Hillary Runs to Exist

love this story.

politico.....

“I watched all of these primaries and caucus states and decided Barack Obama was the most electable,” Romer said. Which is what superdelegates, the party insiders, were created to do: make cold calculations instead of giving their hearts away.

His calculations are wrong, says the Clinton campaign. He doesn’t realize that Obama has all these problems: He can’t win working-class voters, he can’t win voters who lack college degrees, he can’t win all sorts of voting groups that Democrats need to win in this fall. (And he has trouble with white voters in certain states: An incredible 20 percent of white voters in West Virginia said race was a factor in their vote, according to exit polls, a percentage second only to that of Mississippi.)

The Obama campaign has three answers to this: First, just because Obama loses a voting bloc in a primary does not mean he will lose the same group in the general election. The Democratic base is going to vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who it is. And among general election voters, Obama aides say, Obama is doing just fine. (And, besides, no Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson has won the white vote, anyway.)

“Put your brains back in your head and look at the national polls instead of local, primary polls,” a senior Obama aide told me Tuesday in a phone interview. “In national polls, we win every income group against John McCain except those people making $100,000-plus, where we lose by one point, which is a tie.

“Among white, non-college voters, McCain leads Obama 52-40 and he leads Clinton 52-44. A four-point difference between us and Clinton, well within the margin of error.

“Overall in head-to-head matchups, we are beating McCain by more than she is. And, most importantly, we are winning independents 51-42 against McCain, and Clinton loses independents 49-46 against McCain. Se we are plus nine among independents and she is minus three.”

Obama’s second argument is that the slicing and dicing of the electorate into neat little groups misses what he is about: He is unifying figure. He represents change, he says, and he will attract the votes of people who want change, regardless of the neat boxes that pollsters put them in.

Third, Obama believes he is the victim of a dirty trick. He used that phrase. And all he needs to do, he believes, is get the truth out in order to build his numbers.

He was at Schultzie’s Billiards in South Charleston, W. Va., on Monday when a reporter asked, “How problematic are those rumors ... that you don’t pledge allegiance, that you’re a Muslim? They are out there.”

Obama replied, “They’ve been out there since the beginning of this campaign. This is something that has been systematically fed into the bloodstream. We notice these e-mails get sent out in each successive state that we were campaigning in, which indicates that it is not just a random sort of viral thing. I think you know this is a dirty trick that folks are playing on voters.”

As an antidote to dirty tricks, Obama stated -- once again -- that he is a Christian.

Given the long odds of actually defeating Obama, however, why does Clinton keep running?

Because, she said, Tuesday night, “I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard.”

She has no alternative. Just as sharks swim in order to breathe, candidates run in order to exist. read it all.

Four More Superdelegates Endorse Obama

obama now has 283 and hillary 270.

Today, New Orleans Mayor and Superdelegate Ray Nagin endorsed Barack Obama for President, citing Obama’s advocacy for the people of Louisiana and working men and women across the country:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Senator Obama worked to help address the needs of our Gulf Coast communities. As the Gulf Coast continues to rebuild, other cities have faced tragic disasters across this country. Therefore, it is critical that this country's infrastructure and emergency response systems are evaluated and rebuilt to sustain our cities and protect our families. What happened in Louisiana should never happen again.

I have learned firsthand that a unified constituency can make what seems impossible, possible. Senator Obama represents a new generation of leadership, one that can help heal the divisions of the past and unify this country so that together we can build a stronger future.

Since the immediate days following the storm, I have been travelling to our nation’s capitol to advocate for policies that aid our rebuilding effort. I know firsthand, we desperately need the leadership of someone committed to changing the system in Washington that can hold us back from moving forward. For these reasons, I endorse Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nominee.

Superdelegate Anita Bonds, chair of the DC Democratic Party, announced last night that she will endorse Sen. Barack Obama at the Denver convention. Her announcement continued the superdelegate march toward Obama after last week's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

Bonds's announcement was impromptu and prompted, she said, by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) who put her on the spot at a meeting of Democratic delegates in the John A. Wilson Building last night and asked if she was supporting Obama.

"I said, 'Okay,'" Bonds told the D.C. Wire in her first interview about the subject.

Bonds, who has attended events for both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama during the campaign, said, "You try to exercise your best judgment....We want to go to the convention as unified as we can."

"I am with the mayor. I'm with the chairman," she said, referring to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D). Both Gray and Fenty are Obama supporters.

ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sunlen Miller, and Mike Elmore Report: Roy Romer, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former governor of Colorado, said Tuesday that he is supporting Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president. In announcing his decision, Romer urged other superdelegates to do the same, saying that "it's important" for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., "to know where we are so she is not misled."

"My reasons are that the party needs to get on right now with a lot of business, including figuring out what to do with Michigan and Florida," Romer told ABC News. "It's important to make known right now not only my vote but as many superdelegates as possible."

Romer said his support for Obama is based on the delegate math as well as Obama's strength in the interior Mountain West: the Illinois Democrat carried Colorado over Clinton by a two-to-one margin: Obama 67%, Clinton 32%.

Today, Indiana Congressman Joe Donnelly endorsed Barack Obama for President, citing his commitment to working families and building a real coalition for change:

“Today, I am pleased to announce my support for Barack Obama. At a time when too many Americans have lost faith in their government, Senator Obama can move us beyond the politics of stalemate and gridlock that has kept us from meeting the monumental challenges of our time: our dependence on foreign oil, a health care gap that leaves tens of millions uninsured, the steady deterioration of our manufacturing base, and an economy that is not working for working people.

The Democratic Party’s strength comes from its core commitment to the American Dream and from a coalition that is ideologically, economically, geographically and ethnically diverse. Barack Obama will stand with working families while building that coalition so that we can change this country, and that’s why he’s the best choice for America.”

On the Minds of Superdelegates 8

new mexico governor bill richardson endorsed obama in a heartfelt speech today and with that obama has another superdelegate. that's 18 since march 3 for obama (see my sidebar) and 9 for clinton. obama leads in popular vote by 700,000 and states won, 30 to 14, and delgates by 155.
that takes care of that. now here is the 8th in my series of 'what's on the minds of superdelegates?'

superdelegates hold a lot of power and there is reason to be wary of them. many don't care about delegates, popular vote, who their districts voted for. many won't do the right thing. we need to know who they are.

two supers warn supers not to override delegates:

Nancy Pelosi's weekend warning to superdelegates not to vote differently than those elected in primaries was seconded today by former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, a superdelegate and former Democratic Party boss.

"The ultimate issue is who has the most delegates," Romer told reporters at a breakfast meeting today. He remains uncommitted, though he had favorable words for Sen. Barack Obama's recent speech on race and Obama's experience as a former state senator. While he said that he's open to a miniprimary in June among Democratic Party superdelegates, he predicted that the remaining primaries will deliver a delegate winner.

look out for these four guys:

Pennsylvania Rep. John P. Murtha's endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday marked her first big superdelegate pick-up since the March 4 primaries. But the biggest endorsement value of Murtha, whose Johnstown-based district won't yield many Democratic votes for either candidate, may be in the power he commands among a handful of acolytes in the state's delegation. He could play a pivotal role in bringing along more Clinton supporters among the all-important superdelegates.

Three other Pennsylvania Democrats who are devout Murtha supporters -- Reps. Robert Brady, Michael Doyle and Tim Holden -- have also been undeclared so far in the presidential campaign. Murtha's support for Clinton makes it possible all three superdelegates could line up behind the dean of their state delegation.

Brady is a local party boss in Philadelphia and Doyle a key player in Pittsburgh-area politics. Holden represents the exurbs of Philadelphia, stretching from Reading to parts of York.

clinton backer doesn't care about delegates:

In February, Steed's name appeared on Hillary Clinton's website as a part of 150 Maryland State Democratic leaders who endorsed her. He said his status as a Clinton superdelegate still "remains strong" and won't change.

Steed made his decision to support Hillary Clinton in late 2007. He chose her, he said, for "her depth of experience, her intelligence and for her ability to get things done that no other candidate running has exhibited, especially in the Senate."

Steed said his decision was informed by the "extraordinary efforts" Clinton has made to represent and to win the support of heavily Republican areas in upstate New York. He also cited the high opinion that several Pentagon generals and admirals have expressed to him about Clinton's thoughtfulness, focus and willingness to listen while serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Steed does not agree that the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the end of the primary season should be the eventual nominee.

"That's not how the system was set up," he said. He believes that the undecided delegates can certainly chose that as a personal criterion, but that each should make a "thoughtful, moral decision."

On the Minds of Superdelegates 1
On the Minds of Superdelegates 2
On the Minds of Superdelegates 3
On the Minds of Superdelegates 4
On the Minds of Superdelegates 5
On the Minds of Superdelegates 6
Context to Pastor Wright’s Sermon
Truth About Trinity

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