Did Rush Limbaugh Tilt Indiana?

Washington Post: Conservative Radio Host's "Operation Chaos" Strategy Urged Listeners To Vote For Clinton

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Alec MacGillis and Peter Slevin.

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Even as Barack Obama's campaign celebrated Tuesday's primary results, aides charged yesterday that they would have had an even stronger showing were it not for meddling by an unlikely booster of Hillary Rodham Clinton: the popular conservative radio host and longtime Clinton family nemesis Rush Limbaugh.

The impact of Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" emerged as an intriguing point of debate, particularly in Indiana, where registered voters could participate in either party's primary, and where Clinton won by a mere 14,000 votes. As he had before several recent primaries, Limbaugh encouraged listeners to vote for Clinton to "bloody up Obama politically" and prolong the Democratic fight.

Limbaugh crowed about the success of his ploy all day Tuesday, featuring on-air testimonials from voters in Indiana and North Carolina who recounted their illicit pleasure in casting a vote for Clinton. "Some of the people show up and they ask for a Democrat ballot, and the poll worker says, 'Why, what are you going to do?' He says, 'Operation Chaos,' and they just laugh," Limbaugh said Tuesday.

But Limbaugh called off the operation yesterday, saying he wants Obama to be the party's pick, because "I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees."

He added: "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."

The Obama campaign and many of its supporters condemned Limbaugh's intervention tactic yesterday, calling it a major factor in Clinton's narrow Hoosier State win.

"Rush Limbaugh was tampering with the primary, and the GOP has clearly declared that it wants Hillary Clinton as the candidate," Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), an Obama supporter, told reporters on a conference call. On the same call, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Limbaugh "had a clear factor in the outcome."

Whether that is true remains in question. Even if Limbaugh's exhortations brought as many of his listeners to the polls as he says, his operation did not cripple Obama, who emerged stronger from the day's primaries after better-than-expected showings with some key groups of voters.

Those looking for evidence of Limbaugh's influence pointed to Clinton's edge among Republicans in Indiana and North Carolina. In Indiana, 10 percent of Democratic primary voters described themselves as Republicans, a higher rate than in any state but Mississippi, and they went for Clinton by eight percentage points, according to exit polls. In North Carolina, they were 5 percent of the electorate, and went for her by 29 points.

By contrast, Obama won Republican voters, often by very large margins, in seven of the eight states where exit polls were able to report the group before the Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, when Limbaugh first coaxed listeners to vote for Clinton.

Also notable was that in Indiana, six in 10 Republicans who supported Clinton on Tuesday said they would vote for presumptive GOP nominee John McCain over Clinton in the fall, if that were the matchup. By contrast, most Republicans who voted for Obama said they would back him against McCain. And a slight majority of Republicans who voted for Clinton in Indiana told pollsters that she does not share their values, raising further questions about why they supported her.

But at least as much data suggested that many Republicans voted for Clinton because the Democratic primary was the more meaningful one and because they simply preferred her to Obama. In Indiana, about nine in 10 GOP Clinton voters said she would make a better commander in chief, and more than six in 10 said she would have a better shot at beating McCain.

And Clinton's edge among Indiana Republicans was relatively small, if set against the broader racial divisions in the contest. Her eight-point advantage among Republicans, nearly all of whom are white in the state, was much narrower than it was among white Democrats, whom she won by nearly 2 to 1 over Obama.

Edward Carmines, a political scientist at Indiana University, said that he concluded from the data that while Operation Chaos "existed to some extent, I don't think it was a major factor."

Indiana defied easy analysis from the start, having not held a competitive Democratic presidential primary in decades. Clinton had a demographic edge, with the state's low proportion of black voters and its mix of Rust Belt workers, farmers and Southern transplants. Obama's primary advantage was that he hailed from next door, and many voters were familiar with him.

The Clinton campaign credited its narrow win to the organization of Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.) and the more than 100 campaign stops made by Clinton and her husband and daughter. Robby Mook, Clinton's Indiana director, said she did better than expected in Indianapolis and in northwestern Indiana, where Obama was expected to benefit from his exposure on Chicago television.

But he fared better than the final polls predicted by cutting into Clinton's huge margin among several key groups in Ohio and Pennsylvania, such as white women and white voters without college degrees. He racked up big totals in college towns and with African American voters in Gary and Indianapolis, as expected. But he also won by 22 points in Hamilton County, an affluent Republican-leaning suburb north of Indianapolis; by 12 points in the county that includes Fort Wayne, after losing similar Rust Belt cities elsewhere; and lost by only four points in Evansville, on the southern border.

The Obama campaign attributed these successes to having placed the candidate in smaller venues and more personal gatherings -- a horse barn, senior center, steel mill, a farmer's back yard -- where he sought to be seen less as a political star than a thoughtful listener. Mitch Stewart, Obama's Indiana director, pointed in particular to Elkhart County, a Republican-leaning community east of South Bend, where the candidate did some canvassing and ended up winning by 18 points.

It made the difference for Jim Ballard, 41, an Elkhart police officer who did not make up his mind until last week.

"Barack seems to be hitting the smaller towns and talking to the people. And he makes you feel like you're part of the process," he said as he climbed on his Harley-Davidson in Granger. "One of the things that was said was he looked people in the eye and Hillary didn't. That's big for me, as a police officer. "

Polling director Jon Cohen contributed to this report.

[actornaught]

If rush is so "truthy", why does he trash talk the Fairness Doctrine?

[chobella]

I predict Rush Limbaugh have a major heart attack if Obama is demacrats nominee. I also predict Rush Limbaugh commit suicide if Obama becomes U.S. President. You full blooded republican numskull, saying Obama can''t win against McCain, yet operation chaos is attemting to have Clinton win nominee.Do you hear yourself? That makes absolutely no sense!

[kansas1946]

Rush Limbaugh is an over-blown gas-bag addict that doesn''t affect anything but a few under-educated ditto-heads that listen to him.

[dmgenet]

The contest between Obama and Hillary may be making the Repubs gleeful but the Democratic Party will also have time to be making plans for the National election. The knife cuts both ways.

This is the most exciting election in decades. Politicophiles enjoy it. Issues, albeit weakly, are being talked about and the scum element has been kept to a minimum. Rove must be salivating right now. May he become dehydrated and blow away.

[dmgenet]

Limbaugh, what a silly rage-aholic. Republicans talk so much about personal responsibility and yet media ****** like Limbaugh can take no responsibility for making difficult decisions and no responsibility for the negative aspects of those decisions. His drug addiction attests to his rage and self loathing as he spews bile with almost every word. He is a sick man who''s only joy is to be a rabble rouser. At least Michael Moore is articulate as a rabble rouser. Limbaugh only talks to hear himself. If there was one person where the term mental masturbation applies it is Limbaugh.

[actornaught]

Posted by MCVet at 08:18 AM : May 09, 2008

rush has found a lucrative market for Tabloid Politics, pandering to weak minds that are entertained by such raging intellectual dishonesty. Yesterday, a couple of those loons "challenged" us to tell one lie of rush, and they got multiple lists, and then IGNORED it all.

Here''s one of the many rules that you need to keep in mind while you listen to rush: EVERY statement he makes with the word "liberal" in it is a LIE. Look up Straw Man.

[joecoolswat]

HILLARY - STAY IN THE RACE !!!!! please stay in all the way until the convention in August...Please, Please continue to do the Republican dirty work...This way republicans will have 7 months to campaign and Democrats only 60 days.....Your party is a joke, can''t even nominate a candidate, this late in the game.....LoL ..LMAO..

Say Hello to President John McCain !!!!!

[joecoolswat]

McCain is going to "Cream" Obama in the general election. (pardon the pun)

[mjvw2]

Did Rush Limbaugh Tilt Indiana?

The only thing that tilted Indiana was the size of the arse in the pants suit.

YOU honestly believe McSame has a chance?
Posted by MCVet at 08:14 AM : May 09, 2008

Hmmm...I don''t quite understand why you made my post the brunt of your lastest diatribe about Bush but I will ignore all that and answer your question...

Do I think McCain has a chance? Absolutely! The democratic party is pretty fractured over the whole Obama/Clinton mess. I believe people are going to hold on tightly to their frustrations and anger over what they perceive as a newcomer coming along and taking the nomination from Clinton. Right or wrong, people can be vindictive. Secondly, no matter what kind of job you think Bush did is not going to automatically convince people that a change in party is the answer. Obama isn''t the right choice for the nomination. Is he a nice man? Yes. Is he charsmatic? Yes. Would it be nice to throw reserve to the wind and adopt the "new saviour" idea? Yes. Those who might have crossed party lines will be very reluctant to hand the presidency over to an inexperienced candidate. The country and the world needs an experienced person....not a neophyte. And you keep forgetting something....just because he scored big with democrats....how does that translate into him winning the election? Why wouldn''t McCain have a chance? Half the country is Repulican. Kind of a silly question in that respect...don''t you think?

[mudrose-2009]

Did Rush tilt Indiana. Gee I don''t know what would that have done to their neighbors? Does that mean that every other state had to tilt to the right too?

[pensacola88]

It is very clear that Rush Limbaugh has a problem about not respecting people that he has disagreement with. His listeners follow that example.

If Rush Limbaugh can muster it inside himself to change and exhibit respect for those whom he disagrees with, then his followers can also see that example and do the same.

The anxiety that becomes created from disrespect is always greater than the anxiety created from disagreement. Removing anxiety from the equation leaves parties on both side of it, a better place. Reducing the equation down to simple disagreement, makes it easier to solve.

I don''t like the disrespectful rhetoric used in his talk show, and I find some the attacks posted on this comment stream against him to be equally offensive.

If Rush Limbaugh exhibits a desire to tilt elections and produce acceptable results for himself, then he must demonstrate abilities to be tilted himself so that acceptable results are visible to us.

[mcvet]

A few years ago in Michigan, there was a idiot lawyer running for Govenor. The other political party knew that he would be easy to beat in the fall. So during the primaries, the opposition party all voted for him. And he was beat by a landslide in the fall election. The same is going on now in the Presidental Primaries for the Demorcrats. Look at how much money they have wasted. That money could of went for health care, schools, etc.. As far as Rush is concerned, if you don''''t like what he is saying, turn the station.


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Posted by hunterdon6 at 06:28 AM : May 09, 2008
+ report abuse

I have heard so ANTI AMERICAN trash in my time, this takes the cake!! ANYONE who calls themselves AMERICAN and thinks this is Okay is simply ignorant or wants the system trashed. The right of AMERICAN''s to meet and pick a canidate goes to the very heart of what we as a people stand for. These NAZI''s and folks they are NAZI''s, attempted to deny that right to the OLDEST Political Party on the PLANET! They are guilty of treason and should be address that way. Sieg Heil Rush!!

[mcvet]

Uh, pardon me...but are we skipping the election? I think McCain might have something to say about that. You do understand the difference between being chosen the DEMOCRAT presidential candidate and actually being elected PRESIDENT, don''''t you?



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Posted by andersonk49 at 07:05 AM : May 09, 2008
+ report abuse

YOU honestly believe McSame has a chance? Honestly I doubt the Bush Third Term will make it to the elections...well without life support that is. We can''t afford to put our problems off any longer and we can not afford to just have someone give us a gloss over job of getting them under control. McSame and the Republican''s had the entire Government under their control for 6 years. The did NOTHING about Social Security, Energy, Debt, Health Care and so much more. Add to that the fact that he sat on his hands while the WORST people to ever be called an Administration were put in positions of power. No I think giving him a chance is about all you can ask for here. Sieg Heil Bush

It was over at 1:30 am Wed. Obama is the next president.

Posted by rebelscout at 12:36 AM : May 09, 2008

Uh, pardon me...but are we skipping the election? I think McCain might have something to say about that. You do understand the difference between being chosen the DEMOCRAT presidential candidate and actually being elected PRESIDENT, don''t you?

[hunterdon6]

A few years ago in Michigan, there was a idiot lawyer running for Govenor. The other political party knew that he would be easy to beat in the fall. So during the primaries, the opposition party all voted for him. And he was beat by a landslide in the fall election. The same is going on now in the Presidental Primaries for the Demorcrats. Look at how much money they have wasted. That money could of went for health care, schools, etc.. As far as Rush is concerned, if you don''t like what he is saying, turn the station.

[puritan9]

There is a secret FBI file that proves Rush Limbaugh and Rev. Wright were fathered by the same amoeba!

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by minnick8 at 01:00 AM

No he''s not and the fat azz shouldn''t be allowed to use the public airwaves to promote fraud. If he wants to post a commercial let the bastaard pay for it just like all other political interests.

[jesterbelle]

Posted by minnick8 at 01:07 AM : May 09, 2008

Think you''re a little short in the credibility account after eight years of "let them eat cake",repug.Why don''t you just shut up and lose.Nobody wants or needs your advice.

[jesterbelle]

All Republicans everywhere must be swept out - swept out into political oblivion where they belong.


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Posted by TawpDawg11 at 12:54 AM : May 09, 2008

I''d really much rather shoot them.Think we could lobby for an open season in January?We could have a tournament with a points system,with the Bush administration and DINOS as the high score targets,or even as bonuses,with points graduating downward from there.We could even include state and local,with say oh,maybe a point for a city councilman,and maybe five for a state representative.You can declare me the winner right now.I''d be so avid and enthusiastic about it that none of the rest of you S.O.B.s would stand a chance.LOL!