Tuesday’s campaign round-up

February 26, 2008

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Chris Dodd will endorse Barack Obama today at an event in Ohio. In an email to supporters Tuesday morning, Dodd wrote, “While both of our party’s remaining candidates are extremely talented and would make an excellent commander-in-chief, I am throwing my support to the candidate who I believe will open the most eyes to our shared Democratic vision…. I’m deeply proud to be the first 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to endorse Barack Obama. He is ready to be president. And I am ready to support him — to work with him and for him and help elect him our 44th president.”

* As firewall states go, Texas is looking a little shaky for Hillary Clinton. A new CNN poll in the state shows Obama leading her among Texas Dems, 50% to 46%, after Clinton led by a couple of points last week.

* Speaking of Texas, in light of the state’s complex primary/caucus hybrid system, Bill Clinton was already arguing yesterday that a Clinton defeat probably shouldn’t count: “The doors open at 7 and they close at 7:15,” the former president said. “It would be tragic if Hillary were to win this election in the daytime and somebody were to come in at night and take it away.”

* I find it a little hard to believe, but an LAT political blog noted yesterday that one of Mitt Romney’s sons said it’s “possible” Romney will re-enter the presidential campaign, as either the VP candidate, or as the party’s standard-bearer if John McCain falters.

* Get ready for the kitchen sink: “After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a ‘kitchen sink’ fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum.”

* Helping reinforce the CNN poll, SurveyUSA polled Dems in Texas and found similar results, with Obama leading by four points, 49% to 45%. Most notably, Clinton’s lead among Texas Democratic women has shrunk from a 27-point lead to an 11-point lead.

* Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory announced his support for Obama yesterday. Given that Mallory is also a superdelegate, the endorsement was a two-fer.

* Regrettably, Stanford’s Lawrence Lessig won’t be running for Congress after all. Consulting with a pollster this week, Lessig was told he had no credible shot at beating fellow Democrat Jackie Speier, a highly popular former state senator, in California’s 12th district.

* Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Clinton surrogate, told a national television audience that the controversial picture of Obama in Africa yesterday is acceptable because it showed him wearing the clothes “of his country.” Umm, congresswoman? Obama was born in the United States.

A. The Mitt-pire Returns: I bet the MittenManiacs are half-way through their bottles of lube.

B. Would also someone point out to Ms. Tubby Jones (with a nail-studded 2×4 if necessary) that:
1. Africa is not a country.
2. It is a huge continent that contains a few dozen countries with their own customs, languages, religions (just like Europe!)
3. Mr. Obama has Kenyan relatives, not to my knowledge, Somali.
4. She is an ignorant cow.

  • You get an endorsement from Dodd when you bother to show up and vote (the right way) for things he cares about, like prohibiting illegal corporate immunity. Something Hillary couldn’t be bothered to have an opinion on.

  • Re Tubbs-Jones: My admiration for her has slipped a few notches with her comments. As an African-American, she should know better. And aside from that, Obama’s father wasn’t from Somalia.

    Bill Clinton: “The doors open at 7 and they close at 7:15,” the former president said. “It would be tragic if Hillary were to win this election in the daytime and somebody were to come in at night and take it away.”

    What the heck does that mean? Working people who come in after 5 pm are going to “steal” votes from Hillary? The voting machines are rigged against his wife? Help, I’m confused.

  • Since Clinton is behind Obama in the number of delegates won, she needs to win BIG in Texas and Ohio to catch up. With Hillary’s leads in the polls shrinking or disappearing completely, it’s looking like the best that she could do is eke out a close win. With delegates awarded proportionately, that will be no better than a loss.

    It’s gonna be over soon.

  • This whole thing about Obama wearing traditional clothing from Africa is just the kind drivel that is sure to frighten “fear all turban-wearing brown people, for they are ALL terrorists” set. In other words…people who would never vote for Obama anyway.

    Besides, I recall Mr. Bush wearing traditional clothing on a trip to Asia. Guess that makes him a pinko-commie, right?

    I mean, come on, how unusual is it for someone visiting another country to show respect by donning their traditional clothing? This isn’t just stupid….it is STOOPID!

  • It just blows my mind that Clinton isn’t getting it that Dem voters DON’T WANT DIRTY CAMPAIGNS. I think Olbermann said last night that people think more highly of her when she isn’t bitching (and that’s what all this negativity towards Obama is, bitching. be it from goopers or Clinton). Whomever is leading her is doing a piss poor job of it. Her “handlers” are not handling things well.

    I used to love BC but of late, he’s more of an embarrassment and I have to say I do not hold him in the same esteem that I once did. What a loss for our country. It’s one decent elder statesman is going off the deep end.

  • It’s gonna be over soon. -OFM

    Oh, I wouldn’t say that yet. I’ve heard rumors that Clinton is about to unleash a scathing attack against Obama based on a drawing he did in preschool. Plus, she has a picture of him from college wearing, are you sitting down? A collegiate sweatshirt! She also has solid evidence (from a source close to Obama she won’t reveal) that he did drugs in high school. Also, hope is totally a bad thing. You should have no hope for you country because hope is for stupid heads.

    Will the onslaught ever stop? And damn it! Ready on day one, c’mon, on day ONE! Can’t you understand that?

  • Hannah (3): “What the heck does that (Texas caucus) mean?”

    “Libra” dropped a fascinating link last night to help explain this. It is very complicated, but the simple version is that there is a primary in the day that counts for 128 delegates, and then a caucus at 7:15PM that counts for another 42. Also like many of the primaries and caucuses you need way over 50% of the votes to get 3 delegates in a 4 delegate district. So, you could theoretically get 60% of the votes in the primary, say 25 more delegates, only to lose them in the caucuses at night. Here’s the link libra left.

    http://www.electoral-vote.com/

  • On the other hand, it is probably better to get stuff like this out NOW rather than during the general election.

  • Someone needs to send the Clintons a card with the definition of pyrrhic victory spelled out for them. They should know that if they want to keep any relevance going into the future they need to take a good long look at what they’re doing.

  • Clinton fatigue.

    Gennifer Flowers is putting the tapes of her recorded conversations with Bill Clinton during their 12-year affair on the auction block, according to Vegas Confidential.

    I know rationally that Bill Clinton’s sex life has nothing to do with his wife’s qualifications to be president but I can’t help being sick to death of hearing about his sex life. And that’s Bill Clinton’s own damned fault.

    Can Democrats trust Bill Clinton to not have had extramarital sex since the Lewinsky affair? At the beginning of the campaign, Bill should have been made to swear on a bible that he didn’t and promise that if he was lying, he would give all of his money and commit hari-kari on national television.

    Why hasn’t Hillary Clinton been asked why should we trust her husband not to embarass her and the Democrats with the future of the presidency at stake?

  • Hannah @3, “The doors open at 7 and they close at 7:15,”

    This means that the primaries only count for 35% of the delegates, the other remaining are decided by the Caucus which starts at 7pm.

  • Clinton throws sink at Obama; Obama says “thank you” by dropping entire house on Clinton. details at 11.

    Chris Dodd—our next Senate Majority Leader, perhaps?

    And good for Mallory! It’s nice to know that there’s strength in the Obama effort in Cincy—which was supposed to be a bastion of Clintonianism. A certain “candidate” should have learned by now that calling a house of cards a firewall does not make it so….

  • Speaking of Texas, in light of the state’s complex primary/caucus hybrid system, Bill Clinton was already arguing yesterday that a Clinton defeat probably shouldn’t count: “The doors open at 7 and they close at 7:15,” the former president said. “It would be tragic if Hillary were to win this election in the daytime and somebody were to come in at night and take it away.”

    Ah yes, every state she’s lost was “unimportant” or the rules were stacked against her. Amazing, isn’t it, how the rules that apply to everyone else never apply to the boy who wanted to grow up and be President, who never grew up?

    Get ready for the kitchen sink: “After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a ‘kitchen sink’ fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum.”

    This is what happens to an authority whose OODA loop as been completely compromised, as they head toward the final moral collapse. Let her go at it, it will only detract from her more and make her defeat more thorough.

    Come Tuesday, I volunteer to use the mallet to drive the cedar stakes through the Clintons and drag the bodies out where the sunshine will hit them – it’s the only way we’re ever going to be rid of them.

  • Would Lessig accept an appointment to the Supreme Court? That seems to me to be the ideal fit for him – in his discourse of technology issues he definitely at least has a good grasp of the constitutional issues of copyright. Whether that solid grasp extends to the rest of the law, I don’t know, but he’s not a Stanford law professor for nothing.

  • This “kitchen sink attack” only shows that neither Hillary nor her campaign has a single clue about what might work and are simply throwing every piece of poo they can think of in the hopes that something might stick.

    The flop sweat is pouring off them by the bucket-load at this point, and the fact that she’s spending her time at fundraisers in Boston instead of campaigning in the states that are actually voting speaks volumes for how screwed up her campaign really is.

  • I’m planning to be one of those caucus-goers who help steal the election for Obama at night. In fact, I was at a secret Obama meeting with a few other thousand Obama supporters here in Austin where he told us to do it…and that was at night too!. The fix is in, and Obama’s the ringleader. Just like a black man to steal things at night, huh.

    Now it looks like the last hope is for the super-duper delegates to save the day by overturning our nefarious anti-democratic activities. After all, there’s nothing more democratic than having a handful of powerful people pick your leaders for you. Just ask SCOTUS.

  • Tom Cleaver, I meant to tell you, I loved your OODA loop descriptions, fascinating explanation for this election season. And good on Chris Dodd. I soooooo want him as majority leader.

  • What the last week in Democratic campaigning has show us is that Obama runs his campaign, while Clinton’s campaign runs her.

    I’m still waiting for hard, statistically significant evidence from the Clinton campaign that negative campaigning wins votes.

    And, sorry, as a mathematical physicist, I know too much about statistics to just swallow “good correlation using focus group”.

  • Danp and Greg, thanks for the explanation. So this is the complex way Texas selects its delegates that the Clinton campaign is just figuring out? Hmmm…

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