HarperLee

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago, May 1, 2008

WASHINGTON - A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator.

Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates.

"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC near the end of his presidency, and Andrew endorsed the former first lady last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.

AP NewsBreak: Former Democratic leader switches to Obama - Democratic Underground

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

itsmeeeeeee

ha! that one was a tie!
great minds think alike?

(both posted at exactly the same time!)

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HarperLee

It is almost scary. You did a better title.

I am glad that he is writing a letter to other superdelegates.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

itsmeeeeeee

this is HUGE!!!!

hopefully this signals the beginning of the end - and the flood of supers who've been being intimidated by the clinton machine will burst the dam!

yesterday morning i had just HAD it with the dem party leaders. so the first thing i did was make my coffee, and send faxes to pelosi, reid, and rahm emanuel ripping their leadership.

and THEN, when i read yesterday AFTERNOON about how clinton supporters are now swamping the phones of any congressional super delegate that endorses obama with threatening racist phone calls, i started to call and fax their offices my support - and encouraged them to talk to the other super delegates who are being intimidated by the clinton machine to find the courage to end this thing! NOW!

i was told when i talked to someone at rockefeller's office that it's TRUE! clinton supporters are swamping their phones with VERY nasty calls.

andrew switching his support this morning shows that intimidation isn't working - the clinton machine is dying! hallelujah!
long live america!


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Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates.

"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC near the end of his presidency, and Andrew endorsed the former first lady last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.

Andrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."

"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us," Andrew wrote. "John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives."

"He has shown such mettle under fire," Andrew said in the interview. "The Jeremiah Wright controversy just reconfirmed for me, just as the gas tax controversy confirmed for me, that he is the right candidate for our party."

Andrew's decision puts Obama closer to closing Clinton's superdelegate lead. Clinton had a big advantage among superdelegates, many of whom like Andrews have ties to the Clintons and backed her candidacy early on. But most of the superdelegates taking sides recently have gone for Obama, who has won more state contests.

Obama now trails her by just 19 superdelegates, 244-263. This week, he picked up eight superdelegates while she netted three.
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HarperLee

This is just bizarre. Jay Rockefeller endorsed Obama on February 29.
You are telling me that Clinton supporters are still harassing him?

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

itsmeeeeeee

yes, the guy who answered the phone said they'd been getting harassed all day.

evidently, the clinton supporters have a new strategy - harrassment of supers who've endorsed obama.

andrews is really ripping the clintons right now on cnn.
and the interview suggests that andrews has had ENOUGH of the clinton machine ATTACKING super delegates!

i'm going to transcribe it:

"i'm announcing my support for barack obama for president today and changing from senator clinton to senator obama and calling not only on my fellow hoosiers to unite behind senator obama but on all former and current super delegates as well."

i think over and over again he's showed the mettle to not only be a great candidate, and more importantly, a great president. you know you can BE for someone without being against someone and what i'm trying to make sure that people feel comfortable with is that you don't have to criticize one of these candidates to truly find the the other one is inspirational. that the other one rises above the normal politics of the day and is truly can bring people into this process and involved people in a way that is different than others could do."

when asked if he called the clintons:

"i think that's the OLD political theater, here, where i'm supposed to CALL and ask for permission or beg for forgiveness. we all know what both of them would say and i'm sure they're GOING to say it. what they'll do is take the exact same things the republicans said about me when i was defending bill clinton and use it against me. old political theater and old politics. i'm not calling barack obama, and i'm NOT calling hillary clinton, i'm going to DO what I think is right!"


have you made the determination that hillary can't win this?
(question paraphrased)

"not in the least, there's no calculation here - the fact of the matter here is neither one of them can win the nomination without the support of the super delegates, at this point, and so neither one of them really differ because of that. i think that the mistake of the party was to create super delegates, which i think was crazy, even tho i happen to be one of them - and over the past week in particular we've seen how senator obama handled the jeremiah wright controversy and this gas tax controversy now, you can just see how's he's willing to do what's RIGHT for the country, not what is right for him politically. "

would you have made the switch if obama had not disavowed rev wright?

"it's MORE than the disavow.

it's the WAY in which he handled it, and the way in which he's handled the gas controversy. it's EASY politics to say we ought to get rid of the federal excised tax on gas, it's HARD politics to say "no!" that's bad policy, it may put a little money in your pocket today and that's great politics when people are hurting all over the country, today. but i can't wake up in the morning and look at my kids in the eye and say that for the price of HALF a tank of gas i'm going to give up on having a TRUE energy policy in this country. ...just to PANDER to grab a couple of votes i'm going to give up on doing what we all KNOW is the right thing to do over the long run."

i think after tuesday, it's time for the super delegates to come out and decide. the fact is neither one of the candidates now can win the nomination without the super delegates and the polls demonstrate that john mccain, without doing much of ANYTHING is competitive against BOTH of them.

the lengthly primary process is no longer helping democrats. it's helping republicans. it's time to bring this process to an end and to unify the party behind a candidate and get to the business of trying to make america a better place."

WOW!!!!

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winthrop

"... you know you can BE for someone without being against someone and what i'm trying to make sure that people feel comfortable with is that you don't have to criticize one of these candidates to truly find the the other one is inspirational. ..."

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Countdown to The Great Bush-Out...
Meanwhile, panem et circenses!

HarperLee

Thank you so much! I never listen to CNN so I missed it. Of course
MSNBC (G.E. owned) didn't cover the speech.

Andrews is my new hero.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

itsmeeeeeee

Lynn Sweet: Obama picks up 3 more Illinois superdelegates: Daley, Currie and Stroger.

Obama picks up 3 more Illinois superdelegates: Daley, Currie and Stroger.

WASHINGTON--When the Democratic Party of Illinois meet next week to finish filling out the delegate slate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will pick up three more superdelegates, according to Steve Brown, a spokesman for state party chair Michael Madigan, who is also the speaker of the Illinois House.

That's because the three appointments are all pledged to Obama: Mayor Daley --he shares strategist David Axelrod with Obama and brother Bill, the former Commerce Secetary is on the Obama team; Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), a Hyde Parker who lives near the Obamas'; and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.

open the flood gates!

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HarperLee

Yesterday, Andrea Mitchell was interviewing Senator Dick Durbin, a loyal Obama supporter.

Mitchell, allegedly a family friend of the Clintons, kept whining about Jeremiah Wright. Durbin almost lost it. He said, "What else do you want him [Obama] to do?"

Please keep in mind -- and state in any letters you might write -- that the MSM conspired with the Bush Administration to sell us
this obscene war, and now the MSM is making sure that our only choices in November are a senile old man who doesn't care if we stay in Iraq for a hundred years (and who thinks our economy is
sound) or a deranged woman who has promised to obliterate Iran.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken