Hillary Hits The Wall and Spin Masters Attack!

Hillary Hits The Wall…A Very Bad Decision!

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton will take the Democratic nomination even if she does not win the popular vote, but persuades enough superdelegates to vote for her at the convention, her campaign advisers say.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Endorse Obama

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com

http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2008/02/impeach-bush-and-cheney-and-happy.html

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/02/clinton_counts.html

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

The New York senator, who lost three primaries Tuesday night, now lags slightly behind her rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, in the delegate count. She is even further behind in "pledged'' delegates, those assigned by virtue of primaries and caucuses.

But Clinton will not concede the race to Obama if he wins a greater number of pledged delegates by the end of the primary season, and will count on the 796 elected officials and party bigwigs to put her over the top, if necessary, said Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson.

Obama Camp Says Clinton Nomination "Highly Unlikely"

McClatchy reports Sen. Barack Obama "began campaigning as the front-runner" yesterday following his big wins on Tuesday, and his campaign manager, David Plouffe said it is "highly unlikely" that Hillary Clinton can win enough votes in the remaining states to win the nomination. Plouffe said Clinton would "have to win Ohio, Texas and virtually all other remaining primaries by roughly 2-to-1 margins over Obama. 'We see no evidence that that's going to happen,' he said." The Dallas Morning News adds that Plouffe told reporters yesterday, "Even the most creative math doesn't get" Clinton "back to even in terms of pledged delegates. ... We believed all along the pledged delegate leader would be the nominee of the party."

ABC News reported on its website that the Clinton campaign in response "argued Obama won't have the support of enough delegates and superdelegates to sew up the nomination before the party's August convention either." The Hill reports the Clinton campaign "said Wednesday that voters in Ohio and Texas next month will help the New York senator close the delegate gap." The Hill adds, "Clinton should be within 25 delegates of Obama after March 4, the date of primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, said Guy Cecil, the campaign's political director, in a conference call with reporters. Obama's campaign has said that it now leads Clinton by 136 delegates, though news organizations said Obama's lead is as small as 25 delegates. That margin, Cecil said, is less than 1 percent of the total number of delegates that will have been committed after March 4."

The New York Times reports that with "every delegate precious," Clinton's advisers "made it clear that they were prepared to take a number of potentially incendiary steps to build up Mrs. Clinton's count. Top among these, her aides said, is pressing for Democrats to seat the disputed delegations from Florida and Michigan, who held their primaries in January in defiance of a Democratic Party rules." Clinton's advisers "acknowledged that it would be difficult for her to catch up in the race for pledged delegates even if she succeeded in winning Ohio and Texas in three weeks and Pennsylvania in April."

The Los Angeles Times reports that Clinton "scurried to reassure anxious donors Wednesday," in a morning conference call, and "struck a more combative tone to ramp up pressure on" Obama. Meanwhile, "her supporters are watching the streak with mounting unease." The New York Times adds "the heart of Mrs. Clinton's current political challenge" is that "she and her team showered so much money, attention and other resources on Iowa, New Hampshire and some of the 22-state nominating contests on Feb. 5 that they have been caught flat-footed - or worse - in the critical contests that followed, her political advisers said." She "also made a strategic decision to skip several small states holding caucuses, states where Mr. Obama scored big victories, accumulating delegates and, possibly, momentum."

However, not all media see Clinton's cause as dire. Newsday reports, "Clinton's road ahead is a hard one, but insiders say there's still hope if Clinton regains her mojo with women and working-class whites; sweeps Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania; keeps a grip on her super delegates; contests a handful of small states and goes negative -- carefully -- on Obama."

Now Let Us See How This Plays Out.

I have already shared with you my concern about this entire matter: Florida, Michigan, Superdelegates and the expectations of the American Public. Let me repeat that: The expectations of the American public!

For all you political junkies, political activists and candidate advocates reading this, put yourself in the minority category of the “jaded” thick skin experienced corrosion-proofed among the readership. The rest of you fall into a moral normal class of Americans, “the bewildered” looking for hope change and a way out of the Bush wilderness.

Now I don’t want you folks going and shocked by me, but I’m about to do a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing right in front of your eyes. I’m going to morph from Impeachment Blogger into the “Precinct Master”, cut throat political operative.

Now it is true that both Obama and Hillary have been sniffing around the superdelegate matter like a couple of dogs sniffing each other and there have been some almost coherent mumblings about Florida and Michigan that make sense to the “jaded” but remains muddy for about everyone else who doesn’t consume every political morsel they can get their hands on, I warned you that sooner or later someone would make an oblique attack of the superdelegate front. Hillary has done that. I’m not going to say that Barack wouldn’t have done that under any circumstance, but the fact is that Hillary made the move! After both candidates were seen fingering and contemplating the Chess pieces, a move has been made.

Now, this political operative does not give a damn about who made the first move other than the fact that the action casts Hillary as the aggressor in declaration of Civil War with the Democratic Party.

See; I’ve already started the attack…” aggressor” and “civil war”. That’s the first “word frame “, both decidedly negative.

Hillary by virtue of her precipitous, ill advised action becomes vulnerable to all manner of attacks.

So let’s say someone threw some good money on the table and said Ed., prepare the script for attacking her on this issue, this move. So mercenary Ed. Arms himself with all his political consultant notebooks just to make sure he doesn’t leave anything out for your consideration. There are a lot of the notebooks collected over the years, full of clippings, notes and plans and schemes, doubling dealing plots and campaign surprises….regular political pornography. Yep, that’s what political consultants are when they are simply hired guns…political whores whose only concern is winning, willing to take risks, get fired if caught knowing full well there is another job down the road.

At our worse; we are as bad as any candidate or any lobbyist when working on soil devoid of any shred of principle. Have you detected even one positive word or sentiment thus far?

What do we do with a vulnerable aggressor? The popular words or techniques in the consultant’s backroom are: demonize, discredit, dismiss, denigrate and destroy. And it only takes a few words in today’s sound bite world to execute any of the attach strategies.

The negative attack must be dismissive, belittling almost as if one is surprised at the poor judgment involved in the act; attack the act not the person to avoid a backfire. Create doubt and distrust. A picture of ego greed and unwillingness to accept the vote of the people.

The concept for attack ads/discourse by way of implication, insinuation and accusation : The key words/phrases…..Can Operate off the Question Do you want? Or can you believe that...?

Greed, Ego, Dumb, Stupid, Bonehead, Arrogant, Disaster, Divisive, Desperate, Desperation, Willful, Party Civil War, Confrontational, Confrontation In Denver invites protest rioting like Chicago “68”, Arrogant, Exclusive, Precipitous, Presumptuous, Unnecessary, Old School Politics, Distain for new voters, Same Old Politics as usual, return to smoke filled rooms, wheeling and dealing, Me-Me-Me, Victory at all cost, Politics of personality not party, Party doesn’t matter, User, Abuser, Hypocrite, Consultants Cabal, Misguided Managers, Bad as Bush, Clintons Don’t Respect The Rules, Rules are For Other People, Throwing Dean under the Bus, Party Double Cross, This is an Insiders Game Only, Change is just a word like Universal Health Care, Unbelievable, Absurd, What was she thinking, They are out of their minds, this really smells, She wants a crown, She’ll take the party down with her, If she can’t have The Presidency neither can Obama, McCain’s best friend, The substance is Hillary not the people, The Politics of Polarization, Delegate Intimidation and harassment, Let’s make a deal, What do you want to hear, The Hell with Howard…off with his head; I want someone else instead, I’ll show Kennedy, Kerry will never be elected is Massachusetts again, I’ll show them I can play like a man, And I'll stop with the ugly stuff now. Just watch for it!

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1339294820080214

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/ohio/ohio_democratic_presidential_primary

Hillary Clinton has blown an almost sure shot at the Democratic presidential nomination. Having surrendered the lead to Obama, she is not likely ever to regain it. It is a fantasy that the Ohio and Texas primaries will be a “firewall” to contain the flames of enthusiasm for Obama and reverse her defeats of February. Just as with Giuliani’s supposed Florida firewall, Hillary’s will crumble as Obama’s momentum carries him forward to the nomination.

Before Hillary lost her first primary or caucus, she lost the dialogue with the Obama campaign vis-à-vis the totally misguided decision to focus her message on experience, surrendering the ground of change to her opponent.

The more she tried to emphasize Obama’s inexperience, the more she seemed to fence herself into the status quo. That it was the status quo ante of the Clinton years, not the status quo of the Bush administration, made less and less difference as the campaign progressed.

She ran on a message perfect for a Republican primary — experience — and abandoned the key to winning a Democratic primary — the message of change — to Obama.

Her decision to rely on special interest political action committee and lobbyist contributions and to seed her war chest with the checks of maxed-out donors gave substance to Obama’s contrast of the status quo vs. change. With her chief strategist a lobbyist and her top campaign team all in the business, she was awash in associations that crippled her ability to fight for change.

Obama became the attraction in the race while Hillary recited her laundry list of proposals with a deadening monotony.

She could have waged a grassroots, small-donor, Internet campaign of change based on being the first woman running for president with a serious chance of victory. The charisma could have been hers, the excitement hers and the novelty hers. But by embracing experience and pretending to be safe and tested, she deadened the excitement her candidacy could have generated.

She got a reprieve by winning in New York/New Jersey and in California/ Arizona largely on the strength of Latino and immigrant voters. Their concentration in five key states (75 percent live in California, New York, Illinois, Florida and Texas) gave her a draw on Super Tuesday. But too many of her votes come from Hispanics who fear blacks and from older whites who harbor residual racial feelings. Her and Bill’s heavy-handed attempts to polarize the election racially died on Super Tuesday in an avalanche of votes from white states like Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota and the like.

As the election turned from Super Tuesday to the heartland, where there are few Hispanics or new immigrants, Hillary’s campaign has lost its momentum and its prospects of victory. Obama’s victories in Maine, Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state, and his probable wins in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, show how complete is his mastery of states without immigrants blinded by the Clinton name to sustain it. Hillary’s hopes for victory in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina are a fantasy. The Latino population in those states is well below 10 percent and not enough to carry her to victory.

The super-delegates will not be enough to reverse Obama’s primary and caucus victories and they will run for cover and join the Obama bandwagon anyway.

Besides losing the rhetorical battle, Hillary will have nowhere near the money that Obama will have. Her preparations for a short war based on maxed-out donors and old politics were disastrously shortsighted, while Obama wisely cultivated online contributors who can regenerate with the click of a mouse.

When Barack Obama beat Al Gore to the punch and jumped into the presidential race while the former vice president was still deciding what to do, it seemed that Hillary had virtually wrapped up the nomination. While Gore could have beaten Mrs. Clinton, it seemed unlikely that a senator with two years’ service under his belt could do so.

But the mistakes and strategic errors of the Clinton campaign gave Obama an opening that he exploited masterfully. It is Obama’s charisma that is winning this election, but it was Clinton’s mistakes that opened the door.

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Those delegates -- mostly elected officials and select party leaders -- are not bound by the results of primaries and caucuses. And because neither Clinton ...More Much More!

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Al Gore Working With Democrats Towards Peaceful "Resolution"
By Matt(Matt)
Among those taking part in talks with Al Gore include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, John Edwards, and Senators, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd. None of these individuals have endorsed either Clinton or Obama, however Nancy Pelosi made comments ...

Former Vice President, and recent Nobel Prize winning author Al Gore is standing fast in his pledge to remain neutral in his support of Democrat Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Instead Gore is using his clout to keep the channels open regarding a possible "resolution" to what many ranking Democrats fear could become a bitterly divided party. Party officials report that Gore, along with a handful of ranking Democrats held private conversations as the worry increases among party members of what this his historic primary may lead to:

Among those taking part in talks with Al Gore include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, John Edwards, and Senators, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd. None of these individuals have endorsed either Clinton or Obama, however Nancy Pelosi made comments on Friday afternoon that were widely seen as supportive of Mr. Obama when it came to the process the party should use to make its choice of candidate.

While Pelosi holds a lot of sway within the Democratic ranks, no other figure has been as closely monitored in their actions as Al Gore. Who amongst other attempts at persuasion has been lobbied incredibly hard by both the Obama and Clinton camps. With neither camp finding much success, there are other narratives to Gore's involvement. They include Gore's close allies complaints that in 2000 then President Bill Clinton, focused more on getting Hillary's senate race, then he did on the presidential election which ultimately Gore had stolen from him. While many in the media point to this and a couple other minor bumps in the road with the Clinton family, Kalee Kreider, communications director for Mr. Gore, said that he “has no present plans to endorse a candidate,” though she added, “He has not ruled out that possibility prior to the convention.” Ms. Kreider declined to discuss and further about the private conversations Gore was engaging in with fellow Democratic leaders.

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CBS News - New York,NY,USA
In the Democratic primary contest, delegates are king – and super delegates, well, they’re like kings of kings or whatever. The contest between Barack Obama .

Young superdelegates stay cool toward Obama
Politico - Washington,DC,USA
According to a Politico analysis, just six of the 19 youngest superdelegates favor Obama. Sen. Hillary Clinton has support from four of these superdelegates ...MORE

Impeachment protestors give democrats an earful
Milwaukee based group say Clinton and Obama can still hold Bush administration accountable…MORE

So the War Isn't Gonna Be an Issue, eh? (A Must Read)
By Gregg Gordon, OpEdNews. Lately I've been reading that because of St. Petraeus' wonderfully working surge in Iraq and the resulting drop in US casualties, the war is officially no longer an issue in the 2008 elections.