Clinton, Obama Camps Spar Over Importance Of Florida Vote
Relatively little attention has been paid to tomorrow's Democratic primary in Florida. That's because the national Democratic Party stripped Florida of its delegates to the nominating convention as punishment for the state moving its primary up to January 29th. (The more lenient Republicans only stripped Florida of half its delegates.) The Democrats also requested that candidates refrain from campaigning in the state, a request that has been honored – until recently.
Coming off a big loss in South Carolina, the Hillary Clinton campaign is trying to stress the importance of the Florida vote. That's not entirely surprising considering that Clinton has a substantial lead in state polls. “We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida," Clinton said in a statement on Saturday, following the South Carolina vote. She is now campaigning in the state and has vowed to seat Sunshine State delegates if she is the Democratic nominee.
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, has downplayed Florida's importance, saying the next important date in the primary calendar is Feb 5th, Super Tuesday.
"...while the Clinton campaign will likely wave shiny baubles in front of the media to try and divert their focus to certain states – or non-events like Florida – we will stay focused on doing as well as we can in each of the 22 states on February 5th and preparing for the nine states that come in rapid succession in those following two weeks," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in a memo to reporters.
Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Mark Bubriski argues the state's Democratic race is indeed an event.
"More Democrats have already physically cast their ballots in Florida than did in Nevada, Iowa or New Hampshire," said Bubriski. Florida allows early voting and the state's Democratic party estimates that 450,000 Democrats will cast early or absentee before the polls even open.
Bubriski argues that delegates are not terribly important at this point in the primary calendar and says the candidates' television exposure makes up for the fact that they have largely not campaigned in the state.
"At this point it's about momentum," Bubriski said. "And we are the final state to have a say before what is essentially a national primary."
Coming off a big loss in South Carolina, the Hillary Clinton campaign is trying to stress the importance of the Florida vote. That's not entirely surprising considering that Clinton has a substantial lead in state polls. “We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida," Clinton said in a statement on Saturday, following the South Carolina vote. She is now campaigning in the state and has vowed to seat Sunshine State delegates if she is the Democratic nominee.
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, has downplayed Florida's importance, saying the next important date in the primary calendar is Feb 5th, Super Tuesday.
"...while the Clinton campaign will likely wave shiny baubles in front of the media to try and divert their focus to certain states – or non-events like Florida – we will stay focused on doing as well as we can in each of the 22 states on February 5th and preparing for the nine states that come in rapid succession in those following two weeks," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in a memo to reporters.
Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Mark Bubriski argues the state's Democratic race is indeed an event.
"More Democrats have already physically cast their ballots in Florida than did in Nevada, Iowa or New Hampshire," said Bubriski. Florida allows early voting and the state's Democratic party estimates that 450,000 Democrats will cast early or absentee before the polls even open.
Bubriski argues that delegates are not terribly important at this point in the primary calendar and says the candidates' television exposure makes up for the fact that they have largely not campaigned in the state.
"At this point it's about momentum," Bubriski said. "And we are the final state to have a say before what is essentially a national primary."
I say his snideness shows a really serious lack of judgment in conducting himself as a human being, much less as the leader of this country.
Just add this to the long list of things she has done since this primary started that makes me have no respect for her. Now Obama, there''s a man who knows how to stick to his word - funnily enough I would value that in a leader.
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Posted by chyke1 at 09:48 AM : Jan 29, 2008
The decisions of the Democratic Party are NOT the law of the land. One has nothing to do with the other. Sen. Clinton has broken no laws. I personally do not care that Florida and Michigan moved up their primaries. What I care about is the resulting loss of delegates. The real issue here is that the residents of those two states are the big losers.
Hilary is being less than honorable, but we all sort of don''t expect her to, now do we--but Edwards and Obama are being too pedantic--you never, ever, ever let your opponent make inroads where you fail to --because you never know who you will need in the end and you can''t assume Fl and MI will just vote Dem for who ever the front runner is. Hilary may have shown she is desperate and willing to ignore promises, but the other 2 candidates are not being smart in at least appearing in the state in the same manner she is and making essentially the same types of promises. Not honorable--but when in bed with liars, thieves and murderers--honor will not guarantee viability or survival.
Posted by paint98 at 10:22 PM : Jan 28, 2008
The RNC also threatened to strip delegates from those who broke the rules--without adherence to the rules--there is true chaos, and without all parties honoring those rules--disrespect of the entire system reigns. Hilary respects nothing except her bid to power--that in and of itself makes her the Democratic equivalent of George W. Bush.
http://savagepolitics.com/?p=59
WOW- all I have to say!
In a way this article also explain the voter distribution in FL.
it is awesome!
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Adlai Stevenson
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Barack Obama
DEMOCRATS WHO USE RACIAL APPEALS TO GET ELECTED
Strom Thurmond
James O. Eastland
George C. Wallace
Bill & Hillary Clinton
Martin Edwin Andersen
Churchton, Maryland
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Adlai Stevenson
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Barack Obama
DEMOCRATS WHO USE RACIAL APPEALS TO GET ELECTED
Strom Thurmond
James O. Eastland
George C. Wallace
Bill & Hillary Clinton
Martin Edwin Andersen
Churchton, Maryland
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lol, FDR and JFK had extra marital affairs, you know that MLK and Jesse Jackson did also? If anyones racist, its Obama and his holy rollin'' racist black church tyhat supports the terrorist Farrakhan! Go home and do your homework, nobody wants to read this ***.
Its all set up, its been this way since the first time Bush became president. They don''t play fair. They are all liers and cheaters. Hillary should have gotten the Michigan and Floridas delegates. I see this as the democratic party making decisions for the rest of us. You watch, regardless of Clinton getting the popular vote, the ones in charge will make sure she doesn''t get the super delegates. They do nothing more then cheat, and they no it. The press is working with them, for Clinton did well in Florida and you are not reading much about it. They want Obama to win so the republican party can beat him.
This is about the most ignorant thing I have ever heard before in my life. Obama is honest,,,, your joking right? You lack the sixth sense "intuition". See, I can read body language, and Obamas body language is language of a lier, a racist and a very aggressive person. Don''t be fooled.This country does need people like me and Rowdy texan, we can read between the lines.
The Clintons however are being very manipulative on this and I hope it works against their favor, just as their other dirty tricks have.
What other dirty tricks, if thats so name them and tell the truth. I''ve seen enough lies on here, people are not doing their homework.
If you had had lies told about you and low blows and the person behind this still doesn''''t seem to be showing any sense of decency and fairplay you might not want to pretend to like them either.
what lies? He''s in fairy tell land. Trying to twist his words to mean something else then what it originally meant. He knows what he''s doing, and let me tell you, people do to. His loss in Florida was big, its gonna be bigger down the road for him, wait and see. People do not forget that easily that his clan started this racist thing and he let it happen.
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by b-easy63
January 30, 2008 7:48 AM PST
- ts all set up, its been this way since the first time Bush became president. They don''''t play fair. They are all liers and cheaters. Hillary should have gotten the Michigan and Floridas delegates. I see this as the democratic party making decisions for the rest of us. You watch, regardless of Clinton getting the popular vote, the ones in charge will make sure she doesn''''t get the super delegates. They do nothing more then cheat, and they no it. The press is working with them, for Clinton did well in Florida and you are not reading much about it. They want Obama to win so the republican party can beat him.
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See all 23 CommentsPosted by croft777 at 11:28 PM : Jan 29, 2008
don''t be silly. Hilary IS the establishment candidate and she will get her delegates. At issue is Hilary agreeing to not recognize MI and Florida and then going back on her word with her statement about reseating the delegates. Delegates for the primary only count so far as selecting a candidate--no one can prevent the votes of each person from each state in the general election. What is important to recognize though is the ease with which Hilary broke her word and she did it at her own convenience and for her own benefit. What other promises and rules will she break as she proceeds further towards the WH--and will you be okay if she begins to break the promises you think she made to Democrats and to yourself?