Clinton Soldiers on Despite Setbacks, Pessimism in Clinton Camp

[NYCGirl]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022203028.html

via http://thepage.time.com/2008/02/23/buzzards-circle/

“Inside Clinton’s inner circle on Friday, the feeling was that the Thursday night debate in Austin was unlikely to slow Obama’s momentum from 11 straight primary and caucus victories. Some supporters said they had discussed how to raise with Clinton the subject of withdrawing from the race should she fail to win decisively on March 4. One option was to wait a day or two and then dispatch emissaries to former president Clinton to urge him to make the case.”

“One adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said Obama’s 17-point Wisconsin victory on Tuesday had started to sink in as a decisive blow, given that the state had been viewed weeks earlier as a level playing field.”

“‘The mathematical reality at that point became impossible to ignore,’ the adviser said. ‘There’s not a lot of denial left at this point.’”

“Despite Clinton’s public pronouncements of optimism, this adviser said: ‘She knows where things are going. It’s pretty clear she has a big decision. But it’s daunting. It’s still hard to accept.’”

“Some Democratic political sources said discussion has begun about encouraging Clinton to transition into a different party leadership role, one that could carry her on a path to becoming Senate majority leader. That course had been discussed even before Clinton announced her presidential campaign. ‘People who care about her are worried about her long-term future,’ the adviser said.”

[papau]

1. If the 90/10 AA vote in Texas carries Obama to a win - Clinton needs to withdraw - and we'll have a

weaker candidate in the general - but that can't be changed at this point.


http://ironmyvote.com/obamas-popular-vote.htm

From a "Republicans for Obama" website:

http://ironmyvote.com/obamas-popular-vote.htm

Its on a site called Republicans for obama in texas
Home » Groups » Texas R.F.O. Primary Petition for Obama
E-mail to send to all your Republican friends
Sat, 02/16/2008 - 10:41pm
Attention All Texas Republicans and Independents!!
On March 4th, Texas Republicans and Independents will have an opportunity to end Hillary Clinton’s (and Bill’s) presidential ambitions once and for all!
Since Texas has on open primary, Republicans and Independents should sign in at their polling place and request a Democratic ballot. They should then vote for Barack Obama. Even James Carville admits that if Hillary loses Texas, “she’s done!” Republicans can help make this a reality!!! Just think, no more Clintons in the White House!
Voting Democratic this one time will have NO effect on your ability to vote in the next Republican primary or obviously on your vote in November. Since John McCain has the Republican nomination locked up, voting for McCain or Huckabee at this point will have no effect on the outcome on the Republican side.
After you vote during early voting or on March 4th, you ARE NOT done! Report back to your regular polling place at 7PM on March 4th to sign the Barack Obama list for caucus delegates. In a little known Texas voting quirk, 67 delegates to the Democratic convention will be seated because of these caucuses. This is a full one-third of the total number of Texas delegates. For Hillary to lose, she has to lose the primary votes AND the caucus votes. I urge you to vote against Hillary Clinton by voting for Barack Obama.
Please forward this e-mail to all your Republican and Independent friends so that we can help ensure the Clinton’s defeat on March 4th!!!


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Similar instructions from the Obama campaign:

Here’s a video from the Obama campaign

Slickly produced, promoting their “Democrat for a Day” scheme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUE4Kp0YERs

Obama Web page in Florida:

The following has been scrubbed from the web but was up for months at an Obama campaign site:
Quoting from the Google cache “as retrieved on Nov 30, 2007 02:11:00 GMT”
http:/ / www.google.com/search?q=cache:MVQ9FvgfVwoJ:www.obamaflo...

WANNA BECOME AN OBAMACRAT?!!!
By Obama Florida 2008
Published: April 24, 2007
….
That’s why “Democrat for a Day” was launched this spring by ObamaFlorida2008. Using the official forms provided by all Supervisors of Elections offices, you may re-register as a Democrat for that one day — when the primary is likely to be held — on February 5, 2008. You must do so before the end of 2007, to make sure it is done 30 days before the primary.
But this is not about some “hard sell” to recruit voters to become permanent Democrats. Not at all. After the primary, you may re-register back to the Republican or Libertarian parties, or revert to your previous status as an Independent! There will be plenty of time before the general election in November 2008.
….
But we’re finding that up to 20 percent of Obama supporters are registered Republicans.
In fact, during the first couple of weeks in April, some 150 Republicans indeed became “Democrats for a Day.” You might call them “Obamacrats!”

Obama Flyer in Nevada:

A flyer was distributed in Nevada by an Obama precinct captain, similar to the above Florida page - http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=26826


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Similar efforts:

Dick Morris’ explicit instructions to Republicans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt_jnhsyqg0

Obama’s Democrat for a Day training video: http://www . youtube.com/watch?v=JUE4Kp0YERs

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on 2-19-2008 also talked about Republicans having "some fun" voting for Obama:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23255694 /
MATTHEWS: Let me talk to you. Let me go right now, Ron, is that your theory, that—well, it‘s mine, too—that if you can vote if you‘re a moderate or independent voter or you‘re a Republican who doesn‘t think it‘s important to vote on the Republican side, since it‘s locked up for McCain, have some fun and vote for somebody you have sort of an interest in, Barack Obama, perhaps?


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More leads
-- we need to collect evidence of GOP crossover in many different locales, so that the superdelegates in each locale will understand where Obama's 'popular' vote is coming from

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080222/ap_on_el_pr/open_primaries_1


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If anyone has more evidence to add, pls email 1950democrat - a t - g m a i l . c o m or post it at http://1950democrat.livejournal.com/55788.html (may not appear immediately).

[NYCGirl]

2. So is the popular vote lead Obama has above Clinton due to the GOP?

Is that what you're saying?

[rug]

3. Likely it explains much of the margin.

[NYCGirl]

4. Sure it does.

:sarcasm:

And I guess that 11 win run is all Republicans, too!

[rug]

5. You asked. I told you.

Now that you've finished dripping over yourself, what are the margins for closed primaries?

[NYCGirl]

6. Very high, as they are for closed ones, too. And I suppose the GOP has also

told people to stop giving to the Clinton campaign, too.

[rug]

8. Don't know about that but I see Obama supporters telling Clinton to stop running.

[NYCGirl]

10. Don't confuse DU with real life. NT

[rug]

12. Don't confuse republicans with Democrats.

[NYCGirl]

14. Just alert on them if you see them. NT

[cali]

15. don't confuse simplistic narratives that fit your world view with

the complexities of the real world.

[rug]

17. You don't know my world view.

And I'm not surprised to see the phrase "simplistic narrative" next to your name and your avatar.

[thoughtcrime1984]

16. She can run until August, but it won't change anything

other than effectively end her chances at Majority Leader. If she is willing to cut off her nose to spite her face, then she should go for it!

[workinclasszero]

19. Yup its a......get ready for it....a great big...

...republican...CONSPIRISY!!!:tinfoilhat: :hide:

Wisconsin was secretly invaded by BLACK HELICOPTERS!! They dropped off hundreds of thousands of rethug pod people that voted for Obama!!! OMG!!! I'm series!!1!!:crazy:

OH THE HUMANITY!!1!!!11!!!

:rofl:

[rug]

20. Join up.

[Cameron27]

7. I'd like to see real percentages

before I dismiss the possibility that the GOP isn't gaming our primaries. I'd rather know now, and not be surprised when they all do a 180 in the general.

[NYCGirl]

11. Here's some numbers:

In the 22 contested Democratic primaries so far, independents made up 22 percent of the vote and they supported Obama by an overwhelming margin of 64 percent to 33 percent. Crossover Republicans, a far smaller percentage in the Democratic primaries, backed him 55-33.

Yet Obama has had the left flank covered, too: a 52-44 advantage over the New York senator among those who consider themselves very liberal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/22/ohio-texas-not-ideal-cli_n_88088.html

And let's not forget that the Obama campaign has by far the best ground game.

[Medusa]

18. And the Clintonistas keep ignoring a simple fact of life in the US:

You have to draw the independents to win a general election. Clinton fails miserably in attracting the independent vote, hell, she's failing miserably attracting the Democratic vote in many states. I mean come on--the last election the only demographic she won in was women over 60. Pathetic.

[thoughtcrime1984]

13. Enough with the excuses and BS

We know you love Hillary and all, but do Nat'l polls mean absolutely nothing? They meant everything to Clinton supporters the last year or so. You are not changing hearts and minds here, best take it to the streets where you can win more support for your candidate.

[bigtree]

9. Clinton's no slouch

Out of about 24 million votes cast in this primary Clinton only trails by about 315,000 in the popular vote. Pretty even split of the number of Americans voting for these two, despite all the talk of some overwhelming support for Obama. Pretty even considering the big states upcoming which haven't voted. It's not relevant, of course to how we elect out nominee, but it's a good reminder of the level of support Hillary Clinton has been able to amass, which has been competitive enough with Obama to deny him enough delegates to achieve the nomination on votes cast alone.