Hillary’s Voice

The punditry disconnect continues on primary night by David Bauder, Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) - Television’s news networks brought all of their punditry and electronic firepower to the Democratic presidential primary coverage on Tuesday, but left viewers yearning for the simplest of things. Say, a reporter with a microphone who could walk into a bar in rural Kentucky and ask some voters what was on their minds. The night of political water-treading - commentators who had already declared the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton race over were declaring it again after the Kentucky and Oregon primaries - did little to repair the campaign’s punditry disconnect.

Don’t forget Florida 2000

“Each vote you cast is a prayer for our nation, a declaration of your dreams for your children and your grandchildren, a reflection of your determination to insure that our country lives up to its promise. Each vote is a tool, one used throughout history, to break barriers, open doors, and widen the circle of opportunity.”
 - Hillary Clinton, Boca Raton, Florida 5/21/08

DNC Rules Committee Outlines Agenda for Delegate Flap Meeting (March on Politics, Tampa Tribune)
WASHINGTON – Taking a vacation to Washington, D.C., next week? Want to give Democrats a piece of your mind? The Democratic National Committee has just sent out an advisory of how its Rules & Bylaws Committee will proceed on May 31 during a much-anticipated meeting to reconsider issues in the Florida and Michigan delegate flap… Democrats in Florida and Michigan were punished last year by the national party with the loss of all of their delegates because their states scheduled presidential primaries too early, in violation of national party primary calendar rules. Hillary Clinton went on to win both primaries, but none of the candidates actively campaigned in either state and Barack Obama’s name was not even on the Michigan ballot… The Obama campaign has said that anything other than completely eliminating Clinton’s advantage – in other words, splitting the Florida and Michigan delegates between the two—is unfair. He contends the Florida primary wasn’t fair because the candidates, even though they were on the ballot, didn’t campaign here.
Earth to Barack:  You bought some national ads that played in Florida, and Clinton didn’t.  You broke the rules, Clinton did not, and you lost anyway.  You purposely took your name off the ballot in Michigan because you knew you would lose there, and you wanted to create this very opportunity to question the legitimacy of the vote.  Will Democrats now reward that kind of manipulation?  Both delegations should be seated in full, pledged as the voters voted.  Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina were given waivers for breaking the same rules that Florida and Michigan broke.  Why single out these two states?

Hillary Clinton’s Voice (click here to register to attend the meeting)

“But she PROMISED!” (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I watched the video of Hillary’s speech in Florida from MSNBC and it is all coming back to me why I decided to only watch C-Span. At the very end of it, Contessa Brewer comes on and says something to the effect: “But what makes her think she can get the votes from Florida and Michigan when she *promised* not to campaign there?”… What does a promise to not campaign in the states have to do with championing the rights of the voters of those two states to have their votes counted?… So, they didn’t campaign. (Ok, well *Clinton* didn’t campaign. Obama bought $1.4 Million dollars worth of cable ads) So what? It’s a complete non-sequitor with respect to honoring the votes. No, Contessa, you can’t have your way this time. Somebody’s got to act like a grown up.

Obama willing to ‘go more than halfway’ on FL, MI (Political Ticker, CNN)
(CNN) — Obama senior adviser David Axelrod says the Illinois senator’s campaign is “open to compromise” and willing to cede Hillary Clinton the advantage in talks over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Democratic National Convention this summer. “We are willing to go more than half way. We’re willing to work to make sure that we can achieve a compromise,” Axelrod tells National Public Radio’s Michele Norris in a Wednesday evening interview. “And I guess the question is: is Senator Clinton’s campaign willing to do the same?”… Obama now appears likely to finish the primary season with a delegate lead, including superdelegates, that would not disappear if both states’ delegations are seated based on the results of January’s contests, in which his name did not appear on the ballot in Michigan. Clinton won both primaries.
We’ll just have to see, won’t we, because in the past the Obama folks have only been willing to consider “compromises” that were completely disadvantageous to Clinton.

Fla. poll: McCain 50, Obama 40 (Florida Politics Blog, Palm Beach Post)
A new Rasmussen poll shows Republican John McCain with a 50-to-40 percent lead over Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama in Florida. In a hypothetical McCain-Hillary Clinton race, Clinton leads 47-41. [Emphasis added.]

Walk a mile in our shoes!
Starting today, right now, this very moment there is a movement going on!  Can you hear the rumbling?  Thousands of women just like you are rushing to their closets and finding the perfect pair of shoes to send to Howard Dean and company over at the Democratic National Committee – Deadline to send your shoes May 31st  (however, keep those shoes coming until Hillary has the nomination).
Click through for details.

Clinton Supporters Count Too now has a website.

WomenCount PAC is still asking for donations to run its “Not so Fast” ads.  Click through for details.

You can also join the New Women’s Party.

McCain adviser: Sometimes it’s ‘accurate’ to describe a woman as a ‘bitch.’ (Think Progress)
During [Tuesday’s] Democratic primary coverage, CNN senior analyst Jeff Toobin criticized a New York Times column that published a joke about Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) being a “white bitch.” “I think it’s appalling, but I think she’s absolutely right that there has been a level of sexism,” said Toobin. But CNN contributor Alex Castellanos, who is also an adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign, disagreed, saying that some women deserve to be called a “bitch”.
Click through to watch the video.

Sexism on the ballot? (RedEye, Chicago Tribune)
MAYSVILLE, Ky. — Women of all ages and nationalities push against the rope line, carrying books and T-shirts, posters and stuffed animals—anything for her to autograph. They tote huge signs that shout “Hillary Cares About Me”–and they tearfully grab her hand to implore her to stick it out, to take her trailing campaign all the way to the Democratic convention in Denver. They say they have come to show support for Hillary Clinton not merely because she is a woman or because her campaign is breaking historic ground, but because she speaks to them about their real problems and they are furious at the way she has been treated. In the run-up to Tuesday’s Kentucky primary, Clinton attracted some of the biggest and most intense crowds she’d seen in weeks, such as the 2,000 who attended her rally in Lexington on Monday night, where she was joined by her husband. And while there are plenty of men in the stands, it’s the women who are most passionate.
Click through for quotes from some of these supporters.  And it’s not just sexism, but racism, too, as Bill Clinton knows very well.

Bill Clinton says race card allegation ‘revolting strategy’ (Political Ticker, CNN)
(CNN) – Bill Clinton says that he thinks most people in the media are in Barack Obama’s demographic, telling People magazine “There have been times when I thought I was literally lost in a fun house.” In an interview hitting newsstands Friday, the former president said his wife Hillary Clinton has been “outspent, dismissed, denigrated, declared dead” this primary season… Clinton said the allegation that he and Sen. Clinton played the race card was a “cold-blooded, calculated, manipulated, and a revolting strategy.”

Party may suffer from an Obama candidacy (by Gene Lyons, author of Fools for Scandal and co-author of The Hunting of the President)
If Hillary Clinton had no other reason to keep running for the Democratic presidential nomination, it would be to demonstrate that Tim Russert, Keith Olbermann, Maureen Dowd, David Broder and the Beltway media gas bags don’t decide American elections. Last week, Sen. Barack Obama, the supposedly inevitable Democratic nominee, lost the West Virginia primary by 41 points. Democrats haven’t taken the presidency without winning the Mountain State since 1916. To use a geographically appropriate metaphor, if there has ever been a canaryin-a-coal-mine primary, that was it… If nominated, Obama can’t possibly defeat Sen. John McCain without bringing Clinton voters to him. Recently, however, I’ve been hearing from many passionate Democrats who say they can’t and won’t vote for him in November, so I asked a few to explain why.
Click through for some of the reasons, which I’ve heard from a lot of people, too.

Premature evacuation: Obama plans general election team
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama is quietly planning to take over the Democratic National Committee and assemble a multistate team for the general election, the latest sign that he is putting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nomination fight behind him. Top Obama organizer Paul Tewes is in discussions to run the party, several Democratic officials said Tuesday.
Rubbing Clinton’s face in the dirt and shoving Howard Dean out the door, all in one move.  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, friends.  There are some serious scores to settle.

Hillary now ahead in popular vote if you count all the votes (by lambert at Corrente)
Which explains why Obama doesn’t want to count all the votes, doesn’t even want to talk about it, and also why our famously free press is trying to help him drag the dead Unity Pony over the finish line by trying to suppress the vote in the remaining primaries.

From a member of the Hillary’s Voice message group:
I haven’t had time to add the exact totals, but it’s clear from this data at Real Clear Politics
That Hillary has won the popular vote each of the last three months (with June expected to extend that to four).
Hillary got more votes in March than Obama got.
Hillary got more votes in April than Obama got.
Hillary got more votes in May than Obama got.
Hillary will get more votes in June than Obama got.
And Hillary has more total votes overall than Obama has gotten [including Florida and Michigan].
I think we need a national revote for this primary.  I’m convinced that there’s a lot of buyers’ remorse among those who gave Obama his early victories.  Oh, and if you care about actually winning in November, Democrats, see below.

Poll Analysis: McCain Takes the Lead Back from Obama (Hominid News, 5/21/08)

Poll Analysis: Clinton Holds Her Lead Over McCain (Hominid News, 5/21/08)

When A Majority of Delegates Doesn’t Cut It (by Taylor Marsh)
Math v. Map. Ain’t life a bitch. The superdelegates are taking anti-acid today. Obama’s delegate lead isn’t cutting it… Unfortunately, the SuperDs don’t seem to have the guts to do what they’re in existence to do in the first place, what they need to do to ensure Democrats will win in November: honor Clinton’s popular vote lead and the strengths of her map to put her over the top, the magic number being 2209, counting Michigan and Florida… Are we really going to nominate a candidate who is weaker in the very states we need to win in November? It’s up to the SuperDs, who just popped another pill.

Stupid “majority of the pledged delegates” metric (by lambert  at Corrente)
As the embroiderers affix the last gilt rosettes, ermine trimmings, and trappings of power to the train that Obama will wear for his “subtle” coronation tonight, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect that the ostensible metric for tonight’s entertainment really is completely, 100% content-free, at least from the standpoint of Teh Rulez. Mario Cuomo … explained on Face the Nation: “… Gov. CUOMO: In its design, [the Democratic process is] supposed to go through to the end to a convention, and at the convention is the only place where the votes count. Most people don’t understand that all the counts that have already been— all the contests that have already been held did not produce votes. They produced pledges, which probably would be lived up to at the convention.”

Goddess I Love a Fighter (by PaganPower at No Quarter)
Today Hillary stated what many of us have been secretly wishing for. She said that she would be willing to take the nomination fight right to the convention should Florida and Michigan want to contest the DNC decision… “Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is willing to take her fight to seat Florida and Michigan delegates to the convention if the two states want to go that far…” When I read stuff like this I get all choked up. Because Hillary is willing to do what is right regardless of the odds against her. That is something I respect and admire to the core of my being.

Hillary Wallops Bam-Bam No Matter How Much He Spends! (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
HOWARD WOLFSON on CNN [Tuesday] night: “He outspent us in West Virginia. We beat him by 40 points last week. He has outspent us in Kentucky 2-1. We beat him by 35 points this week. So Senator Obama can continue to outspend us. We’re going to be able to have the resources we need to get our message out like we did this week in Kentucky. …”

Obama Spent More Than He Raised in April (Political Wire)
CQ Politics digs into the latest fundraising numbers and notes the Democratic presidential primaries are “starting to take a financial toll on Barack Obama.” “Obama spent $36.4 million over the course of the month — about $4 million more than he raised during the same time — as he tried to sew up the nomination. Despite outspending Clinton in Pennsylvania and Indiana, he lost both contests.”

Case-Study: Republicans Go Nuclear on Barack (by Tech President)
As an effective deployment of a modern media strategy, I want to share a recent example engineered by, among others, the Washington State Republican Party putting the hammer to Barack Obama after a *major* gaffe while campaigning in Oregon. I’ve been given exclusive insight on how this all went down. Let’s dig in…
Click through to read the analysis.

One for each in latest superdelegate news (On Politics, USA Today)
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign says she has won the support of Democratic superdelegate Craig Bashein of Ohio. Barack Obama’s campaign points to the news that he’s now got the support of Connecticut superdelegate Rep. Joe Courtney.

Sun-Times’ Sweet is an “important voice,” thanks to Obama
Prior to this year’s political season, Lynn Sweet “was a largely unknown tabloid reporter from a regional newspaper who had never seriously covered a presidential campaign,” writes John Koblin. But with Barack Obama’s ascent, the Sun-Times reporter/columnist has suddenly emerged as one of the most important voices in the campaign. Newsday’s Glenn Thrush says: “Of all the people who cover Obama, she’s the one who holds him most accountable.”
TABLOID REPORTER??!!  Lynn Sweet was never a tabloid reporter.  What an insult!

McCain to host possible veeps at Ariz. home
The Memorial Day weekend guest list at Sen. John McCain’s Arizona retreat runs to at least three Republicans mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates, but a top aide said Wednesday that vetting possible veeps is not on the agenda. “It’s purely social,” said Mark Salter, a senior adviser to McCain. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a McCain rival in the primary, were invited to a weekend gathering at the senator’s place in Sedona.

McCain adviser’s work as lobbyist comes to light (USA TODAY)
WASHINGTON — John McCain’s top foreign policy adviser lobbied the Arizona senator’s staff on behalf of the republic of Georgia while he was working for the campaign, public records show. Randy Scheunemann, founder of Orion Strategies, represented the governments of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan between 2003 and March 1, according to the firm’s filings with the Justice Department. In its latest semiannual report, the firm disclosed that Scheunemann had a phone conversation in November about Georgia with Richard Fontaine, an aide in McCain’s Senate office. Orion Strategies earned $540,000 from its foreign clients over the year ending on Dec. 1, reports show. Scheunemann also received $56,250 last year from March to July from McCain, according to campaign finance records.

McCain’s lobbyist purge: ‘Everyone gets the joke.’ (Think Progress)
Five lobbyists have resigned from the McCain campaign, causing many other Washington lobbyists to ask: “So this is the thanks we get?” Said one McCain supporter: “I find it a little offensive. It was good enough to get my $2,300 donation. If we’re not good enough, then send my check back. It pisses me off.” But McCain still has 115 lobbyists raising money and helping to run his campaign. And apparently, they all understand McCain’s anti-lobbyist efforts are simply for show.

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com