1976? Do I hear a 1976? According to Rep. Loretta Sanchez, as many as half of the House Democrats may indeed vote for Hillary Clinton during the state by state roll call since allowing the vote was decided last week. I don't want to rock the boat, but come on! Let's have it out!
Hillary getting votes and making it a re-do of the 1976 contested convention between Ford and Reagan would be ridiculously exciting — and give the 1,800 delegates Hillary earned a real voice at the end of the road — a redemption of sorts from the seven-year-long campaign we've been through. A return to purity if you will. Karl Rove has laid out a whole plan on how to win a contested convention, let's do it?
As I'm sure many of you, lots of superdelegates disagree with me, and are a little squirmy about the vote. To see why, read more.
Under the convention bylaws, delegates have a mandatory duty to register their votes on a tally sheet with the convention secretary so everyone will know who Hillary'd and who didn't. According to a former delegate counter, “By putting her name in nomination, you’re putting people on the spot.” Others would prefer to cast their vote for the obvious nominee but feel beholden to reflect the vote in their districts. (Imagine that.) On staffer commented on her boss’ position: “My boss is conflicted about it – and pissed Hillary is putting us in this position.” Still, 30 to 40 percent of the New York delegation will go for Hillary.
Is this "convention about nominating Barack" as one Democratic delegate says, or is it about really making a decision? Could a contested convention be the best and fairest culmination of a race so close, or should the convention just be a formality?
Labour Of Love
Del Gatto
Fred Perry
He He He. Go Hillary!
1This is bad for Obama. Great for McCain. I was hoping she would go away.
2Good Morning! I'm conflicted by this whole thing and am not sure if it is the best interests of the Party.
What happens if she gets the delegates she needs? Does she have enough money to mount a REAL campaign against McCain? She would have to take the public funds right?
I will say that I appreciate them adding Hills name to the roll call. I just hope that in doing so, we don't end up with John McCain as president in November.
3i think that this could have a really interesting outcome then at the convention. i'm certainly not going to get my hopes up on it going in hillary's favor - but i really do think that it could be GREAT if she got the delegates and had a real go at it. i always felt that she had a strong position - and it would be fantastic.
we'll just have to wait and see - it's just another few weeks - this week and next and then the convention will be ajourned.
4If the convention becomes about making her comeback, I think Hillary then looks duplicitous for having said in June:
"The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.
And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me."
5i'm confused... like stephley points out, didn't hillary already agree to support obama? seems to me that if she lets this go forward, essentially ruining our chances of getting a democrat into the white house, she'd basically ruin her OWN chances of running again in 2012. would she really risk that? really?
6Go hillary!
7This is just ridiculous speculation. The first vote, Clinton's delegates will vote for her, then she'll officially release them to Obama. It's just to give some sort of respect and formal nod to Clinton supporters.
(P.S. does anyone thing it's weird to hear Clinton referred to by first name in official capacities? It's one thing in comments or blogs, but the quote from the article, “My boss is conflicted about it – and pissed Hillary is putting us in this position.” strikes me as odd since we typically refer to politicians by their last name. I have been canvassing for the campaign and the standard in that context is to refer to the two presumptive nominees as "Senator." I've been trying to do that in my conversations all the time, though not here because it already takes me to so long to type.)
8I think maybe it is because of the American people's history with her. We all called her Hillary when she was first lady, and it stuck.
9I always explained my tendency to slip into the first-name because that's what she put on her posters. Hers said "Hillary" his say "Obama." But yes, I see what you're saying about the quote calling her by first name.
10Yeah, I think about that, and it's a way to differentiate her from her husband since they both have the same last name. It just always strikes me as a little pejorative. I try to think about how we address other politicians. Nancy Pelosi is usually just her last name of full name, but Condoleezza Rice gets "Condy" a lot, though not nearly as much as we hear "Hillary."
But on the other hand, she had t-shirts that refer to her that way, so she seems to embrace it. I don't know how I feel about it. Just wondering if anyone else had those thoughts.
11Stephley, I don't think Hillary is worried about appearing duplicitous
Anyway, I keep hearing this is all some big formality blah blah, but then NPR interviewed some delegate who is a huge Hillary supporter and he made it sound like they're planning an insurrection.
I honestly don't know what I would do if this happened. I'll probably start looting.
12torg I think it's the combination of there already being a "Clinton" that we're used to hearing about, and the fact that she's already been in the public eye as Hillary.
13What's weird is that even though I have given the subject a lot of though (probably too much), I still find myself going to use her first name. I added that comment in parenthesis because I actually typed "Hillary" and then deleted it and changed it to "Clinton." So I don't think people say it with negative intentions, I think it's just ingrained, and as you said, Citizen, she's done her part to help that along. But it does make me cringe to hear it on the news or something.
14When I first heard about CLINTON's
name being included, I thought it was alright.
But I have since changed my tune and don't understand why the pot is being stirred.
Way to unite the party!
15Whoops, sorry to hijack the comments.
I'm thinking this is mostly the media looking for a story where there isn't one. Once it's over all the hand wringing will be over, Obama will be the nominee and Clinton will give her full support (at least publicly) until the election. She must know if she screws this up she'll be done in the party.
16"I'll probably start looting."
17I call the big screen if the riot begins!!
18The media is doing what it has ALWAYS done with Obama and Hillary. Stirring SH*T up.
This is from the email I received from her on Friday:
"I cannot wait for the lights to come up and the cameras to roll at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. When I join Democrats from across the country who are unified and ready to get to work to elect Barack Obama"
This is a formality. At first I thought it was really weird, but remember they BOTH thought that this was best. Obama has had a hard time winning over her base...this is a way to acknowledge them. We forget that this was a close race. Obama did NOT win by a landslide like the media would like us to believe. She has asked her supporters NOT to write her name in. She has asked her supporters to switch over to Obama's campaign. Some are reluctant. This is a way to squash any sort of "unfair" or "our votes aren't being heard" claims.
As much as I would love for her to be our next president, that is not her intent...and it is not going to happen.
19"The media is doing what it has ALWAYS done with Obama and Hillary. Stirring SH*T up."
So true. I think when the race between Hillary and Obama was going on, a lot of people were tuning in on a regular basis. The drama increases ratings. The Republicans benefit from this conflict, so really there is a lot of reasons for people OTHER than Democrats to keep this "feud" alive.
I am not too worried about it. I think they are smart people, and both understand how vitally important it is for Democrats to win in November, and I don't think they would jepardize this.
20I bet Hillary is just tired of being the one who is getting screwed - time to return the favor, eh?
21Ugh.
Oh, and very true, harmonyfrance and Jillness.
22
Oh that would be rich!
23I don't know how anyone could be surprised by this!?
24& The Obama Hillary feud was not just fueled by the media but more so by each of their supporters. Both of them had/have die-hard supporters that bickered with each other. It was more than obvious even when Hillary and BO had debates and had very snarky things to say to each other. Ahem, "change you can xerox." Yeah, no hard feelings there I'm sure...
If Hillary truly had no hard feelings or still didn't have her eye on the Presidency, she would not be asking for this roll call of votes. She's humiliating BO and showing the US how close the demo primary really was. Nevertheless, we have yet to hear from Billy Boy! If they Clintons were sincerely behind Obama, we would have heard from him by now. I won't believe any other reason until I hear Slick Willy officially supporting BO at the convention (if it ever happens at that)
25Billy Boy just sent out an email to Hillary supporters saying this:
""You'll get to see Hillary speak on Tuesday, and Barack Obama — the next president of the United States — on Thursday," he wrote. "And I hear Hillary and you will have a chat — I'll make sure to stop by."
Sounds like a good start to me!
26Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it.
27Jill I was about to post that very quote. Get out of my head!
28Bill's sending the same sweet nothings to HF & Jill?
29I'm jealous....
just kidding, natch
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