Hillary Supporters unite....no bashing please! only smiles

[KikiFan]

WASHINGTON — Citing Democratic rules, national committee Chairman Howard Dean on Tuesday said the superdelegates who are poised to select the party's presidential nominee are free to back whomever they wish at the end of the primaries, regardless of who leads in the popular vote or pledged delegates.

"They should use whatever yardstick they want," Dean said. "That's what the rules provide for."

Asked about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's suggestion that superdelegates should exercise independent judgment and not feel bound by the standings after June 3 — when the primary season ends — Dean replied: "That's what the rules say, and I enforce the rules."

He also said superdelegates are free to weigh the disputed primary results in Florida and Michigan. The two campaigns have spent weeks wrangling over a plan that would seat delegates from the states, which violated party guidelines by voting earlier than allowed.

Although his comments were a restatement of party rules, Dean's stance undercut an argument pressed by Sen. Barack Obama and his backers. They have said the candidate who has the most pledged delegates should automatically win the support of any uncommitted superdelegates after primary balloting ends.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004321526_dean02.html

THis is from a few pages/days ago but I kept thinking about it. Does it strike anyone as interesting that Dean is clarifying this now? I keep wondering if he's trying to prepare the public for the SPs voting contrary to what they expect.

 

[punkin]

THis is from a few pages/days ago but I kept thinking about it. Does it strike anyone as interesting that Dean is clarifying this now? I keep wondering if he's trying to prepare the public for the SPs voting contrary to what they expect.

Does anyone actually know which way the Supers will jump? I have no expectations either way.

 

["Got Disney"]

Does anyone actually know which way the Supers will jump? I have no expectations either way.

No but apparently the Obama supporters do...that mean old desperate Hillary!

 

[JARNJ3]

[QUOTE="Got Disney";24269808]No but apparently the Obama supporters do...that mean old desperate Hillary![/QUOTE]

Right.

I have the feeling - he's reiterating it because it is the truth - supers can vote how ever they want.

But I doubt a majority will go against the supposed "will of the people." I say supposed - because I believe a lot of the contests wagered included republicans who were either voting against Hillary because of their hatred of all things Clinton (I'm thinking of all those chaotic caucuses in the "red states") or republicans voting for Hillary to prolong the democratic nomination process.

This election exposed a lot of things that need to be fixed........

 

[punkin]

But I doubt a majority will go against the supposed "will of the people."

So what is the "will of the people"? Is it the popular vote? Do you include Florida? Do you weigh the states you are likely to win in the general more heavily? There are so many variables and arguments for both sides, that it makes my head spin.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Right.

I have the feeling - he's reiterating it because it is the truth - supers can vote how ever they want.

But I doubt a majority will go against the supposed "will of the people." I say supposed - because I believe a lot of the contests wagered included republicans who were either voting against Hillary because of their hatred of all things Clinton (I'm thinking of all those chaotic caucuses in the "red states") or republicans voting for Hillary to prolong the democratic nomination process.

This election exposed a lot of things that need to be fixed........

It's very possible, especially with Florida and Michigan back in the mix for HC to have a decent lead at the end of the primaries in the popular vote.

Plus what is the 'will of the people'? Should delegates respect their state's voters or the totals? They sure as heck weren't supposed to just rubber stamp the election. If that's the case they're kinda pointless, unless there was some kinda gift basket delegates get at the convention they wanted to get in on?

 

[JARNJ3]

So what is the "will of the people"? Is it the popular vote? Do you include Florida? Do you weigh the states you are likely to win in the general more heavily? There are so many variables and arguments for both sides, that it makes my head spin.

Exactly!!! And really - I should have written - "the will of the democratic people" - this is supposed to be for the democratic nomination!

I think I would weight the popular vote higher than the delagate count given the craziness in Texas, and how the delegates seem not to be assigned the same way - state by state......

 

[JARNJ3]

It's very possible, especially with Florida and Michigan back in the mix for HC to have a decent lead at the end of the primaries in the popular vote.

Plus what is the 'will of the people'? Should delegates respect their state's voters or the totals? They sure as heck weren't supposed to just rubber stamp the election. If that's the case they're kinda pointless, unless there was some kinda gift basket delegates get at the convention they wanted to get in on?

Well - both campaigns are actually "bribing" some of the super delegates. There's been articles written on it - and ignored by most of the electorate - Obama, of course is spending more money - as he has more than Hillary does.....

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/02/superdelegates.html

Many of the superdelegates who could well decide the Democratic presidential nominee have already been plied with campaign contributions by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a new study shows.

"While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials serving as superdelegates have received about $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years," the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported today.

About half the 800 superdelegates -- elected officials, party leaders, and others -- have committed to either Clinton or Obama, though they can change their minds until the convention.

Obama's political action committee has doled out more than $694,000 to superdelegates since 2005, the study found, and of the 81 who had announced their support for Obama, 34 had received donations totaling $228,000.

Clinton's political action committee has distributed about $195,000 to superdelegates, and only 13 of the 109 who had announced for her have received money, totaling about $95,000.

 

[KikiFan]

Does anyone actually know which way the Supers will jump? I have no expectations either way.

No but I think his comment indicates that the Supers might just vote against the popular/delegate vote and he's trying to smooth the waters ahead of time.

I think that some of the SP already know who they are voting for but just aren't declaring. (Which begs the question - has Dean done some sort of head count?) I mentioned before that one of the SPs live in my neighborhood. I've read a couple articles about him and they all said he was undeclared. But the 5 Hillary signs in his yard said differently

 

[punkin]

No but I think his comment indicates that the Supers might just vote against the popular/delegate vote and he's trying to smooth the waters ahead of time.

I think that some of the SP already know who they are voting for but just aren't declaring. (Which begs the question - has Dean done some sort of head count?) I mentioned before that one of the SPs live in my neighborhood. I've read a couple articles about him and they all said he was undeclared. But the 5 Hillary signs in his yard said differently

Maybe they belong to his wife.

 

[KikiFan]

Maybe they belong to his wife.

Nope! but they could belong to his husband!

He and I were both Hillary delegates. But I know from the caucus that both he and his husband (the SP) voted Hillary.

 

[punkin]

Nope! but they could belong to his husband!

He and I were both Hillary delegates. But I know from the caucus that both he and his husband (the SP) voted Hillary.

I didn't know they allowed that kind of marriage down in Texas.

 

["Got Disney"]

This threadis in desperate need of somemore cowbell!

http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages...e-cowbell.html

just a little saturday night humor

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

So yesterday was the caucus. It was painful, extremely painful. Yet again the entire thing was very slanted towards Obama, from the chair on down. I don't even know where to start on the whole thing. We were told to arrive at 8:45am to check in. At 6:15pm we were still voting on alternate delegates. Which we were told we couldn't really do until the official vote came up for the delegates, those had to be counted by hand in the gym and certified then run up to us - after an hour they hadn't been brought up. We all voted for an alternate and left. At 6:30 I was finally out of there. It took 5 hours to just get started.

From what I've seen so far Hillary has lost delegates overall which is disappointing. I went in there not representing myself but other people from my precinct as well. If I had jumped ship it wasn't just me doing it was everyone I representing.

We had a state senator slip up and say the Governor was going to be going on a five ***** (think of a word that rhymes with city that starts with a t - slang term for what women have) tour to kick off her re-election bid, instead of a five city tour. The first time I met the senator was when he was with his wife at a totally different function and he hadn't run for senator yet - we were out our midwives which made the whole thing a little more amusing for me. There was also a recently naturalized Chinese woman who told everyone she was getting up to speak about the horrible conditions in China only to get up and scream about her love of Obama. We were called anti-semitic once towards the end of the day It was seriously nuts. I lost my voice from all the screaming in response.....

Will post pictures when the brain turns back on.

 

[JARNJ3]

So yesterday was the caucus. It was painful, extremely painful. Yet again the entire thing was very slanted towards Obama, from the chair on down. I don't even know where to start on the whole thing. We were told to arrive at 8:45am to check in. At 6:15pm we were still voting on alternate delegates. Which we were told we couldn't really do until the official vote came up for the delegates, those had to be counted by hand in the gym and certified then run up to us - after an hour they hadn't been brought up. We all voted for an alternate and left. At 6:30 I was finally out of there. It took 5 hours to just get started.

From what I've seen so far Hillary has lost delegates overall which is disappointing. I went in there not representing myself but other people from my precinct as well. If I had jumped ship it wasn't just me doing it was everyone I representing.

We had a state senator slip up and say the Governor was going to be going on a five ***** tour to kick off her re-election bid, instead of a five city tour. The first time I met the senator was when he was with his wife at a totally different function and he hadn't run for senator yet - we were out our midwives which made the whole thing a little more amusing for me. There was also a recently naturalized Chinese woman who told everyone she was getting up to speak about the horrible conditions in China only to get up and scream about her love of Obama. We were called anti-semitic once towards the end of the day It was seriously nuts. I lost my voice from all the screaming in response.....

Will post pictures when the brain turns back on.

Thanks for representing!

The caucuses are seemingly patently unfair now as it is becoming a popularity contest......

Was this caucus restricted to just dems - or could anyone vote?

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Thanks for representing!

The caucuses are seemingly patently unfair now as it is becoming a popularity contest......

Was this caucus restricted to just dems - or could anyone vote?

This was just dems. It was the continuation of our Febuary caucauses, it's long drawn out insane process apparently!

 

["Got Disney"]

wow....what a bummer for you! I bet you left there with a distaste for the OS's. The caucuses are so unfair and should become a thing of the past. They need to only do Primaries because than you can vote and be done with it during your time table and not have to go through all that.

There has to be a better fair way to to this. This whole thing has me in a tizzy. Why do they have to make everything so hard and complicated.

The OS say that is Hillary wins it will be unfair or because she cheated. Well let me tell ya, if anyone here has been cheated it has been Hillary. All the caucuses that are not fair for her or the way the delegates are for each area, the media for number one and so many other reasons.

I am not talking about the he said she said stuff...to me that is all fair in love and war....I am referring to the unjust ways of everything else.

So if Obama wins IMO it will be that he has one unfairly....not because of how he played the game, but because the media and the whole process was on his side no matter what. And by his side I mean that he could do no wrong even when he was.

 

[Planogirl]

Everything has seemed slanted in Obama's favor but I suspect that this is pretty normal during each election cycle. We're being forced to support Obama but what alternative do we have? I sure don't want McCain to win.

It's all rather depressing.

 

[JARNJ3]

This is pretty cool. All the countries Hillary visited as First Lady.

http://politifact.com/media/travel.html

And on other note - she can't catch a break.

Mark Penn has been ousted from his position as the Clinton campaign's chief strategist, in the wake of news reports that he'd been separately doing lobbyist work on a Colombian trade deal that Hillary opposes. This is on top of the Colombian government firing him yesterday, after he'd publicly apologized for working with them.

Penn isn't totally gone, however. According to the Clinton campaign's statement, he will still be doing polling for the campaign, and dispensing advice.

 

[JARNJ3]

Everything has seemed slanted in Obama's favor but I suspect that this is pretty normal during each election cycle. We're being forced to support Obama but what alternative do we have? I sure don't want McCain to win.

It's all rather depressing.

Correct. I've grappled with this - but I will be voting for Obama - I can't have McCain on my conscience, though part of me feels he's going to win...... Ugh.