SCRANTON, Pa., March 15, 2008
Clinton Supports Michigan Revote Proposal
Plan Would Run New Democratic Election In June To Choose Delegates To Be Seated At Convention
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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., greets supporters as she participates in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade, Saturday, March 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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"It needs to get resolved and hopefully Michigan by the end of this week will have done that," Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane between stops in Pennsylvania. "I think they are moving in an appropriate direction to have a revote."
Under the plan being finalized by several Democratic members of Congress and other party leaders in Michigan, the state would hold a new primary in early June - most likely on June 3 - that would allow its delegates to be seated at the party's national convention this summer in Denver. The state Legislature is expected to take up the matter next week.
The Democratic National Committee punished Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates. The two states have been struggling to come up with alternative plans, but Michigan appears closer to resolving the matter.
Clinton won the Michigan primary on Jan. 15 and has said she would like those results to stand. But Obama removed his name from the ballot after the DNC stripped the state of delegates for moving up its primary and did not campaign there.
Clinton also won Florida's primary on Jan. 29, where both candidates names were on the ballot but neither campaigned in the state at the request of the DNC.
"I feel really strongly about it," Clinton said. "The 2.5 million people (in Michigan and Florida) who voted deserve to be counted. If it were my preference, we'd count their votes but if not, then they should have the opportunity to have a full-fledged primary waged for them and revote."
Obama currently leads Clinton among overall delegates, 1603 to 1497, and his campaign has been openly skeptical of Clinton's eagerness to seat the delegations from the two disputed states. Spokesman Tommy Vietor Saturday said the campaign was open to a "fair and practical" resolution of the conflict.
"Hillary Clinton said in October the Michigan primary would not 'count for anything.' Now she is trying to change the rules and claim the votes of the primary she said didn't count should be counted," Vietor said. "We will evaluate the details of any new proposed election carefully as well as any efforts to come to a fair seating of the delegates from Michigan."
Also Saturday, the former first lady said her primary wins in big states like Ohio showed she would be a stronger candidate in the general election against Republican John McCain. Clinton has won just 17 contests compared to 29 for Obama, but her campaign has said many of the states Obama won would not be competitive for Democrats in November.
"I don't think anyone doubts that a Democrat has to have a number of the big states anchored in order to put together the electoral votes needed to win," Clinton said. "I think it is significant that I won Ohio, that I won Florida, I've won the big states that serve as anchors on the electoral map. And I also think it's significant because those states represents a much broader cross section of the voters we're going to need to win in the fall."
Clinton refused to comment on new information about Obama's relationship with Antoin Rezko, a former political patron on trial for felony fraud charges. In interviews with two Chicago newspapers published Saturday, the Illinois senator disclosed he had accepted $250,000 in campaign donations from Rezko - about $100,000 more than had previously been disclosed.
But on a conference call with reporters, Clinton senior strategist Mark Penn said the new information pointed to a "troubling pattern" of obfuscation.
"We're finding out on Rezko, much of what he said turns out to be just words as we learn more and more information," Penn said.
Obama "has talked about the politics of hope, but he has throughout this campaign launched a series of personal attacks on Senator Clinton, calling her disingenuous," Penn said. "We think now the real question before us is to Senator Obama, is, 'Will you make full disclosure of all this information related to the Rezko matter? Will you put to rest all these troubling questions?"'
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See all 197 CommentsShe signed the pledge.
Why did she vote for it if she "feels really strongly" that their votes should be counted?
Maybe Hillary can put up the money to pay for the revote.
The voters will get to have their votes count one way or another, and that is what good is.
You REALLY don''t have to like it.
Its called democracy.
If you don''t like it--you like spin better.
Period.
So if you are in this catagory.
Go spin yourself a phillips head.
I am not a supporter of Barack Obama. However, I find claims that he does not love America offensive.
I don''t support Barack because of his politics. I prefer to have a centrist like Hillary and even find a conservative like John McCain more acceptable. However, I respect Barack as a man and I know he would make a fine president if elected.
There was a time we debated politics on the merits of the candidates rather than making stuff up. I applaud Hillary for firing Geraldine Ferraro and John for repudiating Bill Cunningham''s remark. They are trying to keep the campaign clean.
I am not a supporter of Barack Obama. However, I find claims that he does not love America offensive.
I don''t support Barack because of his politics. I prefer to have a centrist like Hillary and even find a conservative like John McCain more acceptable. However, I respect Barack as a man and I know he would make a fine president if elected.
There was a time we debated politics on the merits of the candidates rather than making stuff up. I applaud Hillary for firing Geraldine Ferraro and John for repudiating Bill Cunningham''s remark. They are trying to keep the campaign clean.
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Posted by BLKPRESIDENT at 04:13 PM : Mar 15, 2008
Give it up she''s ahead in the poles!!!! deal with it...neither one will have enough delegates to win so we need to see who the people of the united states wants....lets not cheat...michigan and florida have a right to vote...and speak there opinion...
However, some of the McCain/Clinton propaganda is amusing, especially "RandomCments''" claims about Clinton being the centrist and running a clean campaign. That''s seriously laughable, Random.
I guess we''ll all just have to wait until November to see what happens. I wonder, after campaigning against each other for several months, who do you think will draw more voters to the booths? Obama or McCain? Obama''s turnout, in typically red states, has in many cases FAR, FAR surpased Mccain''s turnout.
In the end though, I guess what I find most amusing is that the McCain/Clinton neocons and special interests are foaming at the mouth - literally. LOL
As I said, the top three candidates are trying to keep a clean campaign. It is unfortunate that their supporters do not do the same.
Any of the three would make a far far better president than the one we have now, so for me, we are already better off than in 2000 or 2004.
I, by the way, am from Florida. I switched my affiliation from independent to democrat to support one of the democratic candidates (Florida is a closed state). I am flamed at being disenfranchised.
The truth is finally out--this guy is a fraud and a turkey. He never believed in the politics of "change" he preached. He should have chosen a different Spiritual advisor 20 years ago, and not become the disciple of Jeremiah Wright! His dismissing and beating up on his long-time friend and advisor makes him look even worse.
lolll...
Methinks Hillary would support making Al Qaeda superdelegates, if they''d pledge their votes to her at the DNC.
Technically you are correct, Geraldine Ferraro was "shown the door" and allowed to quit.
She signed the pledge.
Why did she vote for it if she "feels really strongly" that their votes should be counted?
Maybe Hillary can put up the money to pay for the revote.
Here are two undisputable FACTS: Hillary IS a girl; and, OLD McCain IS an old man. Accept it. This isn''t anything to do with me, these are simply FACTS, and Obama is better than a ''lil woman and an OLD *** man hands down--you can put that in the fact column too. The Obama shuffle will KO both these fools. Correction, Obama has laredy KO''d the broad; bring on OLD as McCain, if someone can pry him free of Hillary''s apron. Scare OLD man? Where''s your "blankie" OLD man?
Hillary sud take up the job of asst secratary in Bill-Monica AIDS foundation
HILLARY is the only one and ready to be our leader.
Hail to the CHIEF!!
Posted by BLKPRESIDENT
What kind of debate is this? Classic example of no facts; just smoke.
I would ask Hillary if they should bother having a primary/caucus at all in Iowa. South Carolina? How about Louisianna? Connecticut?
Apparently these states "don''t matter" to Hillary. You could win or lose them and it really shouldn''t "count" because those aren''t "big" states...or "anchors" on the electoral map. Basically you only count if you live in Ohio, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, or California.
And she wants to represent the UNITED STATES of America? I think we see who only cares or listens to the elite few.......
will not go away and no matter what the DNC seys
they will have to redo Fl. Mi.
She signed the pledge.
Why did she vote for it if she "feels really strongly" that their votes should be counted?
Because whne she signed it she didn''t care if they didn''t count because she thought her nomination was inevitable and she didn''t need them. Now all of a sudden she thinks they should count because she needs them. So much for caring about the voters.
The truth about Obama%u2026 he is a racist and a liar. He has a 20 year spiritual mentor who is racist and who anti White Americans for ages. He has a corrupt Muslim sponsor for 17 years. Michelle Obama who is never proud to be American unless Obama win. He promised to bring the troops back within a year and turned around saying the he should not be counted on his promises. Give me a break! He should quit now for the sake of Democratic party. This is not CHANGE and HOPE that America deserve. He is full of empty promises and his rhetoric just WORDS, borrow words.
GO HILLARY 08! The proud American All the Time, with substance and detail plans for delivery.
I agree with this poster. But, I''d like to see the daily bickering stop. I''m tired of watching as each side---primarily Clinton---takes the side''s statements out of context and misrepresents them.
These people want to be president and represent the country, when they are acting on the level of a self-possessed two-year-old?! Ridiculous!
THE TRUE MENTOR OF OBAMA a white single MOM from Kansas..Inapiring
Soetoro, who died of ovarian cancer in 1995, was the parent who raised Obama, the Illinois senator running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
http://news.scotsman.com/
latestn
ews/39Single-mom39-emerges-as
-r
eal.38828
99.jp
Obama-pelosi ticket
Edwards -attorney general
Bidden - foreign sec
John Kerry - defence commeette chairman
"We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.
And we believe the DNC''''s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.
Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar."
on Hillary''''s web site....
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
news/release/view/?id=3134
Posted by Policrypt at 08:18 PM : Mar 15, 2008
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This coming from someone that defied the DNC rules and remained on the primary ballot while Obama removed his name as directed?
The Leprechauns and their ladies are preparing ladders so that all the wee folk can vote for Barack Obama for president!!!
(Happy St. Patrick''s Day to all posters of good faith and cheer.)
Then we saw how see remained on the primary ballot while Senator Obama removed himself. Point: THAT''S how she keeps her WORD!
obamagrls-bf, please NOT Nancy Pelosi for VP! Reformulate. You can come up with someone else better than her! Pelosi as head of the EPA, maybe. :)
There is something very wrong here and I hope that someone knowledgeable is on top of it.
There is something here that sounds familiar, the type of under-the-table, under-handed, sort of thing with which Hillary and Slick Willie have a lot of experience.
I simply do not put anything nefarious out of the reach of the Clinton twins.
I''ll stay with Obama.
a re-vote should not take place. It makes a mockery of the system. Michigan and Florida knew what they were doing when they allowed this in the first place. To re-do it is an affront to the other states who were honest to begin with.
It is very obvious clinton just wants the delegates so she can get ahead. She needs to stop using people.
The re-do should never be allowed to count. It will cause alot of trouble with this election. Leave it to the Clintons to do this.
Posted by JoelPB1 at 09:09 PM : Mar 15, 2008
Yes, of course there would be. It has nothing to do with Hillary. The issue is the disenfranchisement of 5.5 million voters. We cannot have a democracy if the votes of 2 states don''t count. The rules stated that early primaries in those states wouldn''t count. So a revote of some kind is needed. Some of you seem truly mentally challenged on this issue.
Those of you who are Hillary-haters are like conspiracy theorists who think Hillary is all-powerful and is behind everything that happens. Allowing FL and MI to send delegates to the Dem. convention is not about Hillary and not about Obama. It''s about the VOTERS! Alot of voters, who didn''t do anything wrong themselves. Neither have the candidates.
To insult our country and to *** our country, while this man enjoys the very blanket of freedom that I (being military) provide, is absolutely unforgivable. I would NEVER vote for Obama. Not even for the president of the PTA. I HOPE THE SUPERDELEGATES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT THIS BEFORE THEY MAKE THE DECISION TO GIVE THE NOMINATION TO SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO BE LACKING IN GOOD JUDGEMENT WHERE HE RECEIVES HIS SPIRTUAL GUIDANCE. The nominee should be decided by the person who wins the most popular votes. Clinton has so far 13,254, 459 votes and Obama has 13, 202, 200 popular votes. The number of delegates are meaningless because of the process being used to select. Hillary wins the popular vote in Texas by more than 100000 votes and Obama gets 6 more delegates. What kind of election is this? It is worse than ELECTIONS IN A BANANA REPUBLIC. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF for having the AUDACITY to suggest that SUPERDELEGATES HAVE NO ROLE TO PLAY. No wonder your rating is 27% in the house. This is by far the worst reading out of all the speakers of the United States Congress. Obama is a traitor to our great country and should never be nominated., otherwise we will lose to the Republicans and your head wil be first one to go like happened to Republican Speakers. . WAKE UP IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE !!!
Yet he has the audacity to say Hillary didn%u2019t do anything as First Lady, or Governor%u2019s wife or as a Senator from NEW YORK and for years longer than he was.
His wife has said the same thing as he really believes, in public, in interviews, widely reported, about her country as Wright said, but the media gave her a pass too and about her college thesis as well on racism%u2026 gee, what a couple. And he attacks Hillary%u2019s record as FLOTUS?
As FLOTUS Hillary was dignified, restrained and informed when she represented our country. Would Michele? Not a chance, I saw her on Larry King and she contradicted herself left and right.
How tough was it to be in HAWAII going to an EXPENSIVE private school and then on to HARVARD?
What equal rights marches did he even go to? I know he went to Farrakhan%u2019s %u201Cmillion man march%u201D but that too is all about black empowerment.
I never saw him at the ones I went to, the ones for human rights of all kinds. He never spoke for unity and an end to racism that I know of.
He never fought the tough fight. He conjured up a fabricated history and wrote his books just to sell himself as a future president. Full of lies.
%u201CJust Words%u201D that weren%u2019t and aren%u2019t important.
He is triangulating himself out of losing.
The Audacity of ARROGANCE!
The Audacity of IGNORANCE!
The Audacity of HATE!
7 Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Gerry Ferraro worked their whole lives to unite the people. But Obama goes ahead and tried to smear them as racist. They are not, they are the opposite, they are all human rights activists actually. I grew up in Queens just like Gerry so I know her history. She%u2019s a scrapy fighter, don%u2019t cave in for nobody.
What has Obama ever done to bring people of races together?
The %u201Cartistic fabrications%u201D in his book include his community activism that in truth was done by others such as Hazel Johnson and he only served a bit part.
According to a report from the Associated Press late yesterday, Gov. Rendell described Hsu as a friend, and said "never asked for a bloody thing - not a job, not a contract," in exchange for his donations.
"I find it sad that he continues to stay so loyal to this criminal," Gleason continued. "Other Pennsylvania Democrats received campaign contributions from him, including Congressmen Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak. After news reports, they have since gave away the money they received. Sen. Hillary Clinton also received donations from Hsu, and according to reports, she has only given a small portion of those contributions away.
"Pennsylvanians need to keep a close eye on the Governor as this election cycle proceeds, especially if he contributes to the campaign accounts of statewide judicial and local county courthouse candidates. I would caution those candidates from taking contributions that could be traced back to a felon who has remained on the run for the past 15 years.
"I wish that Gov. Ed Rendell was capable of exhibiting the same type of loyalty towards Pennsylvanians as he does for criminal Democrat fundraisers."
Point of fact- if she stuck to the rules---as she said she would (then didn''t)--- and agreed the MI delegates shouldn''t be seated, there wouldn''t be a problem as JoelPB1 asserts.
You are correct when you say an issue is the disenfranchisement of 5.5 million voters. I agree.
If it works out that the delegates are not seated, it is tragic! But---the voters have no one to blame but their state officials for it! And, they also have recourse---vote them out of office the next election cycle!
The state officials knew the rules and CHOSE to violate them! They simply shouldn''t be rewarded for doing so. PERIOD.
Posted by trapbreak at 11:30 PM : Mar 15, 2008
She was the ONLY one on the ballot!! Did you really expect her do anything but win?
Technically, she finished last too which means she also lost - how does that fit into your small minded mentality?
Technically, she finished last too which means she also lost - how does that fit into your small minded mentality?
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Posted by hungry1968
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So your saying Dennis Kucinich got more votes than Clinton.
"God Dammn America"
"I have never been proud"
"Blue eyed devils"
(Change we don''t want to believe in)
Down with the blue eyed devils!
Change!
OBAMA 08
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