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Hillary Picks Up Another Super-Del
Hillary Clinton has reportedly picked up another super-delegate today, even as she works to dispel the idea that she should drop out.
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) is now backing Hillary, on the grounds that she carried his district in the primary. He joins Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), who also announced earlier today that he's supporting Hillary because she carried his district.
Today's score so far: Obama +4, Hillary +1. (Clinton lost a super-delegate in a defection to Obama.)
The overall super-del score: Hillary 273.5, Obama 260.
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Comments (97)
I just heard Wolfson on NPR. Its kind of hard to describe his tone. I think the most descriptive phrase would have to be, "Trying to put the shit back in the horse."
May 7, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I bet he wishes Mark Penn was still around. Nobody could sling horse shit like Mark Penn.
May 7, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"This race isn't about delegates. It's about Ellsworthes."
May 7, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mark Penn is still around, doing pretty much the same that he used to for the campaign; he just changed his job title.
May 7, 2008 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fox News, ew, reports that Clinton will have a summer campaign going on with rallies, flyers, and speeches before the convention.
Now that MSNBC has moved to Hardball and the sinkhole coverage is over, here is what is being said about inside the Clinton camp.
Andrea Mitchell reported she was with the Clintons on the plane back after Indiana. As soon as they landed the camps blackberries went off and the learned of what Tim Russert had said about the race being over and we have a nominee. The call was immediately made by Hillary Clinton herself to go to West Virginia. The camp was quoted as saying "We need to do something,"
Clinton has no plans on leaving the race according to what Andrea Mitchell just said on Hardball. The writing is on the wall, but camp Clinton can’t read it. You see by the spin they are pushing today they are trying to remain in the race trying to make West Virginia a "momentum changer." Mitchell said their goal is to weather the storm of 2 days of bad media and see where it goes from there.
The loan was leaked out by the Clinton camp in the hopes that she could get more support from donors like she did last time she announced she lent herself money.
May 7, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
holy shit - just shoot me please.
this is truly insane.
May 7, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
The money thing probably didn't work, because I'd expect they'd be shouting it from the rooftops if they had hauled in cash.
Instead, the AP report is all we heard.
May 7, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for taking the time to bring this to us. I've given up on the cable network horserace coverage of this thing.
May 7, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
So 4 to 1, not bad.
I wonder if there are more to come today or if we will have to wait until tomorrow.
I would love Obama to close the superdelegate gap by friday.
May 7, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
273.5?
May 7, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Superdelegate from abroad. Counts as half of a delegate.
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
0.5 from Americans abroad.
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Super Delegates from Caucus states only count as .5
Super Delegates from Red States only count as .3
Super Delegates from Red States that hold caucuses only count as bus fare.
Using this metric, Hillary would only need to win 59.3% of the remaining delegates to secure the nomination.
May 7, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very nice....
May 7, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
And of course, an African American vote only equals three fifths of a white working class vote.
May 7, 2008 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
But wait --
WV and KY are about as red as they come. So she'll only get .3 of a superdelegate there?
Hillary Rules are so confusing.
May 8, 2008 2:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish these SUPERDs would just stand up and be counted. What are they waiting for?
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
They aren't convinced your guy can win moron.
May 7, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.amishrakefight.org/gfy/
May 7, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"At this point, it's no longer about her; it's about the party," said one of Clinton's top fundraisers. "I think she should drop out now. If not now, then within the next few days." The fundraiser, who requested anonymity in order to speak frankly, had previously advised Clinton to stay until the superdelegates had made up their minds. The fundraiser, who has known the Clinton family for years, pointed to Bill Clinton's puffy, tearful face as evidence that the family's chief political strategist knew that the end was near.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/
May 7, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually they're not sure your gal can accept defeat without flaming and defaming them.
May 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uhuh. Keep telling yourself that.
May 7, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
The point is that 2 new super delegates came out for her AFTER her WIN in Indiana, in spite of the MSM's take on it as a loss.
She Won a state in Obama's back yard that he was once ahead by double digits in... a state he CLAIMED he'd win by 8.
And she still won even with the crookery that went on in Gary which held up the announcement until the middle of the night.
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
“We now know who the Democratic nominee’s going to be, and no one’s going to dispute it,”
-Tim Russert
May 7, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, like we don't know where his (tim russert's) bias lies after that mockery of a debate he led which gave SNL great fun at skits it was so ridiculous!
He can say what ever he wants.
SHe's still in .. And she'll stay in till it's done.
May 7, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Loser, go whine elsewhere.
May 7, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
FFS, be gracious--no need to rub it in. Are you trying to get her to vote for McCain?
May 7, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tee hee...
oh wait, you're serious aren't you???
tee hee...
May 7, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
May 7, 2008 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tim Russert is a smug toad, and I think that RaeK is correct to dismiss anything he says.
May 7, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't care how big a smug ass Russert is.
Just wanting to rub it in to the Hillbot Troll.
May 7, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's already done. They're just planning the exit strategy.
May 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Raek- You would make sense if you dealt with reality. Try adding and subtracting first!
May 7, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad you're content with a 3 delegate net loss for her on the day. I'll take those results any day too.
May 7, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is good - for Obama.
The more Supers that commit now, the less are left.
Remember: Hillary needs to get 80% of remaining supers to win.
NOT be gaining Supers at a rate of 2 to Obama's 4...
May 7, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
ack, 1 to 4. Even worse for her.
May 7, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
“We now know who the Democratic nominee’s going to be, and no one’s going to dispute it,
except for that pathetic sore loser RaeK.”
-Tim Russert
May 7, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, SHE started out ahead and he ate into her lead substantially. Check out the first polls at the end of March:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/in/indiana_democratic_primary-639.html#polls
Indiana may be in Illinois' backyard, but demographically, it's a lot closer to Ohio or PA.
You can go back to your barnyard now.
May 7, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude, those two precommitted to endorsing the winner of their district. Sorry.
May 7, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the penalty for going back on their word would have been precisely nothing. In other words, they still count as superdelegate pick ups for Sen Clinton. Fair is fair.
It does not matter why they vote for her. If they vote for her then she benefits from their vote. Trying to make out as if these pick-ups do not count is as churlish as when they disparage our red-state victories and the like.
May 7, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree--but it was RaeK that stated it did matter why they voted for her.
May 7, 2008 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing happened in Gary, Indiana is a red state, and Hillary has lost the nomination. Deal with it.
May 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do realize that Clinton's lost states bordering all of her alleged home states, right? Or are CT, VT, MD, DE (I'm not actually sure if it shares a border because the map's small, but it's close), LA, MS, and MO not states any more?
May 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking on behalf of Clinton, I'd like to say that Connecticut doesn't really count, because we have all those damn college students here, and the crazy cuckoo Democrats in CT voted to kick Joe's butt out of the Senate.
Obviously, we don't count.
May 7, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rae, you do realize that your candidate won Indiana by a spread of 1.11, right (Clinton: 50.55%, Obama 49.44%)? She may gain 1 delegate out of that if she's lucky. She won the state by about 14,195 votes - the majority of which I am certain came from Operation Chaos since 1 in 8 voters who voted for Clinton say they would vote for McCain in the general EVEN IF CLINTON WHERE THE NOMINEE???
Please, stop the bullshit, OK? The only "moron" here is you who can't see the reality of the situation.
May 7, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for bringing up Operation Chaos.
Hillary's courting of the racist vote so shamelessly is an embarrassment to the Democratic Party.
May 8, 2008 3:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
And he did the same (Connecticut). Given that you did not trumpet those results from the rooftop as somehow especially telling, I am hard pressed to see why we are supposed to be impressed by your observations here.
May 7, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS particular talking point (read: lie) has been driving me crazy since she opened her mouth yesterday and uttered it.
When exactly was Obama "ahead" in Indiana? Some focus group in 2007? Hillary's been ahead there for months.
You'd think, just once, you people would expect her to tell the truth. But you don't. You know damn well she expected to win by 10 points in IN and expected Caravan Clinton to sew up votes in NC.
Of course, the truth won't get her elected. All she has is lies.
May 8, 2008 3:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
awwwww. Good for her.
May 7, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Judas! Representative Ellsworth must get credit for his independent streak. He must not want an appointment to be a federal judge, under secretary or ambassador in the Obama Administration. And, the Clintons sure must admire his steadfast conviction. That is the kind of dexterity that would be appreciated by the Clintons. Unfortunately, Ellsworth just bet on Eight Belles.
May 7, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
God alone knows what that's about, really. It could mean his biggest donor is a huge Hillary supporter.
May 7, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I think it may mean some Clinton camp spin was put onto Brad Ellsworth's position. I am guessing that before the IN primary, he handled the Clinton camp arm-twisting pressure on him by only committing to follow the will of his constituents. Once she eked out a win in his district, the Clinton camp used that to announce his 'endorsement' of her candidacy. The fact that his office then sent out a communication to clarify his position, i.e., to nuance his position in a way that is not necessarily an 'endorsement' is significant. Here is his office's statement:
*** Ellsworth's office sends along this distinction: "I stand by my belief the American people, not superdelegates, should decide who the Democrat nominee will be, and I was glad to see record numbers of Hoosiers getting involved and casting their votes in this historic race," Ellsworth writes in a statement, "If it comes down to the convention, I will cast my vote for the candidate 8th District voters chose unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise." ***
I believe that Ellsworth may actually be a bit pissed that the Clinton camp over-reached in declaring him as her 'endorsee' rather than more accurately representing his position as wanting to follow the will of the voters he represents.
May 8, 2008 7:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Finally, this thing is coming to a close.
5/20 can't come soon enough.
May 7, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
5/22 actually cause that is when the new Indiana Jones comes out.
May 7, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is the name of the new movie again? Indiana Jones and the temple of the three testicles?
May 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you jump on a sinking boat, it sinks faster and with you on it.
May 7, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Later, in Washington, D.C. Clinton kept to a strict schedule of meetings with superdelegates, greeting them one-by-one in a conference room at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The campaign did not immediately disclose the identities of the superdelegates, although Reps. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) were seen enterting the building while Clinton was there. (Stupak's office told CBS News that Stupak was there on other business and did not meet Clinton.) Clinton told reporters waiting outside that she discussed with several superdelegates the seating of Florida and Michigan.
Officials said that the campaign had several millions dollars on hand, which is enough to run a full flight of television advertisements in West Virginia and in Kentucky.
They would not disclose how much money was raised overnight. Clinton has lent herself a total of $6,425,000 during the past four weeks, with the latest $425,000 check being written on Sunday.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/
May 7, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they had raised anything worthwhile overnight they would have been crowing about it. That means that they got very little money after yesterday's results.
May 7, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly!
Just like they were champing at the bit to crow about an Eight Belles analogy until that turned into an unwanted metaphor.
May 7, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've said it before, I'll say it again -- watching all of these people continue to support a candidate with no chance to win, who is threatening to tear apart her own party, solely because they've invested so much of themselves in her, sounds very, very cultish, doesn't it now? (And I'm not referring to this SD, either.)
I wonder if Paul Krugman, or any other member of the Trollalition of The Concerning, will pick up on this. Walsh? Boehlert? Anybody?
May 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like you more with every comment.
I have my own take on Krugman and some of his disciples, but I refuse to go there inasmuch as it always ends badly, with me going off on yankees.
:)
So I will smile sweetly, and keep thinking what I'm thinking and keeping it to myself.
May 7, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
DO IT! I want a yankee rat bastards comment!
May 7, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
God it's bad enough without being egged on to get into trouble!
You're dangerous.
;)
May 7, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dream on, Kenny.
It's only Obama supporters who are cultish and personally invested...
And Joan Walsh has morphed into a one person Wright advertisement at this point. I sometimes wish people would just come right out and say what they want to say, rather than constantly bringing up Wright.
Instead of "I think we need to learn why Obama stayed in that church for 20 years" we could have "I'm afraid that our bigoted nation won't ever elect a black man, so let's not even nominate one, ok?"
It just would be so much more refreshing...
BTW, every time I see your avatar, the song from "Foot Loose" keeps running through my brain. Thanks. I owe you one.
May 7, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know of many people who keep attending a Roman Catholic Church that has had to remove two pedophile priests, and another who had taken over a million dollars from the church funds, and was caught with a prostitute in his car. That happened in just that one church during the past fifteen years, and all the members have stayed in the church.
A church is a community where people get together. It is greater than anyone Pastor. Look at the global sex scandel that has raged through out the Catholic church for many decades, and was covered up by it's top leaders, and yet no one demands that all Catholic politicians leave the church.
May 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still selling that nonsense huh....I truly am amazed!!
May 7, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you should trade it off for "I'm Alright." That way, you can do the groundhog dance every time you see my avatar.
And Walsh can't herself anymore. She was concern-trolling on Hardball just now, and couldn't even bring herself to concede that Obama has run a less negative campaign than Hillary. It's incredible.
It makes me upset, because I really enjoyed reading her, Boehlert and Krugman before this primary got so heated. I hope Boehlert and Walsh, at least, take a look at the piece in The Nation regarding how African American feminists are responding to claims that misogyny is a much larger problem than racism.
Boehlert, specifically, might want to rethink that book...
May 7, 2008 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
That should be, "Walsh can't help herself anymore."
May 7, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Caddy Shack" for me.
May 7, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just heard Wolfson on NPR. Its kind of hard to describe his tone. I think the most descriptive phrase would have to be, "Trying to put the shit back in the horse."
If the horse has been euthanized that's not so tough.
May 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
It looks like she is going have to be forced out, one way of the other.
If she doesn't leave by 5/25, I hope she is shoved out in the most painful, embarrassing way possible.
May 7, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I mentioned this on the other thread and it got met with a chorus of ????'s. Glad to see I hadn't imagined it, even though I kinda wished I had.
May 7, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chalk these guys up as two dudes that are afraid of seeing Rev. Wright clips used against them in November. I can understand taking care of #1, but at this point it seems like SDs supporting her are part of the problem rather than the solution (problem being interparty fighting, solution being turning our attention to the general).
May 7, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
What gets me is that this isn't being reported:
Mike Huckabee, who dropped out of the race two months ago and has campaigned for Mr. McCain, received 10.3 percent of the vote. Another McCain supporter, Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race even earlier, won 4.8 percent. And Representative Ron Paul of Texas, whose unconventional campaign has often drawn to the polls people who do not normally vote in Republican primaries, received 7.6 percent.
...
The situation was similar on Tuesday in North Carolina, where, with 54 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. McCain had 73.8 percent of the vote, Mr. Huckabee 12.1 percent, Mr. Paul 7.7 percent, and others 6.3 percent.
May 7, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
As you can tell, formatting is giving me hell.
May 7, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can bet that if that were Clinton or Obama in a similar situation, it'd be wall to wall coverage on those numbers. Why can't fill in the name of your Democrat close out the nomination? What does this say about the state of the Democratic party?
Blah, blah, blah. With Republicans? Crickets.
I say fine. Lull them into a sense of overconfidence.
May 7, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Technically it's Obama +4 Hillary +0 today, because she lost one superdelegate and gained one superdelete therefore 0 net gained superdelegates today.
May 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, she got another one earlier.
May 7, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn! For, as everyone knows, as Ellsworth goes, so goes the nomination. Ah, what the hell. After all, Obama did his best. It just wasn't quite good enough. "Congratulations, Hillary".
May 7, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOLOLOL!
May 7, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are endless comparable stories, liam, but what it's about isn't the church or the fact that he's a pastor - it's that he's black and outspoken, even scornful of white folks, by the looks of the vid, anyway.
That's the problem.
The other goddamn problem - and why someone does not stand up and say this - is that this is all a violation of the first amendment in at least 2 different ways. This is being outraged by dissent, first of all - and dissent has been under attack for quite some time; this is also a question of freedom of religion, and every goddamn church in this country should be alarmed by this.
May 7, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
every goddamn church in this country should be alarmed by this
I think some are. The ones who aren't assume that this is a, you know, "black thing". And it's not ever going to happen to them...
Hillary Clinton invoked Niemoller's words when talking about jobs being shipped overseas. Maybe a bit of a stretch, but it should have triggered some discussion about how Wright and the church are being hounded by people who don't like what they say. It didn't. Not one little peep.
It's all about how Wright is going to affect Obama. Or, so they tell me.
May 7, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is a violation of the First Ammendment?
Wright wasn't put in jail for his rantings, last I heard. People criticized him, and held his statements against Obama -- not fair; not intelligent, but not exactly unconstitutional, is it?
And what should every goddamned church be afraid of? The only thing I can think of that they should truly fear is that they will be found out to be completely bogus and have to pay taxes like they should have for the past 200 years.
May 7, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
My point is: Just as catholic politicians are not, and should not be held responsible for the words and deeds of their clergy, neither should Senator Obama.
May 7, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
O that should have been a lightning striking moment - her mentioning Niemoller's words (why did I think there was an 'h' in there?).
Sweet jesus.
Well of course, Wright wouldn't have any affect if they'd shut up about it.
May 7, 2008 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I may not be spelling it correctly.
May 7, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well I am very much not sure - my spelling goes further to shit every year.
May 7, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary got a superdelegate?!
Well isn't that just so *special*! And what a darling little superdelegate too... how proud her supporters must be!
May 7, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
off topic but:
They need at least 3 weeks to raise funds to bring down Bill and Hills personal debt...There is no other rational reason to kick a dead horse!
May 7, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Rational"? You're funny.
Rachel Maddow calls this the "post-rational" phase.
And you'd want an irrational president --- why?
May 8, 2008 3:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm...interesting. Greg and Eric, you might want to update the post with the following update by Ben Smith:
Sounds like it's not quite an endorsement and like Ellsworth is playing it safe for now.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/
May 7, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The main question is not the Iraq War, The Economy; It's COMPETENCE STUPID!
We have seen the most incompetent, Executive, Judiciary, Congress and Executive Agencies (Defense, FEMA, etc) in the History of America...Lets WAKE UP!
Its not a person it's competence!
May 7, 2008 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ellsworth just wants to be re-elected. And since the people of his district chose her, it's a smart move.
May 8, 2008 12:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
oh, I think Clinton concedes after the last vote, but you morons seem to be in denial about two things. 1. it has been a very close contest, there is something unseemly about the hysterical rhetoric about Clinton. 2. sure, the current government has a number of non-AA losers, namely W and Rumsfeld, and Feith. But non-AA losers and incompetents are atill a small minority of the elite. However, it is hard to find any AA member of the elite who is not a loser or incompetent, although Obama stands out as not obviously either, but neither has he shown any real, substantive accomplishments in his life. Sad to say, in any field that requires intellectual talent, i.e. economics, law, physics you just don't find any AAs anywhere. They're all over in the AA History or AA Studies departments, churning out "scholarship."
May 8, 2008 3:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
oh, and how did the international markets react to the news that Obama is the likely nominee? The US dollar dropped 6%, the biggest one day fall since 1973.
May 8, 2008 4:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
How, pray tell, are the two even remotely related???
You're drawing conclusions from unrelated factors.
It could just as easily have been because I had spaghetti for dinner or the fact that you're an insufferable douche.
OR...more realistically, the fact that the US Housing market is in freefall, the prospects for a new conflict in Iran or the increasing price of a barrel of oil and the chances that Iran is going to switch to the Euro.
Yeah, I'm thinking one of those is much more likely.
Moron.
May 8, 2008 4:09 AM | Reply | Permalink