clinton campaign

Clinton Campaign Planning On Losing Pledged Delegates

(updated and bumped)

Howard Fineman on MSNBC just said that he heard that from top officials in the Clinton campaign. Their goal is now to end up maybe 25-30 pledged delegates behind Obama, after the primary season has ended, and win the super delegates over. Fineman also said that is a pipe dream to come that close. Of course if the super delegates go against the will of the people then the Democratic party can look for an uproar.

Another interesting point. Every party official and pundit out there agrees that going to a brokered convention while the RNC has their nominee out there is suicide. So is Hillary willing to bring down the chances of a Democratic White House this year? It sure sounds like it.

UPDATE:

Here is the video of Fineman on MSNBC. I am going to crunch some numbers tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

A Quick Thought On The Shuster Mess

Earlier this week Clinton was calling on Obama to debate on FOX, despite FOX's past efforts to paint Obama as some sort of Muslim extremist. Now we have the Clinton campaign saying that they won't debate on MSNBC because of Shuster's comments.

So this kind of throws a monkey wrench into Clinton saying Obama should debate on FOX. How can she say he should go on there, after their past comments, when she can choose to not go on MSNBC due to their comments? Seems like a double standard coming out of the Clinton campaign to me - and I am one not backing either candidate (my guy is out, Edwards, so I am not picking between these two).

Shuster Suspended From MSNBC

It started when Shuster said the Clinton's were "pimpin" out Chelsea to help with the election, which Shuster apologized for this morning. Then a conference call this afternoon with the Clinton campaign resulted in the campaign saying they would not appear on anymore MSNBC debates. Now MSNBC has suspended Shuster from any broadcasts, except to air his apology.

Yes it was wrong for Shuster to say that, but he apologized twelve hours later. When Matthews made his comment it took over a week before he apologized, and then he was heavily defended by Shuster and others, including Joe Scarborough, and the blogs were the ones blamed. It sounds like MSNBC has some serious problems going on there.

I want to clarify that I am in no way supporting Shuster for his comments. I have never heard anyone say "Bush is pimpin out Jenna" or "Cheney is pimpin out Mary" in the past, so there is a serious problem here and MSNBC did a good thing addressing it so quickly. Having said that, the same level of conduct and discipline need to be carried out throughout the entire organization - including Matthews.

Some More Thoughts On The Race

First off I got a new delegate tracker in the side bar. It's based off of numbers from CNN. Going through everything, they seem to be the closest we will get to an accurate count.

The Clinton campaign has to be worried after yesterday. When you consider that she only won the popular vote by a small handful of votes, and the financial situation of the campaign, they are looking at an uphill struggle in the weeks to come. As matter of fact, the AP is reporting that the Clinton's could dip into their own wealth now:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign, lagging far behind Barack Obama's fundraising this year, expects to be outspent by Obama in upcoming Democratic nominating contests just as it was in Feb. 5 states, her strategists conceded Wednesday.

Officials with both campaigns have said Obama raised $32 million in January and that Clinton raised $13.5 million, a significant gap between the two that allowed Obama to place ads in virtually every Super Tuesday state and to get a head start on advertising in primaries and caucuses over the next week.

Needless to say this will probably be a necessity to keep going.

The biggest fear has to come from the Obama momentum. This has been going strong. Clinton was a clear front runner just last week, now not so much so. Obama is quickly catching up.

There has also been a lot of talk about super delegates today. Remember that these people are not committed to voting one way or another. If things continue to be this close after next month, I wouldn't be shocked to see the DNC start pushing some to vote for the pledged delegate leader. That would be the wise decision. If one candidate is the most popular by the people, the party would be better off backing that person instead of letting a bunch of insiders pick someone else.

More Wondering Why Carville Was On MTP

Yesterday I was wondering why James Carville was on Meet the Press as a pundit and not part of the Clinton campaign. Today the New York Times is wondering the same thing:

Both networks are careful about balance: there are equal numbers of
Republicans and Democrats. But they are careless about bias: the
experts are supposed to be impartial, but it is left to viewers to
parse their complicated pedigrees and entwined political obligations.
It’s not that they have nothing to say, it’s that what they say is not
accompanied by an asterisk.

Carville was suspended at CNN until after the primary because of his ties to the Clinton campaign. Also worth noting is that the rules for cable and fair time are not the same as they are for network broadcast. Meet the Press is not a cable show and has to follow a much stricter standard.

Why The Hell Is Carville On Russert?

They are presenting him as some regular pundit. Pretty bad when CNN suspended him as a pundit because of his ties to the Clinton campaign. Does Tim Russert not have any common sense - or is NBC trying to push the elections a little more?

Kennedy Slammed For "Betrayal"

Talk about absurd. The New York chapter of NOW has slammed Ted Kennedy for endorsing Barack Obama

"And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment!" the statement continues. "He’s picked the new guy over us. He’s joined the list of progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton."

I don't know what pushed Kennedy to back Obama, but I got a feeling this past weekend may have played something into it. I know a few people that were backing Clinton, but changed to Obama this weekend. Is it because they suddenly became sexists? No! It's because of the piss poor way in which the Clinton campaign has been operating.

I also need to highlight how sexist the NY chapter of NOW is acting in this statement. Did they bother to lay out an argument of why Clinton is better than Obama? No they didn't - instead they are saying that Kennedy should endorse Clinton simply because she is a woman. What an insult to Clinton and women everywhere.

Scarborough Is "Outraged" Over Matthews Having To Apologize

But who really cares? What I find the most interesting of the entire segment is how they keep saying Media Matters is now a front for the Clinton campaign.

Why Is Barack's Run Considered Historic...

And not Hillary's? All the pundits keep talking about Barack and his run being so historic, yet they aren't talking about the historic impact of the Clinton campaign? When did we have a female President in the past?

This is really something that has been eating at me. Neither one are my pick for President (mine is in 3rd), but I find the fact that they both are so successful in this election to be historic. Is the media following the way of Tweety and showing their sexist side again? I haven't heard any pundit say how historic it would be if a woman was elected President.

Also on the subject of Hillary, Karl Rove has an op-ed today about her victory. I must say I am shocked as it seems to be rather insightful and not echoing typical right wing talking points.

BREAKING: Report Of Hostages At Clinton Campaign Office

This is scary stuff and what our country has come to:

An armed man took people hostage Friday at a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire, police said.

The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 North Main St. in Rochester. Officials said that a man is holding people hostage at the office, but it is unclear how many people are being held.

There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reported at the scene.

UPDATE (2:15pm)

Hillary has canceled her speech this afternoon at the DNC due to this crisis.

UPDATE (2:25)

And the wingnuts start! A commenter on Hot Air (Malkin's other blog) thinks it is a campaign stunt. Here is a screen grab:

UPDATE (2:30)

And now on Malkin's blog, one commenter wants us to "pray this is real". Sick!

(more updates below the fold)

UPDATE (2:50)
Again on HotAir we get more of the wingnut foolery: