call is a ritual that will defuse any potential tension with Clinton or her supporters without affecting the outcome or the theater of Obama’s dramatic nomination.
Said Sanchez: “I believe there are a lot of supporters for Hillary among the superdelegates, especially now that they’ve agreed to place her name in nomination. I think half the House Democrats would probably be Hillary supporters, especially women. … I felt she was the most experienced and the best candidate and I still feel that way.”…
…“It’s a bizarre strategy,” said one Democratic strategist of the roll call. “It could backfire and show that her influence is waning. Chances are, she’s not going to have as many delegates vote for her on the floor as she had in the primary.”…
…“My boss is totally conflicted about it — and pissed Hillary is putting us in this position,” said a congressional staffer for another New York House member. “We still haven’t made up our mind and I don’t know when we are going to.”
Another New York delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, predicted that as much as 30 percent to 40 percent of the New York delegation would pick Clinton over Obama during the symbolic vote.
Obama’s decision to accept a roll call vote, which came after weeks of talks with the Clinton camp, doesn’t mean he’ll let the process get out of hand, observers say.
“The convention is about nominating Barack, so his people want to speed through the vote as fast as possible so it won’t take too much TV time,” said a Democratic delegate who plans to vote for Clinton. “They also want to avoid a scenario where she’s leading at any point.”(emphasis added)
I highlighted “symbolic” because I’d like to point out that its not symbolic at all - they are real votes being cast at a real convention. The last bit I highlighted shows the danger - the delegates can pretty much do what they want, especially the super delegates, and while the official word is that it’ll just run smoothly through the roll call, the fact of the matter is that no one knows for certain what will happen.
Don’t forget: Obama did not want this roll call. In fact, I’m extraordinarily surprised he allowed it and I can only explain it as a gigantic error on his part, or a subterranean current of pressure from super delegates growing increasingly doubtfull on Obama’s long term prospects. When you add together the disappointment a lot of Clintonites feel, Obama’s inability to generate any significant polling lead over McCain and Obama’s disasterous appearance at Saddleback, the ingredients are all there for the super delegates to come to the realisation that they’ve picked the wrong candidate. Also good to keep in mind that the Clintons never do anything other than actions they believe will advantage themselves - they didn’t set up this roll call in order to help Obama.
Tags: Democratic Convention, HillBama, Roll Call Vote
August 18th, 2008
Oh boy… I think it’s gonna be an ugly scene!
Democrats say Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name will be placed in nomination at the convention in Denver with a roll call for the vanquished rival of nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama.
The party will officially nominate Obama at the convention. But Democrats familiar with the discussions say the former rivals made a joint decision to place Clinton’s name in nomination and do a traditional role [sic] call of the state delegations.
Details and mechanics of how that will happen still are being worked out.
I’ll be sure to cook up some popcorn that night!
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Convention, Hillary Clinton
August 14th, 2008
The nightmare Obama doesn’t want:
A determined crowd of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s delegates - preparing to head to the Democratic Party’s national convention in Denver - have begun gathering signatures to ensure her name is placed into nomination, insisting their effort won’t take spotlight off presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama.
Many of those involved in the campaign, which they say is a matter of respect and acknowledgement of 18 million voters who backed Clinton, argue that the nomination of the New York senator is a matter of historic and political precedent at such party conventions. And they’re chafing at reports that the campaign of the Illinois senator is resisting the efforts - and even hoping to avoid a roll-call vote.
“Since 1884, we’ve had a roll-call vote. … It’s a nominating convention, not a coronation,” said Garry Mauro, the four-term Texas land commissioner and past gubernatorial candidate who ran against George W. Bush - and who will go to his 10th Democratic national convention this month as a Clinton delegate.
With less than two weeks until Aug. 25, when Democrats open their nominating convention in Denver, the sentiment is typical of many Clinton delegates who say the nomination of the New York senator from the floor of the convention doesn’t endanger Obama’s presidential campaign - and could serve his cause.
The problem, for Obama, is that it would (a) expose the divisions between his troops and Hillary’s, (b) take time away from a pro-Obama love-fest and (c) open up the real prospect that Obama will fail to garner a nominating majority on the first ballot. Remember, in actual pledged delegates, Obama is short of the number needed for a first ballot nomination…only when you add in his superdelegates is he over the top, and they can change their minds. If by some means Obama fails to garner that first ballot majority, then he’s probably out as the Democratic nominee - this doesn’t mean that Hillary would be in, but once done for Obama, he becomes political kryptonite; the messiah who couldn’t carry out his appointed task.
The fissures in the Democratic party are very real - the dividing line between between upper clase urban liberals and blue collar Democrats. Picture in your mind a delegate from San Francisco who works on some sort of city divsersity council and a delegate who works as a union electrician in Philadelphia: how much do these two people really have in common, other than - perhaps - a loathing of President Bush? Obama is already going to bleed a lot of blue collar support over to McCain (which he hopes, then, to make up by securing the votes of the more urban and socially liberal section of the GOP), but he’d like to limit his losses on this end with an eye towards retaining Michigan and Pennsylvania and having a shot at Ohio. Have a blue collar stampede to McCain and Obama might as well start writing his concession speech.
This makess for a tricky situation, and just as a political observer it will be interesting to see how Obama works it - he has to bow to Hillary’s supporters while keeping the spotlight on himself. It’ll be fun to watch.
Tags: Democratic Convention, HillBama
August 13th, 2008
Hard to believe, but there it is:
Sen. Hillary Clinton told a gathering of supporters last week that she’s looking for a “strategy” for her delegates to have their voices heard and “respected” at the Democratic National Convention — and did not rule out the possibility of having her name placed into nomination at the convention alongside Sen. Barack Obama’s.
“I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected. I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified,” Clinton, D-N.Y., said at a California fundraiser last Thursday, in a video clip captured by an attendee and posted on YouTube.
“Because I know from just what I’m hearing, that there’s incredible pent-up desire. And I think that people want to feel like, ‘OK, it’s a catharsis, we’re here, we did it, and then everybody get behind Sen. Obama.’ That is what most people believe is the best way to go,” she said.
“No decisions have been made. And so we are trying to work all this through with the DNC and with the Obama campaign.”
Ummmm…yeah….sure, Hill, whatever you say.
Meanwhile, back in the real world…
For a couple weeks now the old man has been rumbling ’round the house with words like “floor fight” just waiting to burst out. I’ve downplayed this because, well, the old man is 81 and getting on in years and, heck, why would Hillary do something like that? But now I’m not so sure - Obama is weakening by the day against McCain and now the House Democrats are starting to implode…and what was once a sure-thing now looks, at best, like a dicey proposition. The Democrats gather in Denver 18 days from now - and if between now and then there is more evidence that the Democrats nominated the wrong guy, then who knows what might happen?
Hillary certainly hasn’t given up her ambitions and if anyone out there thinks that Hillary believes Obama is the better candidate then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya. The mind harks back to the 1976 convention when Reagan spoke and the gathered GOPers at that moment realised that in nominating Ford, they had nominated the wrong man…might be that more and more Democrats are realising that placing your bets on a rookie with ultra-leftist and corruption skeletons in the closet could be the wrong way to go. Remember, Obama only has a first-ballot majority courtesy of those superdelegates, who can still switch, if they have a mind to.
Of course - more than likely this will blow over and that Obama will have a smooth running love fest in Denver…but it ain’t over till the fat-thighed lady sings, and she’s not entirely ready to get out on stage, it would seem.
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Convention, Hillary Clinton, John McCain
August 7th, 2008
Geesh - all hail the Great Guiding Light Barack Obama, our Leader and Teacher….’cause if you don’t, you’re out…
Wisconsin Democrats have ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican Sen. John McCain.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party’s administrative committee voted Friday to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention.
Bartoshevich was elected as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain.
Bartoshevich says she made the comments during an emotional time and she hasn’t made up her mind.
But the party says she violated rules requiring delegates to support its nominee.
Don’t try to convince her to support you, just force her out so that you can have complete unanimity, because we know how leftists hate deviationists and other Trotskyite wreckers. In our great task of defeating the forces of McCainite counter-revolution, there can be no room for those who are weak - to the wall with such traitors to the proletariat!
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Convention, John McCain
July 26th, 2008
Never heard of the guy or the website before this evening, but here’s a website encouraging Obama delegates to ditch him over his policy shifts since wrapping up the nomination:
Richard Nixon famously said: When you are seeking the nomination for president of the Republican Party, you run to the far right; once you’ve secured the nomination, you run to right of center during the election campaign; once you’ve won the presidency, you govern from the center.
Barack Obama has embraced The Nixon Strategy lock, stock and barrel, adapting its mirror-opposite to the Left. He suckered the hard-working base of the party — the Left-wing — into voting for him during the primaries by appealing to the issues dearest to their hearts. These are the very people responsible for getting him to where he is today! Yet once Obama felt he secured the nomination, he has tripped over himself running to the center (some would argue the center-right). Oh, Barack, we thought we knew ye!
How wrong we were.
But Obama made a mistake; he started his move rightwards before securing the nomination. And what he didn’t realize was that…
What the Left giveth, the Left can taketh away!
Question: For you leftwing supporters of Obama, is the desire to beat Bush via McCain worth putting someone as ambitious and dishonest as Obama into the White House?
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Convention, John McCain
July 7th, 2008
In 2004, protesters at the Democratic National Convention were put into a “free speech cage,” in order to keep them contained and away from delegates.
It looks like they’re planning similar infringements on free speech for their convention in Denver.
The fence around the public demonstration zone outside the Democratic National Convention will be chicken wire or chain link, authorities revealed in U.S. District Court today.
That may allow protestors to be seen and heard by delegates going in and out of the Pepsi Center during the convention.
But the American Civil Liberties Union and several advocacy groups have filed an amended complaint to their lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service and the city and county of Denver that says protestors and demonstrators may have their First Amendment rights violated by security restrictions.
The ACLU has said it wants to avoid the conditions that existed during the 2004 convention in Boston, where protesters were caged, infuriating First Amendment advocates.
The first phase of the lawsuit asked the court to compel the city and the Secret Service to disclose the information on protest restrictions.
What really gets me about this is that back in 2004, liberals accused the Bush campaign of kicking out protesters from campaign rallies, while all attempts by Democrats to limit the free speech of protesters who oppose them aren’t criticized at all.
Just goes to show you howl little the Democrats think about the Constitution.
Tags: anti-free-speech, Democratic Convention, Liberal hypocrisy
July 1st, 2008
Seems they are having trouble raising all the money they’d like:
Facing a $15 million budget shortfall, organizers of the Democratic National Convention are cutting events while hoping Barack Obama’s emergence as the likely presidential nominee will spur his vast army of donors to pony up.
The convention’s host committee was expected to report on its financial position late Monday in Denver. The committee is under contract to the Democratic National Committee to raise $40.6 million of an overall convention budget of about $70 million. Several people knowledgeable about the committee’s activities projected it would be about $15 million short of its goal.
The convention opens on Aug. 25, giving the committee just 10 weeks to come up with the money. Some faulted the slowing economy and the protracted Democratic primary as the two major reasons the city’s host committee has struggled to raise the cash.
“It’s a significant amount and a big concern,” acknowledged Rick Ridder, a Denver-based Democratic strategist who has helped the city’s convention efforts.
As recent as a week or two ago I was stating my certainty that Democrats would come up with the money - but now they are talking of cutting down the show, which means not only are they short, but they have fading hopes of making up the shortfall. Obama is still generating massive enthusiasm…among upper class whites and black Americans; could it be that these voters, enthused for Obama, don’t really care too much about the Democratic party, as an institution? Also, did Obama and Hillary just drain so much cash out of Democratic donors that they are having trouble pulling more money out of their pockets? Or is it that the varied divisions in the party, masked by Obama-mania, are resulting in a drop off in overall Democratic enthusiasm for November?
Time will tell, but it isn’t good news for the Democrats than in a year where the political stars have all aligned in their favor that they can’t raise enough money to cover their own convention.
Tags: Democratic Convention, fundraising
June 18th, 2008
NRO got a statement from the Clinton campaign about the delegate decisions…and it ended with this:
We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast.
A credentials fight at the convention. As noted earlier, there are efforts in the Obama camp to ease Hillary out, but I don’t thin she wants to be eased out. They are going to have to force her out, and the only way to do that is to have Obama secure a majority of delegates as if FL and MI were fully represented at the convention…in other words, I don’t see Hillary quitting even if Obama gets to 2025…he’ll have to go 100 above that, and I don’t think he’ll be able to do it, because as long as Hillary hasn’t conceded, there will be some superdelegates who will stick with her no matter what, and others too afraid to vote against her (they don’t know what Obama will do if they don’t help him out, but anyone in politics over the past 16 years knows the sorts of things Hillary WILL do to them if she’s crossed).
I don’t see this ending on Tuesday - certainly not before late June.
UPDATE: Hillary wins Puerto Rico by a convincing margin. Obama is still acting as if he won. Does this work to Obama’s advantage? I mean this treating Hillary as a negligible quantity and all this orchestrated talk about how Hillary has to back out? Does it make Obama seem strong, or does it make him seem disrespectful of a gallant opponent? Contemptuous of Hillary’s continuingly ardent supporters? The MSM is entirley on Obama’s side here (the linked AP story calls Hillary’s win today “largely symbolic”), but I wonder if Obama is getting into an echo-chamber much as Kerry did in 2004 and doesn’t understand that outside his ardent supporters, he’s a much diminished figure?
Tags: Democratic Convention, Florida, HillBama, Michigan, Superdelegates
June 1st, 2008
And not just ’cause HillBama can’t agree who will be the nominee:
The Democratic Party is struggling to raise money for its convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28, with fund-raising by the host committee falling far short of the party’s goals and lagging behind the Republicans’ efforts for their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
So far, the Denver host committee is about $15 million short of the $40.6 million it must raise by June 16. With only $25 million raised so far, the committee is scrambling to offer a new round of special deals for corporate underwriters, as well as to devise a backup plan should the fund-raising fall short and plans for the convention need to be scaled down.
My bet is that the HillBama campaigns are just sucking up all the Democratic money out there - which puts into question just how much they (and the auxiliary leftwing groups) will have for the fall campaign. I read somewhere recently that Hillary and Obama have raised (and mostly spent) half a billion dollars betweem themselves during this primary campaign. Naturally, Democrats will come up with sufficient funds to cover their convention, but a large question mark is starting to appear about Democratic finances.
Tags: Democratic Convention, fundraising, HillBama
May 29th, 2008
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