Democratic Race
Randy Cresap
lots of people angry within the democratic party?
1) The whole divisive race thing
2) Breaking her pledge about Florida, in spirit if not in fact
3) Trumpeting the Florida results and trying to get them into the
convention to vote, introducing more discord / divisiveness into the
party
4) push polling
In looking at today's news, I really think Edwards is trying to stick
it to Hillary, and I wonder if he was urged to do it this way -- the
morning after her attempt to change momentum, he steals her thunder by
announcing he's withdrawing and holds a big press conference.
Also, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry are no longer neutral but support
Obama, as does Tom Daschle. Clinton? None recently. Obama has also
gotten "endorsements but not endorsements" from Jimmy Carter, Nancy
Pelosi, and others.
Is anyone else seeing desperation from the Hillary camp? The whole
Florida thing -- even to the point of trying to get the delegates to
vote and bringing up disenfranchisement -- could backfire so hard, and
paint her as a dishonest GW type, that there's no way she'd do it if
she were confident.
Brandon Downey
>
> Besides pissing me off, who wants to bet that Hillary Clinton has made
> lots of people angry within the democratic party?
>
> 1) The whole divisive race thing
> 2) Breaking her pledge about Florida, in spirit if not in fact
> 3) Trumpeting the Florida results and trying to get them into the
> convention to vote, introducing more discord / divisiveness into the
> party
> 4) push polling
She has; I just hope it's enough.
Don't forget:
5) Reminded the whole country why there were Clinton scandals in the first place
Putting Bill Clinton in the forefrunt with such an aggressive strategy
backfired in a big way in South Carolina -- not *only* did he put his
foot in his mouth, he reminded people that he has a history of
dishonesty (proven perjury), he has a history of lying to discredit
his enemies (Gennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinsky, etc. etc.).
All that said, I'm still baffled that people are voting for Hilary.
Having seen both of the candidates speak to the entire company at
Google, the difference between the two was night and day. Not only did
Hilary never articulate a clear positions, she refused to _take
questions from the audience_. This is not only someone I disagree
with, it's not only someone I distrust, it's also someone who seems to
fundamentally not 'get' why it's good to face people with opposing
views and ideas.
> In looking at today's news, I really think Edwards is trying to stick
> it to Hillary, and I wonder if he was urged to do it this way -- the
> morning after her attempt to change momentum, he steals her thunder by
> announcing he's withdrawing and holds a big press conference.
I really hope this alters things in Obama's favor. However, I worry
that Edwards could endorse Hilary, or that his supporters will go
primarily to her of their own accord.
>
> Also, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry are no longer neutral but support
> Obama, as does Tom Daschle. Clinton? None recently. Obama has also
> gotten "endorsements but not endorsements" from Jimmy Carter, Nancy
> Pelosi, and others.
>
> Is anyone else seeing desperation from the Hillary camp? The whole
> Florida thing -- even to the point of trying to get the delegates to
> vote and bringing up disenfranchisement -- could backfire so hard, and
> paint her as a dishonest GW type, that there's no way she'd do it if
> she were confident.
>
Yes -- every time Hilary seems to be behind, she becomes desperate and
will say and do anything. We saw it in NH, we saw it in SC, and we see
it now. The good news is, there's a high probability she does more
stuff to piss people off as she gets more desperate -- but there's not
much time between now and Feb 5th.
- Brandon
> >
>
Randy Cresap
continuing to be aggressive -- the latest poll in California had him
up by 3, although still trailing slightly nationally. Hillary will
have to do some things at the debate to kill the momentum, probably by
going specific, playing the victim, etc.
However, it also seems that Obama has been under-polling relative to
turnout, I guess because of the grass-roots efforts (missing in
Florida) and also because such a large chunk of support comes from
independents and non-"likely Democratic voters" as defined in the poll
(who had no reason to vote in the Democratic primary in Florida, since
it didn't count); and also African-Americans, who for whatever reason
tend to vote in higher numbers than participate in phone polls.
Finally, I just read that Obama will be having a rally in a 66,000
person stadium in St. Louis on Saturday. That's a lot of seats. I
mean that's 1964 Beatles a lot. I just hope he can fill it. He'll be
looking for some kind of "defining speech" going into the big Tuesday,
since he's not as strong debating as he is at the pulpit, and wants to
leave people with his best pitch before the big vote -- it's work
better if it weren't in a mostly-empty cavernous stadium.
Randy Cresap
endorsed Obama in the Wall Street journal.