popular vote argument. Thought this is important so I'll post it here again as it is part of the Clinton campaigns strategy.

She will not get her popular vote up from Puerto Rico.

It would be cool if people could actually know what the political landscape is on the island before taking talking points as fact.

Hillary and her team are dreaming.

Just yesterday her main backer on the island went on a little rant and attacked people from his own party because things are not looking good for a high turnout. Many groups (for a variety of reasons) are calling for a boycott on top of that.

Here is a link to his rant in the biggest local newspaper :

http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia /politica/noticias/populares_contra_popu lares/401965

Prats culpa a algunos alcaldes rojos de la posible baja participación en las primarias demócratas en la Isla.

Translates to :

Prats blames some local mayors for the possible low turnout
in the Democratic primary on the island

She will know on May 31 whether the last arrow in her quiver will fly.  If it doesn't, competing in the last primaries is an exercise in party building, which I think is just fine.  She will have helped to increase the party registration rolls nationwide by the millions, and caused local infrastructure to be built up where none existed before.  Going to the convention to fight would be a mistake, in the view of this Clintonista.

One would hope information like this would put to rest some speculation I have seen flying around since Tuesday. It won't, of course, but one would hope.

individual who has been pushing Obama since Al Franken was still on the air.

And his genious to call Obama smart for pandering to Republicans and Reagan Democrats with touting Reagan, saying the people voting for Obama aren't smart enough to know the real issue about Reagan.

And then actually having to cause Olbermann to have to apologize for ODonnell appearning as an unbiased pundit when just days earlier he mocked the heck out of John Edwards, wrote and article called John Edwards is a Loser", and saying *If John Edwards stays in the race, he might, in the end, become nothing other than the Southern white man who stood in the way of the black man. *

Oh, yeah, do share us your widom *Larry

I know the Great Orange Satan is persona non grata around here, but you should really take a look at this diary that sources a Slate article.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/8/1 64227/9946/569/512009

If it's just too repugnant to go to DK, then here's the Slate article:

http://www.slate.com/id/2190880/

I was just going to hang around MyDD and take it easy based on the clarity provided by the last primaries, trying to inject a little humor here and there without getting too worked up anymore, but there are some very real and extremely distressing campaign finance problems that are going to rear their head between now and the end of the convention that could potentially cause some harm to the party and other candidates, esp. w/r/t to securing vendors for national campaigns.

Hillary's actions are beginning to resemble those of a teenager gone wild with the family credit card. And someone is going to have to pay for this, because I can't see the Clinton's swallowing hard on ten percent of their booty.

It's my fervent hope that Clinton spends the next month or so returning to her most solid ground: issues.  I would love to see her close out her campaign by making her best arguments in favor of the solutions and policies we want to see in January, 2009, including her health care plan, while dropping the noise machine attacks and voting-bloc realpolitik.  She would be able to fundraise to offset the campaign debt, and would push Obama into engaging in the nuts-and-bolts talk he'll need to master to carry her base in November.  Then she can withdraw in June with her reputation intact, and we'd be left with the strongest candidate to face McCain.

Wishful thinking, perhaps.  She's probably angling for the VP and hoping against hope for a miracle.  I think she'd be a bad choice for VP but I'd love to see them combine their formidable skills somehow -- most likely with her as the most powerful force in the Senate since LBJ.

Call me cynical, but I predict Clinton will take this all the way to convention, and that will end with her supporters claiming that she got robbed.  Part of this is the purest of hardball politics--she wants to be president, and knows her only chance, at this point, might be for Obama to lose so she can run in 2012.  I think the real explanation, though, is more emotional: politicians at this level simply can't bring themselves to take steps which weaken themselves in the never-ending contest (even though, to bystanders, this race, clearly, is nearing its end).  

When Hart challenged Mondale, and it became clear he wouldn't succeed, his campaign came out with some very nutty scenarios near the end (eg. a forlorn hope that they could win the votes of virtually all of the superdelegates).  Politicians at this level don't concede--they have concession forced upon them (and if June comes and goes, and Clinton has 0% chance of winning the nomination, predict that others in the Democratic party will be cowards).

Regardless of what you think of the messenger (O'Donnell), the underlying point remains clear: Either...

(1) Clinton is a rational actor and understands that she will not be the nominee, and her current actions reflect an end-game that helps the party

or

(2) Clinton is irrational, will pursue the nomination at all costs, and will destroy the party, her legacy, her future, and will still not be the nominee

debt repayment campaigning or serious threat?

We're so close to the end, we might as well just run it to the final states on June 3.  After that, either Clinton has the superdelegates needed to win, or she doesn't.

Campaigning over July and August with no more states or territories to vote is an exercise in stupidity.

When the last state votes, it's time to declare the winner.

I know some people want to talk about the popular vote, but it really doesn't make sense to me.  The nomination has always been based on delegates, and I don't know why we would change the rules in the middle of the game.  I would be fine with a popular vote based nomination in 2012 though.

ah - o'donnell the bastion of objective journalism - ya right.

Ha! Your take on what the supers are thinking makes me wonder if you have psychic abilities. "once the process is complete, there's really no reason to think superdelegates would be compelled to deliver the nomination to her, either prior to the convention or during it."

Until it is over, its not over, and Never say Never in politics.

One more comment about the popular vote tally. The Clinton campaign seems to think that if the Michigan and Florida delegations get seated, then the popular vote in those states will be instantly added to the tally, strengthening her claim to be more electable.

This is nonsense. The popular vote is ONLY useful to make the electability argument, nothing more. But the superdelegates can read and add. They already KNOW the voting results in Michigan and Florida. Seating the delegations, whether in part or in full, makes no difference at all in using the popular vote argument. The calculus has already taken place.

August is a long time off.  Hillary should gather as many delegates as she can, and finish the primaries.  The Supers may put Obama over for the summer, but as we have seen, change happens, and something could rear its ugly head making Obama look very beatable and not a smart pick by the time of the convention.  Or things could continue moving in his direction.  Noone really knows who the nominee will be until the Delegates cast their votes in 3 months.  Funny how just when she is supposed to be over, the polls are showing more support for her than Obama in the big electoral states against McCain than ever before.  RCP average is in a dead tie between she and Obama nationally.  How ironic.

As you say, there are a few strong wins coming Clinton's way before the process is over. Despite the fact that they will not be enough for her to overcome Obama's lead in delegates, they none-the-less provide Clinton with an opportunity to go out on her own terms and with dignity.

She might as well stay in to the end of the voting at this point, provided that she has the financing to do so (a fairly big if). She could reach her maximum vote in delegates to ensure a negotiated peace, with a big speaking gig at the convention and possibly the VP nom. She would go out a winner this way too.

Plus, We might as well have had the nomination battle reach the entire Democratic party electorate as well. How cool, if we can resolve peacefully, to have had a chance to run our candidates through their paces in all 50 states. I am glad to read articles that suggest a knowlege in the Clinton camp that there needs to be a nominee in June. They still hope its Hillary obviously, but they seem to not be willing to torpedo the party to get her to the promised land. I can only hope that this is an accurate portrayal of the situation.

Clinton should go on. After all, like Strom Thurmond and all the folks who bolted from the Democratic Party in  1948, whites need someone they can vote for. I am being ironical but can someone who supports Clinton explain her bizarre remarks earlier today to me. I was denying that she said something like "hard working whites" this morning but then I heard them on the radio. Is she unhinged?

Don't believe O'Donnel. He's an Obama shill.

Wolfson on Hardball effectively said that if they don't totally get their way with the rules committee at the end of the month they'll reopen the issue at a convention fight. If that's true then the supers may have to step in in early June and put an end to this, which I'm sure they'd prefer not to do.

If it's the only way to keep her from making embarrassing statements about whites not voting for a black candidate then she should throw the towel in now.   I like Hillary too much to watch her self-immolate.

Why do SuperDelegates even exist? Two names....

Dukakis.

McGovern.

It's amazing how folks cannot seem to grasp the reality of the situation. Admittedly that 'reality' is to be found in pollin g but....

Just take a look a the top of the MyDD page..at either top corner.

Case closed folks.

Hope yer enjoy yer McSame Presidency. Barry will, of course, give a great concession speech.

.

The Supers cannot vote and officially give Obama the nomination until the convention so even if the wave comes and they all say their for him, techincally he ain't the nominee as long as Hillary is in the race and has control over her delegates

Clinton should forget about the Dems and run with Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.

I completely reject this party and how they've enabled Obama.

Sorry, he won't get my vote.  Wait til more crap comes out on him...in October.

Well, you lost me when you quoted TPM. I haven't been on that site since Greg Sargent's backstabbing of Hillary Clinton/defending the misogynists at MSNBC and their "Pimping Chelsea" remark.

There's got to be SOME way to make Obama lose. Please God let him lose. He is worse than Kerry, worse then Dukakis. McCain will eat his bones.