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Hillary Supporter Evan Bayh: Earlier Contests Were Merely "Job Interviews" For Candidates
On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary supporter Evan Bayh offered an intriguing description of the contest thus far:
"People have gotten through the initial job interviews. Now they're making a hiring decision."
Not sure how the millions and millions of voters in contests before yesterday would feel about having their elections described as mere "job interviews." Presumably they thought they were making "a hiring decision" too, right?
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Sounds like a similar comment to the comment that all the states that the clintons have lost are "not significant."
March 5, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Silly spin. Right up there with "No states really count except those that vote for Hillary."
March 5, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
How dare the Clinton campaign try to put a positive spin on things! Outrageous!
Rather than get too worked up, if you think about it the analogy isn't too far off the mark: it's getting towards the end game, and only two serious contenders (sorry, Mike) are left from the initial field of applicants.
It doesn't denigrate the earlier states to say they were part of the initial job interviews - if you don't get through them, it's over! As I remember it, many states were clamouring to be among the first, so they could influence who would be left in the race. The later states now have greater power in deciding who that will be, but at the cost of not being able to decide which candidates would be left.
March 5, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a bad analogy as enough people have voted to already have made a virtual decision. It's mathematically impossible for Hillary to win a majority of pledged delegates at this point.
Bayh and other surrogates, such as Pelosi today, are merely arguing to drag it out, despite the futility of Hillary winning at this point, in the hopes that Obama steps on his own dick in a big way before the convention, or perhaps Hillary's attacks make Obama cry and run away so she can take the nomination.
It's over and these people are just trying to distort reality and pretend that it's not.
March 5, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bayh is a tard. He's like the Democrats' Dan Quayle. Boring, white, average, imbecilic.
Nice try, Evan, but Indiana is still going to go for Obama.
March 5, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great! Looking forward to the hiring decisions in Wyoming, Mississippi, North Carolina, the Dakotas, Oregon, and Puerto Rico.
March 5, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
They dont count since they are to small.
Its annoying since i defended her a lot in the past now i find my self agreeing with others.
March 5, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
North Carolina is not small. It is larger than MA (which was a "large state" in Penn's analysis). Come to that, so is GA.
March 5, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah I know Greg just being sarcastic, I live in NC.
Hell Ill be even trying to convince my life long republican grandparents to vote for Obama.
March 5, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
i continue to be amazed at the clinton campaign's continuous dismissal of contests they did not have an advantage in. 1. all caucuses (except nevada ofcoarse) 2. small states (only very populous states are "significant" 3. red states "a democrat will never win that state" 4. states w/ an above average black population (this really bothers me since he does not complain about states that have more women voters than men...which is EVERY ONE in the dem primary) 5. the 40 or so states that have already voted (oh, you mean we can campaign for real now? the contest is starting?? the 1st 80% of voters do not count...they were just setting the ball up for us to spike home???)
March 5, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
tortured metaphors are EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
March 5, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everybody by now knows your comments are idiotic. Stop being silly at once!
March 5, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Quite agree. Quite agree. Silly, silly, silly! Right! Get on with it!"
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6666/Fancy/mp_parrot.html
March 5, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love you, idiotic! Carry on!
March 5, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Idiotic, here's a great big bucket o' love.
March 5, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
May be that is not the best way of describing things. However, this is a job interviewing process. Not sufficient amount of interviewers have rendered a conclusive determination. So the process goes on.
I have a tantalizing questions for you - after Wyoming and MS, Hillary is likely to be favored in the remaining contests, including Puerto Rico where Obama's supporter, the governor, is involved in some kind of major scandal. If Hillary ends the nomination primaries with convincing wins but behind Obama by fewer than 50 pledged delegates, i.e. she keeps chipping his lead away, who should be the nominee? Remember, no one has got to the magic 2024 at the end of the contest.
March 5, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
She's favored in NC, OR, IN, SD?
March 5, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary will NOT be favored in the "remaining contests" after Mississippi and Wyoming.
Obama should do well and be favored in:
- Guam
- North Carolina (134 delegates!)
- Oregon (65 delegates)
- Montana
- South Dakota
- Puerto Rico (63 delegates)
I don't know how you'd say that PR would lean for HRC. The best measure I would assume is the Virgin Islands, which went to Obama with 89.9% of the vote. I think Obama will win PR with about 70% of the vote.
That leaves Hillary with Indiana, WV, and Kentucky. She's going to lose ground in this scenario and if there are re-votes in FL and MI then she'll stay about 100 - 150 delegates behind.
March 5, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why should Obama be favored in PR? A lot of black again?
March 5, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL! Stay classy.
March 5, 2008 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't believe she is FAVORED in a majority of the remaining contests. But assuming your outline, then I think the superdelegates would probably put her over the top and I don't think it would be too controversial.
But here's the hitch:
how does hillary narrow his 150 point lead in pledge delegates to 50?
March 5, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bayh's like Hillary. They both got where they were because they have a more talented politician in the family.
March 5, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's two dozen victories were really more like a resume screening without a callback interview. Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island were more like the decision to rehire an employee you've worked well with for the past decade. And double her salary. And give her pension benefits.
March 5, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your analogy falls apart on the simple fact that she's never worked for them before. Newsflash: First Lady does not equal POTUS. No matter how you try, they aren't the same job.
March 5, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly.
March 5, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm amazed that the sarcasm of my post wasn't obvious. Yikes.
March 5, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Be careful of overestimating the intelligence of your fellow Obamabots! How anyone with independent thinking can fall for empty rhetorical craps!! LOL!!!
March 5, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Hillary says, the following when asked about a Dream Ticket (her and Obama),
"That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me"
perhaps Obama should USE those words EVERYTIME she attacks him as not being WORTHY or READY for the PRESIDENCY.
If she thinks he's GOOD enough to be 2nd in command if anything happens to HER -- then how can she claim he's not good enough to be PRESIDENT now?
Your FIRST job as the Presidential nominee is to pick a person that is ready on DAY ONE to replace you as President should anything happen.
She is FLIP FLOPPING by saying one minute that the only experience he has is a SPEECH, then to ask him to be her VP claiming he is ready on DAY ONE.
She has GOOD JUDGEMENT?
March 5, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I imagine Hillary could respond that females and older voters will be key demographics that the Democrats need to win the general election. Obama needs to win these demographics; he has done so in past elections but it doesn't last. That is a problem--and it is Obama's problem, not Hillary's.
Obama needs to address this and try to fix it.
March 5, 2008 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, if he can bloody her enough to take Pennsylvania- tough, but by no means impossible- it's finished right there.
March 5, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nah, it won't be finished until the convention. She will be banging on his car and challenging him to a debate. They will have to pry the nomination from her death grip on it.
March 5, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
With Bayh betting his fortune on Hillary, I don't see how he does not deliver Indiana for Hillary. There may be only an M between IN and IL but IN is a totally different state. I don't believe ID and NE get to re-vote again. SD and OR may be difficult for Hillary, I admit.
We will contest the remaining caucuses much more vigorously than before. Expect us to do much better in the remaining caucuses. Hillary will end the contests with the pledged delegate gap pretty much closed with significant wins under her belly. Mark my words on that!
March 5, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love the enthusiasm. But still, explain how she narrows the gap by 100 pledged delegates?
March 5, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
kind of like mark penn saying that she would be even on march 4th after super tuesday, right?
p.s.--you are a little too invested, don't you think? quit using we when refering to the clinton campaign. i don't use we when i talk about the chicago bears.
March 5, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
So they are back to insulting the prior states again? Way to stay classy....
March 5, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Being from Indiana, I supported him at first when he ran for president. Only after he dropped out of the race, very early, did I start to realize what he was all about.
March 5, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great, where are the tax returns?
For future "interviews", we would like candidates to fully disclose.
So where are the tax returns?
March 5, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You take your tax returns to your job interviews? Have you ever had a job interview?
March 5, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Gallup poll is fascinating -- it appears that Sen. Obama peaked and is now falling.
Hillary surging.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/104770/Gallup-Daily-Obama-45-Clinton-45.aspx
I know this will be ignored on this site (Zogby is more fun to read).
March 5, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Texas Caucus
Obama: 52%
Clinton: 48%
37% reporting has taken place.
Obama leads Clinton by 1,490 votes.... CNN said it still to early to tell who will win.
IF clinton pulls off a texas caucus win, i think it will really help her because that would mean she not only won the primary but the caucus too however, it will not hurt her by much if obama wins the caucus by a small number of votes.
GO HILLARY!!!!
March 5, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yea, let's go. Yes, we will!
March 5, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes we will is "Xerox" campaigning. Get your own slogan and stop trying to steal goods off the back of the bandwagon.
March 5, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
It takes a plagirist to recognize another one? where did your "Yes we can" come from? Your candidate copies message from a failing MA governor and you have the audacity accusing other people from plagerizing?
March 5, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
On the contrary, it just takes someone who has reading comprehension. All establishment candidates try to co-opt the message of an insurgent. It's how they blur the distance between themselves and the insurgent.
Case in point, Clinton "borrowing" the change mantra and trying to make it about "identity politics". It blurs his message (which isn't about him and identity politics) and boosts her appeal.
I really missed you Hillbots the last few weeks, but I recall WHY I was happy not to have you around. Your lack of intellectual honesty is just breath-taking.
March 5, 2008 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillogical. If Clinton wins the caucus it's great but if she loses it's no big deal?
Hilarious. Oh, where's the tax returns?
March 5, 2008 1:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have some problem? Hillary has already won the primary. And she is not supposed to do well in the caucus. If she manages to pull a victory out of it, would not it be a great achievement?
March 5, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wyoming primary is : March 8th
Mississippi primary is: March 11th
Pennsylvania primary is: April 22nd
Guam primary is: May 3rd
North Carolina primary is: May 6th
Indiana primary is May 6th
West Virginia primary is: May 13th
Kentuckey primary is: May 20th
Oregon primary is: May 20th
South Dakota primary is: June 3rd
Montana primary is: June 3rd
Puerto Rico primary is: June 7th
NO MORE CAUCUSES:):)
Polls show that Hillary will likely win:
Wyoming, Pennsylvania and Oregon.... I believe the others will come around too:)
March 5, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wyoming is a caucus.
March 5, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even if she wins them all she won't have more delegates than Obama. She'll lose badly in Mississippi and North Carolina and likely will lose in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Puerto Rico.
March 5, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it seems quite unlikely that Hillary will win here in Oregon (in either the primary or in a GE match-up vs. McCain).
March 5, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK ... I've been staying out of this intra-party stuff, but I can't let this go:
Usually that's what one would call "expected" not "a great achievement". All things being equal, the caucus should mirror the primary. Why shouldn't Hillary do well in a caucus where she wins the primary? If Obama wins the caucus, it would speak to either a) Obama having a more dedicated following percentage wise, or b) Obama has a better ground game.
OK - back to our regularly scheduled slug-fest.
March 5, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully now that the media has embarrassingly fallen for Hillary's media-baiting ploy they will stop their lovefest and actually start to question their Clinton-approved reality. I want real questions, and I want a real picture of how this race stands, because Hillary did not have a huge "comeback" last night, and she is just as screwed as she was yesterday morning. My full post-election rundown:
http://thepersonalispolitical.tumblr.com/post/28045053
March 5, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink