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Group Runs Newspaper Ad Demanding Hillary Be On Ballot At Convention

Check out the half-page ad that a pro-Hillary group called the Denver Group -- a reference to the location of the Dem convention -- is running in today's edition of CQ (click to enlarge):

The ad demands that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid stop opposing the inclusion of Hillary's name on the ballot, and invokes FDR to make its case.

So what is the " Denver Group," anyway? It's been getting some media attention of late, and CQ had a piece detailing the group last week: It was formed by a pro-Hillary Georgetown University professor named Heidi Li Feldman, and its aim is to lobby for an open convention and for the inclusion of Hillary's name on the ballot. She claims to have raised $100,000 for her efforts.

The group ran an ad in the Chicago Tribune last week. We're not sure what to make of this outfit yet, if anything. If we find out more on the group of interest, we'll let you know.


130 Comments

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Oh Jesus, not this shit again.

She lost, get over it.

And as for her being the VP, forget about it. Her husband's Library and Foundation can't survive the vetting process, therefore it is a moot point!!!

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These people are so consumed with the cult of personality they forget the millions of real people whose lives will be changed (saved?) for the better by a Democratic president.

For these PUMA maniacs, the issue is one of personality, not policy. Which is nice for them, because they can afford to be obsessed with personality. Most of America and the world can't.

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If you are going to be obsessed with personality why choose Hillary?

The mind boggles.

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It's her hips...they almost won me over.

Sometimes you make me laugh. Sometimes you make me cry. This is the first time you made me snort diet coke through my nose.

How can you tell through the pants suits?

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Hi SFCWallace,

What's up with this? Let's keep the discourse civil and the sexist bs out of the comment threads.

Thanks,
Lila
TPMCafe Editor

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THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR...

... oh, where's idiotic when you need him?

Greg, this is a media-driven non-issue. Anyone can make a fake advocacy group for anything on the internet. Do you really want to give these irrelevant losers more exposure?

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I think you're being paranoid.  Give poor Greg a break!  TPM is in the business of both Information Retrieval and Information Dispersal!  (h/t musoscribe)

Besides, it's fun for us to poke fun at those chickens out there running around with their heads cut off.  Wanna bet this post gets more comments than 80% of all other postings?

Give it a rest!!!!!!!!

there's no-one to blame for these ads but Hillary Clinton. she set the fiercely partisan, near-sociopathic tone for her final months and withdrawal, and she's the one who's not coming out strongly in the media denouncing these groups and encouraging them to get behind Senator Obama instead.

i wish that all of this bullshit was over too, but let's allocate blame where it's due so we understand why things are happening.

And Hilary can stop it with a word.

"Sen. Obama is the nominee of our party. I will support his nomination by acclamation."

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I just have to say: that's an adorable avatar...

Hear hear!

and,hear

thanks, liked yours, this little one chased me down the road when I was out running. Someone had dumped it in the country. Scrawny, wet, hungry, muddy, obviously used to people.

It has now overcome that trauma and is cheerfully taking on the life of a pampered indoor cat.

She has been saying it.

Her so-called supporters, however, aren't listening.

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No she has not. She has said she encourages her supporters to support him as she does but she has not said that she supports his being awarded the nomination by acclamation. She wants the roll call vote.

dumb comments from racists like blackstar...

might as well just throw out the constitution...obama has already done that with his fisa vote...lets go a step further and rewrite the constitution so that it basically says that "messiah Barack Hussein Obama Jr. shall rule over our kool-aid drinking lives for the rest of eternity as there is no death for our beloved lord Obama"

We all know you kool aid drinkers lover communism and dictatorship...so just go to kenya where obama's cousin is raping and killing innocent people...you can join him.....

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As opposed to wasting money on this garbage, why don't they pay off her debt????? This is absurd and I hope that people stop trying to help pay off her debt until this garbage stops. We should be going after mcbush, not trying to harm the dem nominee. Pathetic.

Well,,,,,,duh! Now you know why Hillary doesn't slap them publically. She wants them to pay off her debt.

She could send them a letter outlining why their letter, is harmful to Democratic unity and the chances of Obama being elected in the fall. While she's at it she could ask them to fork over some dough.

On HuffPo recently there was a piece about how a certain group of women fundraisers for Hillary, were refusing to help Obama. Again, all it takes is a few well chosen words from Hillary. Susie Buell Tompkins, who is a close friend of Hillary and has raised massive amounts of money for Hill, Bill and the Democrats as a whole. She is reported to be v. bitter, another holdout.

There are numerous Hill groups with web sites popping up, demanding that their gal be the nominee. It all feels orchestrated.

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Orchestrated. Hmmmmm.

What's ol' Lanny up to these days?

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What's ol' Lanny up to these days?

Working at Fox News.

And defending Obama's FISA vote.

Couldn't resist that one....

don't worry we have been paying off her debt...no thanks to the greedy "it's all about me" obama and his half-a-brain (I being generous) supporters.

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Cue up fake concern post from foghat, our resident Limbaugh troll, in 3, 2, 1...

Smells like Operation Chaos.

Can Obama win without the LaRouche vote?!??!

The better question is, can he win without the Douche Vote?

these people are lost souls. dont these people have jobs or kids to take care of.


Awkward Exchange between McCainโ€™s press aides and St. Louis Reporter

What a waste of time and money.
Let Hillary decide what she wants to do

Do you hear what I hear? QUACK QUACK QUACKS....can you imagine these women's families? LOL Wonder what it's like around the ole homestead when they don't get their way? Bet it's not pretty...those poor husbands and kids.....
They damage our party, our nominee and theirselves when someone sane listens to them.
They will become nothing more than a foot note to history while of those of us who have really worked for the change this country needs can rest with the knowledge that we did no harm.

It's all about woman feeling empowered. Vapid impractical rationalizations for polyamory, Hillary, etc. - this shoes this year must be really ugly or something.

Oh, did I say something insulting? My My

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What has this to do with ugly shoes?

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Hi Mjeffn,

This kind of comment is really unwarranted. I'm not sure how shoes are related to the argument, but can we please keep things civil?

Thanks,

Lila
TPMCafe Editor

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The group ain't all that bright, is it?

One way to guarantee that Hillary Clinton gets nowhere near the Veep office or the ballot is to lobby openly and loudly for either.

Stupid.

So I guess we can expect a lot of concern trolling from the likes of Cameron Brown, Anderson Cooper, David Gregory, David Brooks, little Willy Kristol et al?

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"Franklin Roosevelt went to the 1932 convention 90 delegates short..."

bah...thats the difference right there. He was short of the number of delegates whereas Obama is not.

this comparison makes no sense....

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except reading this further, the ad claims obama DOESN"T have the number of delegates needed...

are these people liars? or what?

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Feldman argues that Obama only has the magic 2118 because of 390 superdelegates. And they could change their mind right up until they cast their ballot.

So she says that there's "no way of knowing" how the vote will turn out if it's a "fair election".

For fun, I'm posting the link to the No Quarter page that featured this (yeah, I bet everyone is shocked SHOCKED! that No Quarter featured this):

Feldman featured at No Quarter

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News flash: Larry Johnson and his Republican operative friend plan to unveil the Michelle Obama "Whitey" video -- the one nobody has seen but Johnson is Really Really Sure that it Exists -- on the Democratic convention floor. Carried live by Fox Noise, of course.

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Are you snarking? Or is he really planning on doing that?

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My bad. Definitely snark. Since IMHO the Super Duper Secret Whitey Tape doesn't exist....

(Of course, you can do marvelous things with video-editing tools these days....)

And since when would Fox News be concerned about whether it was inventing reality or not?

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There's gotta be an ad slogan in there somewhere...

"We Invent. You Decide." ??

good job gharlane...go with video editing bs....

Obama Campaign started spreading that she said "why did he" rather "whitey" in a tape that they claim does not exist (I know I know...this is how their brain works...go figure..)...I guess not too many people bought that....

better luck with the video editing claim...so that when the tape does come out you can at least hope that obama can get a job as an "ass wiper"...maybe axerove's ass? frankly I don't think many people will let obama anywhere near their asses

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...and you, of course, have a documented link where you can demonstrate that THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN was "spreading" the "why did he" explanation?

If not, then stand branded as a liar. Or a dupe. Take your pick.

I believe the total was in reference to pledged delegates. The superdelegates are not pledged.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall that democrats cast votes in 56 primaries and cacuses in 1932 BEFORE the convention.

This is such a ridiculous, specious argument since today the nominee is determined by the primaries, not by the convention.

That's correct. In 1932, as in previous elections, the bosses and political machines picked the candidates (no primary/caucuses involved). But why would an irrational group of individuals let those little facts get in the way of their little circle jerk?

Hillary Clinton will do nothing more than a small "Please stop" since this is her dream too. That the Supers will wake up prior to the convention and nominate her. The woman is sick and we are all soo lucky that she lost!

No, Hillary is resigned to and has accepted the loss. She isn't going to say much because she wants these people to retire her debt. No gain in her upsetting them.

They could have put their money and energy to better use. Like retiring the Senator's primary debt.

LOL Yep I can see it now....they will nominate Clinton instead of Obama in mid August...and she will have 2 months to raise enough money to beat McCain.....not happening and that is the one of the biggest hurdles they should have to answer. How will that work out? She going to raise 300 million in 2 months? Heck she couldn't raise enough money to compete in the primary!

I think I'm becoming hearing impaired...I don't hear Hil doing anything to denounce these groups and taking a strong stand against what they are doing. She has only given lip service to supporting barack and this disguts me to the hilt. My local blue dog Rep. Shuler refuses to endorse Barack as he endorsed hil post her winning his district in the primary. Call Shuler's campaign manager, Andrew Weyland and let him how you feel about his lack of effort for unity at 828-348-0414.

Better paying off Hillary's debt than spend of campaign to nowhere.

Funny how they don't point out that F.D.R. was *leading* in delegates amongst the candidates going into the convention...

...or that voters largely decide who wins nowadays, and they picked Obama.

Do these Clinton PUMAs really want to go back to the days where party leaders in smoky backrooms can override the candidate who was clearly the voter's choice in the majority of states?

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ah...but the "majority of states" included several (if not all) of the states the "don't count."

don't you get it?!

Money isn't the issue for Hillary if she wins at the Convention. She will do like McCain and get public financing. Also, if Hillary doesn't get a vote for her nomination at the convention, that will be the first time in history that a person with elected delegates isn't honored with a vote at the convention. That is outrageous.

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"if she wins at the Convention".

She's not going to win. Period. End of story. Stop entertaining this ridiculous fantasy that somehow, superdelegates are going to flip flop at the convention. It's not going to happen.

And could you kindly provide a link to back up the "that will be the first time in history that a person with elected delegates isn't honored with a vote at the convention" statement?

So John Edwards got a vote at the 2004 convention?

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Uh markcaldicott? Forget about the request for the link. Publicola kindly provided the answer.

There is no contest to "win" at the convention.

Also, you evidently don't know how public financing works.

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Markcaldicott claims that "... if Hillary doesn't get a vote for her nomination at the convention, that will be the first time in history that a person with elected delegates isn't honored with a vote at the convention. That is outrageous."


Not only is it outrageous, it is an outright lie.

In 2004, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Wesley Clark and Al Sharpton all won elected delegates -- and no of their names were placed in nomination.

In 2000, Bill Bradley won elected delegates, and he released his delegates, urged them to vote for Gore, and did not have his name put in nomination nor receive any votes.

Please get your facts straight and stop lying before you make these kind of stupid claims.

And for anyone who missed it, Obama does have the support of the majority of convention delegates -- -- because he won far more delegates than Clinton AND a large majority of superdelegates have pledged their support to him.

If Hillary supporters want some exercise in ego gratication by having her name placed in nomination that is one thing, but they need to put down the crack pipe if they think there is any chance the convention delegates will change their minds (especially while Obama continues to be beating McCain.)

I agree with the newspaper ad. They should definitely put FDR on the convention ballot.

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LOL!

No doubt, he is surely a fresher corpse than the one running for the Republicans.

Hey, Strom Thruman was dead for years before he retired from the Senate. Why not elect a dead president?

Um, do you write for Letterman? Daily Show? You should! Quality snark - every time. Thanks.

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What a bunch of cranks. These people need to get lives and some professional help.

How is Obama going to win if he can't carry the psycho demographic?

That's a really good question. I haven't seen any polls on this. Hold on a sec while I give Olberman a call..........

.........


nope, there is no data on the 'psycho swing vote'.

It could be the metric that breaks this election wide open.

GO HILLARY!

Funniest comment on the post.

Yeah! You go, Hillary! Sponsor those Senate bills!

Ok, enough is enough of these trouble makers. By the way are these therapy needing individuals also aware thst would cause more division in the party after Obama did all the work? Are they aware that Clinton does very poorly with independents contrary to Obama, how will she win without independents?

Ouff, somebody stop these people...

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One can only conclude that this kind of thing is just weird. For God's sake, had FDR endorsed someone else for President in 32? No. It's just weird. Fucked up and weird.

Hillary's lunatic fringe and ridiculous MSM coverage it is getting is making it impossible for Obama to choose her for VP or anything else.

They want to keep the party divided in hopes McCain wins so their blessed leader Saint Hillary can run again in 2012. Their actions now are dooming any chance of that happening either. They're hurting Hillary right now to the point I question their motives and wonder if they really are Republicans trying to play spoiler. I have little doubt Lady Lynn is playing spoiler because she doesn't care who wins as long as she has influence and invited to the White House parties. She had influence with Hillary and is trying to leverage that into influence in the McCain campaign now.

These imbeciles are like a dog hooked on chasing cars. They can't stop chasing the nomination, but they've got absolutely no idea what they'd do if they caught it.

Do they really think she'll be able to just seamlessly step into the campaign organization Obama's been building with the DNC since the last primary, raise 300 million overnight from her already tapped out donors (and/or his after stealing the nomination from him) and just sail on to victory?

I'm really embarassed that this is being spearheaded by a law professor, but, then, there's always at least one complete, clueless, dogma spounting moron on every law school faculty. (Law schools need people they can promote to associate dean, just like all other faculties.)

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Law schools need people they can promote to associate dean, just like all other faculties

Sadly, woefully true.

The ironic thing is that we Obama supporters were frequently derided as immature cultists all during the primary (and still are in some quarters). Really though, even at our greenest and most over-the-top we never could hold a candle to this sort of thing. PUMA's take cult of personality to a whole new level. It would be really impressive if it were not so d@#n freaky.

did you mean to spell cult?

This is a McCain front group. Nothing more.

Do a Google search of "Susie Buell Tompkins" for starters and you'll come up with more than enough stories to convince you that Hillary's friends have no intention of helping Obama, unless she's the VP.

Hillary is starting to put the pressure on. I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't come from those closest to her, if not herself.

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If Sen Clinton wants to be VP it only proves that she is stupider than I thought. She could be a force in american politics for decades from the Senate. As VP she will get to ride a desk at the obsevatory and go to funerals for eight years.

She claims to have raised $100,000 for her efforts.

That's nothing! Will Bowers and his PUMA group claim to have raised $10 million to retire Hillary's campaign debt in a week-long fundraiser earlier this month.

And also, they've developed a flying car, and Harriet Christansen has discovered a cure for AIDS. Because the PUMAs are just that awesome.

in the first place, for all the smack talk Barack Obama's team threw at Hillary and HE Still DIDN'T haul the required votes to get the nomination outright, lock stock and barrel and needed the Superdelegates. His own supporters tried to say that Hillary was trying to turn the will of the people by taking it to the convention.

They were the ones who act like Communists, not demorats. Just a refresher, since most of the commenters here talk like BO had in in the bag.

He needed the SDs and is NOW the PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE until the convention in Denver AND UP UNTIL THEN ISN'T OFFICIALLY THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE. GEEZ how people forget the simple rules, Remember those too?

People should stop spreading junk rumors around. This is what is the problem that get 18 million peeps who voter for HIllary pissed about the Obamatons.

in the first place, for all the smack talk Barack Obama's team threw at Hillary and HE Still DIDN'T haul the required votes to get the nomination outright, lock stock and barrel and needed the Superdelegates. His own supporters tried to say that Hillary was trying to turn the will of the people by taking it to the convention.

They were the ones who act like Communists, not demorats. Just a refresher, since most of the commenters here talk like BO had in in the bag.

He needed the SDs and is NOW the PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE until the convention in Denver AND UP UNTIL THEN ISN'T OFFICIALLY THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE. GEEZ how people forget the simple rules, Remember those too?

People should stop spreading junk rumors around. This is what is the problem that get 18 million peeps who voter for HIllary pissed about the Obamatons.

Fantastic parody. Thanks.

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what do you suppose a demorat is?

"...demorat"

A cross between a demon and a rat?

We remember the rules. The chairs around the table at committee meetings were bowed under the weight of Clinton people writing them. That was until, of course, they wern't working to her favor very well and then they wanted to pick and choose.

Can anyone really doubt that the Republicans are behind this?

One might be excused for thinking so but there are many articles out there about Hillary's supporters sitting on their hands, at best, or knee-capping Obama at worst.

They wouldn't be doing this without Hillary's support.

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/clinton-donors-press

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This represents time, effort and money that should be spent on defeating John McCain and expanding Democratic majorities in Congress. As it is, there will be plenty of sucking up to the Clintons at the Convention.

I disagree.

This represents time, effort and money that should be spent on psychotherapy.

PUMAs! Get over it. The party just insn't into you.

What idiots...it is over, you lost, get the hell over it. This isn't picking teams for softball, there are REAL things at stake here, and there was a year and a half long democratic process that fairly chose the winner. Period. Move on!

I disagree.

This time and money that should be spent on shoes.

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My prediction?

All this is going to slowly die a quiet death, because it's going to occur to those Hillary holdouts that Obama may not need them to raise money, after all.

I mean look at his fundraising numbers. All that without the Hillary holdouts. They're rapidly becoming irrelevant to him.

That's gotta sting.

Already this has 80 or so comments. Don't let this steal away your energy that would be better used helping Obama

She claims to have raised $100,000 for her efforts

$100,000 raised and being used to take this to the convention instead of retiring Hillary's debt.

$1 Trillion raised and used to fund the Iraq warinstead of being used in the US

Anyone see any difference here? Thought not.

I knew the GOP was behind this group!!!

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Humanity Critic sums it up. "it doesn't exactly take a Mensa member to figure out that when 4 out of 10 West Virginians readily admit that race was a factor when they voting in that states' Democratic Primary, chances are Obama will have a extremely rough time capturing the coveted 'toothless rube' vote."

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Yep, Denver Group, I am calling you toothless rubes.

Some people from the DKos/MyDD/OpenLeft clique got to interview Dean at Netroots Nation and specifically asked about this TPM article here. They don't have a transcript up yet but apparently Dean basically said that Clinton is on the ballot at the convention, the rules don't give Dean leeway to do otherwise even if he wanted to, and the people running this ad must just be crazy.

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Clinton is not automatically on the ballot in Denver. In fact, Obama is not automatically on the ballot in Denver.

There is no "ballot" at a national convention - rather names are placed in nomination and delegates vote as they choose.

In order for a name to be placed in nomination, a candidate must submit nominating petitions signed by at least 300 convention delegates AND a signed statement from the candidate consenting to have their name placed in nomination.

Delegates cast their vote by registering it with the state delegation chair (these days done with an electronic vote on the convention floor). Delegates can vote for whoever they want - a candidate who has been placed in nomination, their mother-in-law, and anything in between.

Senator Clinton will only have her name placed in nomination in Denver if she wants to. This is her decision, not the decision of some marginal group of bitter supporters who are ignoring Clinton's clear statement of support for Obama as the party nominee.

Interesting, thanks for clarifying.

Has been saying it, my ass. Hit the bricks.

Where are fogu2 and gotalife for this one? ...I miss them.

Paid for by fogu2/gotalife 2012!

Denver, baby, Denver!

Yeay!!!

Obama is having a hard time in Chicago. If you guys would only pay attention. I said this on many occasions in the beginning that those who know Obama best do not support him. He has done nothing and will continue to do nothing. There is alot of buzz here in Chicago that African Americans are really upset with him especially those from his own district. Pay attention, the same people he left out in the cold when he helped Rezko get the financing for those buildings that he was supposed to fix. People do not forget. They also do not forget that they also helped him and he shows no appreciation. I ask you to do listen and do your own research on Obama if you don't believe me. Come down to Chicago and talk to people and get a sense of what is really going on rather than to listen to Obama and his rhetoric. Believe you me that is all it is just rhetoric to get your vote.

Yawn.

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Yeah... that explains his terrible performance in the Illinois primary where he only got 65% statewide, and his embarrassing performance on his home turf in the southside of Chicago where he could only manage 85% in the 1st district and 87% in the 2nd district.

Sure, we'll probably have to move Illinois to a "lean McCain" state soon.

What were Hillary's numbers in NY, again? Let's see!

It turns out, that she won by a mere 17.1%, compared to Obama's win in Illinois by 31.9%. You were saying?

New York 02/05

Obama - 751,019 40.3%
Clinton - 1,068,496 57.4%

Illinois 02/05

Obama - 1,318,234 64.7%
Clinton - 667,930 32.8%

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html

My bad. I read your post so quickly I missed the irony. >:-0

Does having had a long day, excuse it?


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I make those kind of mistakes even when it hasn't been a long day... no worries

don't worry Agrippina...can't expect anything different from low IQ kool-aid drinkers like yourself who are basically responsible for the state of the country today

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Oh, this explains why my college niece and nephew are volunteering for him full time and why my brothers and sis-in-laws are giving him money and can't wait to vote for him and why they are ready to kill Wright, Pfleger, Jackson and anyone else who messes with Obama's flow. Thanks for the report!

No sense in trying to teach you how to ad 2 and 2.

You should learn how to spell 'add' before you lecture others.

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Skill in spelling is completly unrelated to skill in subjects that require understanding. We do not wory about english teachers who cannot do math. Why should spelling be used to judge people in any other field except spelling?

FreeRider... why they are ready to kill Wright, Pfleger, Jackson and anyone else who messes with Obama's flow.

I can't say it strongly enough - you have serious psychological issues, just like your Lord and Master.

Heidi,

She knows her bullshit.

http://www.heidilifeldman.com/

I've just read all 114 posts on this thread and can safely say that if arrogant shithead supporters carry the day in the November election, Obama will win in a landslide.

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Hey Indiex

If you could take the time to read all the posts, maybe you could have taken the time to actually respond to the actual content and arguments that people posted instead of name calling. Or is it "arrogant" of a "shithead" like me to actually want to debate the merits of the issue?

What merits of what issue?

Woot!

The problem with this FDR ad is that it is factually incorrect and misleading. They are saying the establishment of the party [Dean Pelosi] are trying to hold Hillary back in the same way the establishment tried to hold back FDR. But Hillary is not leading nor is she the inevitable candidate. FDR had a really big lead against the two establishment candidates going into the 1932 Convention. His nomination was never in question. The only way you could compare Hillary's situation to FDR's would be if she were leading and Obama was way behind and his people were trying to take it away from her. So actually in this case Obama is more like FDR. There may be a floor fight but he will win the nomination.

What's a fake advocacy group?

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