THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

Aye. Wake me up when it's June 3rd.

Republican Strategy: (1) help Hillary Clinton secure the Democratic Nominee; (2) McCain to actively try to win over African Americans that the Clintons have alienated, so that they will vote for McCain in November! So that is why you see McCain actively seeking out the support of African-Americans now, hoping to woo them back into the fold of the Republican party while, they smile in glee as the Clintons alienate them by their kitchen sink strategy. The Republicans in their plan to help Hillary make Barack look unelectable through their surrogates, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and others, continually ask their watching public to sow doubts, "do we really know who this guy is?" (ever after Barack wrote two very personal autobiographical books); they ask: "why can't this guy seal the deal?", then they continually bring up Rev. Wright, as if Rev. Wright's statements were Barack's. Do they ask of Clinton, "Was it not Rev. Wright you called on for prayer and support after the Monica Lewinsky scandal and invited him to the White House?" No, they rather ask with indignance, "why did he Barack) sit there for 20 years" though Rev. Wright's 9-11 comments were not 20 years ago but five. Then they praise Hillary -- saying how smart she is, how tough; how she can attract blue-collar white workers and dismiss all of the white support Barack gets in every election. They even praise her for her ability to drink down shots and for her acting ability to turn herself into a working-class girl who can shoot ducks behind a cottage (possibly another Bosnian fabrication) -- in otherwords for her performances and lies. Chris Matthews calls it impressive! In otherwords, they do not reward truth and authenticity in our politicians but how well they can act which has nothing to do with the true governing of a society.

Their plan and plotting is to get Hillary elected Democratic nominee, then unleash the "arsenal of weapons" they have against her and Bill, for they have been Planning this for a long time; then defeat her in the Fall with the very help of African-Americans that the Clintons have alienated and that McCain is so eagerly trying to impress at this time; -- beautiful though Machiavellian!

Let's be clear, Barack is fighting a Two-headed Giant: the Clintons as a unity for they are one, the Republican Party: McCain, Cable Television: Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, Wolf Blitzer Rush Limbaugh (we need to have Barack bloodied up) & Fox News -- a Mighty Giant indeed. Hillary actively seeks their support to help her beat Barack but they will turn against her like a mighty sword if she was to become the Democratic nominee come fall.
It is not easy to overcome this Mighty Giant of Special Interest Money & Corporate Greed, but what we can do, is to identify who they are and not give them anymore Power. Turn off TV shows which are disingenuous and have their own political agenda that is not in keeping with the welfare of the people, stop buying their books or newspapers, write more articles about the ways they try to divide us and fool us, write/call and email them and their producers our objections to the way they are reporting non-news, gossip, and trying to brainwash us for their own continued domination of the masses. Maybe we will have to write their sponsors and complain -- hit them in their pocket book. We all have to get involved in this effort. We can no longer let them distract us or divide us. We too have power!
This effort by the people, for the people, is the one kink in the armour of this Mighty Giant. We the people are finally waking up and seeing through their lies, distortion and domination, and we will nominate Barack Obama, the People's Champion. I say people because there are some disinfected Republicans and Independents who are finally waking up to the fact that under Republican rule this country has suffered, while big business and big money has prospered. And, in truth, we are all one, we all share the same Red blood. It is a sad fact, that we cannot recognize America anymore. They have hi-jacked our television with exploitation of sex and violence to our children, then they want to try them like adults, when they are only children and are trying to find their way. Dispicable! People are waking up to this and they are ready to get their power back, their jobs back, their very way of life back, which is the American way: peace, brotherhood, prosperity for all, not just a special few.

Then we have the Clintons , who were once the bedrock of the Democratic Party, or so we thought, who we have since learned that they will bed with anyone (Rush Limbaugh, Richard Mellon Scaife), say anything, do anything (fuel a racial and gender divide and push us back 50 years), put on any kind of Act to achieve their power again, it seems for powers sake! Does anyone really believe that Mark Penn is not vitally active in their Campaign though publically they say otherwise and does our corporate Media expose this myth? Sadly not! Unfortunately, the Clintons have lost their way, blinded by power and ambition. -- This is not the kind of Political Couple we want to lead America to a more holistic place, as we can no longer trust them to be truthful or authentic or have the best interest of the people at heart!

Next: The John Edwards game plan! With his pledged delegates, his significant popular vote, and the media's pronouncement of his resurrected inevitability, he will surge among the superdelegates and peel away elected delegates! Or, Greg, try the new Bill Richardson game plan!

She will take it to the convention. Even if she has to ride a bus on her last two cents. It's a slash and burn policy. Nothing else matters. Look how the Clintons have used race in the campaign.

Race is the huge issue now, although clothed in other words like "electability." And should the Democratic Party allow Clinton to overturn any version of the Obama's winning numbers, they will lose millions of Black votes. Not voters turning to McCain, but voters who stay home.

Lots of things aren't "absolutely impossible." Is it absolutely impossible that we could still find out about, let's say, John McCain's penchant for choirboys? Of course not. Ergo, Huckabee still has a chance!

Path to victory not path to victory?

She does not hate America or have a radical kook spiritual adviser.

Its no brainer, she wins the electoral votes easily to win the general.

The supers will decide to win this time and not lose three in a row with a radical, far left, liberal.

Real outstanding questiona:

1. Does the one in five chance she has of making this plan work justify the damage it will inflict on the guy who has the four in five chance of being the nominee, given the kind of campaign she's going to have to run to give herself even that one in five chance?

Obviously, she thinks yes because, most conveniently for herself, she thinks Obama has a zero chance of winning in November. If he can't win anyway, there's nothing she can do that isn't justified. Like I said, most convenient reasoning. However, one wonders whether the supers might view it as Naderian nihilism.

2. This is the big one. How in the name of God does she imagine she can win in November without the votes of the huge part of Obama's supporters she will have completely alienated if she steals the nomination out from under him? And, for that matter, how do the people who keep giving her money think she can do that?

She's just Nader writ larger at this point. And utterly devoid of the slightest trace of anti-corporatism, of course.

You know what hasn't been analyzed enough? The fact that Clinton is trending down, and Obama up. Just look at the Polster graph. Slowly, but surely, she's losing it.

Does anyone honestly believe if Super Tuesday were held again today, Barack wouldn't do better? I say he wins Cal, NJ, and maybe even NY.

Greg, do you like the new bike path on 9th ave?

look at their support demographics, and new voter registration, and i think this much is clear:

if she gets the nomination, she looses at least of quarter of the party.

if he gets the nomination, he looses maybe ten percent.

i used to feel comfortable w/ hillary as a presidential choice, but i've come to think that there is some strange, and none-of-my-business power relationship/fetish between the clinton that, for them, obscures a view of the writing on the wall . . . .

someone, please, explain to me why she's doing this?

Excellent plan by: THE OBLITARATOR!!!

Does anyone know what Obama has raised online since Penn?????

Will she continue to court superdelegates long after reason should dictate otherwise? Of course she will. She already is!

Hillary Clinton is a rabid, political cur that will not stop until the superdelegates "put her down" so to speak. I just hope that the superdelegates actually have enough "rationale ammo" to do just that.

Obama is not a radical/ far left. Yes him and Clinton are both liberal. Though Clinton has become more right in terms of foreign policy, because, well there are prob. different reasons why.

Gotalife, be fair. Plus Obama has gotten Republican and Independent support and as you can see has passed bipartisan legislation.

Too bad that everyone has to attack Obama, because yes he is the front-runner and he is indeed loved by so many. I've seen Repub pundits on tv trying to discount Obama as a regular politician, because they know that Americans do in fact see him as different.

Even though people voted for Clinton in PA they felt she had attacked unfairly by more percentage points.

You will argue perhaps that is politics, indeed that is politics in this country. Obama was/is trying to change that.

I am glad that people in this nation are being exposed and revealed. It is all over the MSM (LA Times) people admitting that there are pockets of racist people in their states (One Dem talking about Ohio).

So this process has revealed some ugly truths about our nation, our perceptions, our stereotypes.

To be fair, I think Rev. Wright is somewhat bitter, and I can understand why, maybe the puplit wasn't the place to talk about these things. But to say he is the only one? haha. I know folks in PA and Ohio are bitter, we have serious issues and problems in this nation and it is time we, you faced them. Class issues & race issues. I don't think class has been addressed, and it is difficult to address. Call me far left, go ahead, but the division between working class and rich is unfair if it is at the expense of the poor. You think Edwards is far left? Cause he cares about poor people and class divisions?

this is completely my own speculation but I think her campaign has made a deal with the devil (a.k.a. the vast right wing conspiracy) to double-barrell attack Obama. As the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The Repubs are certainly helping her get whatever vote they can pull from Obama in NC. If you say he needs 41%, they will try to sabotage him.

We should ask ourselves, why aren't they going after Clinton? Doesn't this scare Clinton supporters, Democrats, that the Repubs are helping her?

They are definitely helping her strategy.

The beginning two premises of the "best hope" scenario, viz that she keeps it suprisingly close in NC and wins outright in IN, are both quite unlikely. As such, this "best hope" memo will become entirely obsolete in just a few weeks - and yet I can confidently predict that on May 7 or shortly thereafter some otherwise sensible journalist will pen yet another "best hope" memo contriving yet another unlikely set of contingencies under which she still wins. This journalist will lard it with just as many careful caveats as Mr Sargent has about how it is unlikely but not impossible. Perhaps one of the more talented parody artists here (Genghis? NCSteve? Tena?) might save someone the trouble by going ahead and writing it now?

As Elizabeth Drew notes, the unpledged (super) delegates understand what the Clinton campaign is up to and, by and large, are not buying it.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9862.html

As for #4, push hard for MI, well we the people need to keep up our vigilance because there is no way in Hell that would be fair. Florida is a long-shot but MI? NO WAY, NO WAY IN HELL.

If the Democratic leaders can't agree on that point, then we've lost the point, we've lost sight of this whole Democracy. If they somehow try to count MI well then they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. This is a joke, a sick joke.

From: Clinton Campaign
To: all of my supporters (both of you)
RE: best hope
date: May 7th (the day after we lost NC and Indiana)

We all know that the only way a Dem can win the presidency is to have a third party Ross Perot type take the independant voters away from the Republicans. This year's version of Ross Perot is Michael Bloomberg. He has the interest, the money, and he is short so he feels like he needs to prove himself.

Bloomberg supports Obama. If Obama is the nominee he won't run. But if we somehow steal this from Obama Bloomberg might be mad enough to run. Who knows, maybe he'll make Obama his running mate?

So Bloomberg takes 15% to 20% and I squeak in with a plurality like Bill did.

This one will work!!!!

Shorter Greg,
Make it as easy as possible for McCain.

Yes it seems as though we are in the 11th hour. A bit late for Clinton to change up her strategy. I mean Obama knew their strategy and did an amazing job with it. I think some will look at that and go for it, wheras other Supers won't. Cause Obama, in all likelihood, even if he doesn't win all the next primaries, he will get a large chunk of delegates. I think Obama should push the grassroots to make phonecalls etc. I remember during the TX primaries there was so much buzz and action all over this nation to make phone calls. We need to do that with Puerto Rico, NC etc.

It seems that the biggest two letter word in the dictionary, *IF*, has become the theme for these primaries, but only for Clinton, and I for one am sick and tired of it.

The bottom line of *IF* is this:

*IF* the numbers for Clinton and Obama were reversed, this would would have been over long ago and we would be focused on McCain and the general.
Racism is alive and well in the great US of A!

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have done the best job of exposing this for what it is.
As usual, the msm and pundits push the clinton talking points and call it journalism.
Shame on them!

Obama gets three supers after losing big in PA and a complete melt down in the last debate. He refuses another debate, blocks democracy in Florida and Michigan and gets rewarded 3 supers.

Clinton gets 1.

Fair?

BS.

Questions!
Is this path to hell, away from hell, or can Clinton tell the difference?

I was a big Clinton supporter in the 1990's, but one of the annoying things about Bill and Hill was this need to turn everything into some sort of pscho/drama opera. Granted, with Newt and Ken Starr, they had some world class enablers in that regard, but it seems that there was always a need to avoid a straight forward and business like route to any destination. Hence, the six part plan, each with mulitiple moving parts and elements, outlined by Gregg to secure the nomination. I suppose Hilary is entitled to stay in, but this not a football -- she's not contractually obligated to play until time runs out. If I were uncommitted Super Delegates, I'd be doing all I could as quickly as possible to avoid having Hill, Bill, or one of their minions call me and make me listen to their 84 part argument. One of the many attractive features about Obama is that, though he is running an unconentional insurgent campaign, he is doing it in a business like manner. It gives me the feeling that an Obama White House would be focused on getting things done, not appeasing the over sized egos of the Clintons and their hangers-on.

I don't have a problem with Greg on this post except that I have a problem with the ongoing insistence that "popular vote" is a real entity and is represented by a known quantity and it's not and it isn't.

It's not known, it's not real, it's not relevant and it's maddening when people outside the Clinton camp, which I understand wants to talk about something that isn't real, keep talking about it.

Popular vote is bogus. This is the primary - we can't even determine popular vote here - hell, how many times does this have to be said? MI didn't even have Obama on the ballot - so there are two states short of a vote anyway.

please quit falling for this stupid spin - there is no popular vote in the primary.

It fuels this non-argument of Clinton's. And it fuels the stupid MI, FL argument.

I am respectfully asking everyone when talking about the popular vote to mention that it isn't a valid metric and can't be made one without contortions that themselves give the aura of invalidation. There are four states that do not contribute to popular vote totals (besides Florida and Michigan). They only give delegate totals, which is by the actual rules the only metric that counts. These four states are caucus states and I live in one of them.
Washington, Nevada, Maine and Iowa give results only in delegates.

There is no national popular vote, it is simply not a metric of the primary process, it never was and therefore isn't even findable as a statistic.

There could be a negotiation for how to arrive at a perception of national support based on disparate factors, but by definition statistics are facts and not arrived at by negotiation.

So it helps the discourse if this is brought into every discussion of 'popular vote'. Something that doesn't exist is getting way too legitimized in this process.

axelrod is right...since when did the white, blue-collar vote become the absolute defining core constituency of the democratic party? why, when hillary start winning that vote, coincidentally, that's exactly when this happened. the media respouts her talking points without even realizing it, and it's ridiculous.

african-americans are indisputably, historically, reliably, the number one core constituency of the democratic party. and they aren't voting 60-40 for obama, like the white blue-collar vote is doing for hillary, but 80-20 or 90-10. this is the bigger issue! but for some reason, everyone goes on and on about the bowlers and the drinkers, when in fact if this nomination is overturned to clinton, the dems are going to lose their strongest allies. it's completely offensive that this demographic doesn't register in a big way in the media, or in the clinton campaign. one more example that the clintons will throw anyone under the bus who gets in their way.

That's a pretty good summation of her numbers strategy.

How long must we indulge the Clintons on their quest to essentially commit election fraud?

When does the DNC stand up and say no, sorry, the path to winning the nomination is based on delegates won, not destroying the party?

They should put their foot down on FL and MI, stick to the rules they made, and the ones Obama honored.

No cheating, sorry.

If the DNC isn't strong enough to enforce their own rules, how can we put pressure on them?

Who - left out the important part due to bad tags.

The only thing that matters in the primary is:

delegate count>

To answer your question, she would probably say that the choice was still not "clear" in that she was not all that far behind. Obama would not be ahead by a landslide. She would also point to trends if they favored her, and would say that over time Obama peaked and then began to decline. She would point to disillusionment with Obama as the voters got to know him better, and say that Obama would continue to fade as November approached. She would also point out that by the rules the superdelegates are not bound to go for the candidate who has either the most pledged delegates or the lead in the popular vote, but rather they are required to use their best judgment on who could defeat McCain. But if Obama ends up ahead in both pledged delegates and the popular vote with Florida and Michigan included, it would obviously be extremely tough for the superdelegates to go against him.

Florida scares me, I mean remember what happened, Bush/Gore..

That's ancient history - why aren't you scared of Ohio? That's where it all went wrong in '04.

Clinton doesn't have to wait until the end of the primaries to argue that the Democratic electorate didn't deliver a clear verdict.

The Democratic Electorate did not deliver a clear verdict. Even without Fl and Michigan, the popular vote show less than 1.8% differnce in the candidates totals.

Please, let me just ask one more time. Talking only about Florida and Michigan does not get at the deeper illegitimacy of the 'popular vote'. Please, if you are reading this thread start throwing Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington in there as a more fundamental problem and just as important. There are upwards of 200,000 uncounted votes there. They need to find their way into every depiction of the problem.

Of Course Senator Clinton is a Liberal.

Nothing says Liberal like promising to Obliterate Seventy Million Human Beings, because they live in a land that does not have any Nuclear Weapons, like the many thousands of them that Dr. Hillary Strangelove Clinton would have to trigger.

LOL - "Hillabee". I am so stealing that...