Someone sent me this link from Feb, 2008:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/ 2008/02/obama-clinton-s.html

Back in Feb, Obama paid $694,000 to SD's campaigns vs. Hillary's payments to SD'S campaigns of $195,000.

   There appears to be a strange disconnect between the democratic voters and the leadership of the party. Clearly more  REGISTERED democrats have voted  for Hillary as their standard bearer while more and more of the leaders are opting for Obama.
    More than ever the rank and file want to continue the process- the leadership wants to shut it down.
    One day after Edward's  core constituency rejects Obama he endorses Obama.
  Voters of WV reject the guidance of their long time senator Rockefeller by trouncing his choice as did the voters of Massachusetts. David wilhelm strongly endorses Obama and his state of Ohio rejects his choice.
Rank and file overwhelmingly demands a unity ticket - the entire leadership is dead set against it!
  How is the rank and file going to react to this ignoring of their will by the leadership? I guess if Obama wins it would be OK otherwise watch out!

OK... Hillary won a big one with the uneducated, all white majority in West Virginia. Then she gave a follow-up speech which indicated she was still heading for the nomination.

But with too few primaries to go and Obama only 143 delegates away from the nomination, her future as the presidential candidate is just not there. The numbers are against her:

Total Delegates     Obama 1882 - Clinton 1714  Obama +168
Super Delegates     Obama 284 -  Clinton 272   Obama +12
Pledged Dels.    Obama 1598 - Clinton 1442  Obama +156
Popular Vote     Obama 49.4%- Clinton 47.4% Obama +2.0%

She'll fight for her results in Florida and Michigan, but is likely to get less than she wants. She'll win in Kentucky and Ohio, but will lose Oregon and Montana. And the Super Delegates will probably know how to count and will go with Obama, too.

She's low on funds, but will lend herself more. And if she gets up to the Convention without paying that money back, she loses it. She can afford it, however, when you count the money Bill has made, they have plenty.

We know the Democrats should be putting all their energy and expenses against McCain now, but Hillary's not letting up and it is to McCain's advantage.

It is to the Party's advantage for the Super Delegates to come aboard for Obama now.

Under The LobsterScope

 
No Nominee until the Democratic Convention. Super Delegates can't vote until then.
 

This is bothering me more and more every day!

I hear constantly that the Clinton campaign is "moving the goal posts" and trying to "change the rules."

But the Democratic party makes no distinction between "pledged delegates" and automatic delegates.

The "automatic delegates" or "super delegates" are no more important or less important than any other delegates.

In addition, for a campaign so big on following the rules that we will finish the primary system without the input of two of the largest states in the country I am fascinated by the attempt to steamrole over the rules in regards to automatic delegates.

So; the idea that Obama will win once he collects a majority of pledged delegates is nonscense.

We will have a nominee when one of the candidates collects 2,024 delegates (without Florida & Michigan) or 2,209 (with Florida and Michigan)

And if the party is so opposed to the campaign stretching until June; I have an idea...don't schedule any primaries for June!

West Virginia is voting on Tuesday; and as long as Hillary is fighting I'm right there with her!

This thing is over, and the sooner the Clintons realize it the better the Democrats AND the country will be. The Sunday Telegraph reports the following:

"A senior Democrat strategist, familiar with discussions at the highest levels of the Obama camp, has revealed that Mr Obama is now confident of the support of around 120 of the remaining 260 undeclared superdelegates.

His aides believe he will only need between 70 and 80 to be sure of the nomination if he wins the Oregon, Montana and South Dakota primaries as expected after this month."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/1943910/Barack-Obama-'has-enough-super-delegates-to-win-Democratic-nomination'.html

-California DNC Ed Espinoza
-California DNC Vernon Watkins
-Maryland DNC John Gage
-New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne
-Oregon Rep. DeFazio.
-South Carolina Chair Wilber Lee Jeffcoat
-New Mexico Addon Laura Weahkee
-Hawaii Rep. Mazie Hirono

When Utah announces its add-on he should have nine.

I just saw this article on Huffington Post and it was interesting because at the same time I am reading Talk left and taylor Marsh and I saw EXACTLY what the supers here are talking about.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/09 /clinton-supporters-send-l_n_100979.html

As the Democratic primary nears its long-awaited conclusion, undecided superdelegates have been drowned under a sudden deluge of angry, sometimes vicious emails from Hillary Clinton supporters urging them to not fall in line behind Barack Obama.

The letter writing campaign picked up steam late Thursday evening when several superdelegates confirmed that a coordinated effort had been launched, apparently independent of Clinton's campaign, to raise last-minute concerns about Obama's candidacy and present the specter of voter defections should the Illinois Democrat become the nominee.

nothing new people from both sides have been trying to persuade the supers to support their candidate. I  thought about it once, but I am a terrible writer so figured against it. but it seems as the reality starts to set in some supporters can't let go

Such campaigns targeting superdelegates have mostly been avoided out of fear that the party officials would react negatively to outside pressure. And at least four superdelegates on the receiving end of yesterday's emails suggested that they did more harm to Clinton's cause than good.

and the best part of all? TaylorMarsh.com posters, can go post this to them and basically say great job guys

"It was a 'spur of the moment' idea brought about by a blog (Taylor Marsh)," explained Shirley Luther, a Texas Democrat who threatened to vote for McCain should Obama be the nominee. "Tonight several of our bloggers came up with the idea of writing the super delegates. Someone on the blog found a list of emails and posted it.... Everything I wrote is the truth about my political background. The exit polls show I am not alone in refusing to vote for Obama and opting to McCain. This probably would not be possible if there was any other Republican running. But there are a lot of moderate Democrats who do respect his service."

Luther's email, compared to the nearly dozen provided to The Huffington Post, was mild in tone. Beyond threatening defection from the party, authors attacked Obama for his relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers, the unrepentant Weather Underground member who is a Chicago acquaintance of the senator. One writer accused the Illinois Democrat of playing the "race card" against the Clintons -- a proposition most political observers argue is reversed -- while several others called him a misogynist.

and here is what a Redstate democrat had to say about this new letter writing camapign

"I spent my entire life in the two reddest states in the entire U.S. so please excuse me if I fail to discern the nuances of the arguments sent my way this evening in what appears to be an orchestrated campaign to intimidate the remaining unpledged delegates by threatening to leave the party and vote for a third Bush term if I and others like me don't vote for Sen. Clinton," wrote the exasperated superdelegate. "I have been uncommitted throughout this campaign because I wanted to see how the candidates performed in a variety of settings. I am proud of them both. But I am horrified by this effort to threaten votes for McCain if super delegates don't vote for Sen. Clinton. I have received hundreds of emails from both sides - but I can say without exception that I have not received a single email from an Obama supporter that threatened a vote for McCain if I didn't support Sen. Obama. You really ought to be ashamed."