itsmeeeeeee

Vilsack says it's over
Posted: 11:41 AM ET

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Vilsack says it’s over « - Blogs from CNN.com

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) – Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, one of Hillary Clinton's most ardent supporters, said Sunday it's time for Hillary Clinton to acknowledge she has lost her bid for the Democratic nomination.

Vilsack, who was briefly a presidential candidate himself last year, told the Associated Press it's "pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee."

"After Tuesday's contests, she needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him," Vilsack also said.

Vilsack first announced he was running for president in November, 2006, but dropped his bid three months later after the Democrat failed to drum up a significant level of support or raise the necessary campaign funds needed to compete. He endorsed Clinton shortly after and played a key role in the New York senator's unsuccessful Iowa campaign effort.

His comments came the same day the Clinton showed signs she plans to press on after Tuesday's contests — continuing argue she has won the popular vote and that the party's superdelegates are able to switch their allegiances before the convention in August.

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Comicsartist

Let's hear it for a voice of reason in an otherwise unreasonable Clinton campaign.

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ibex

I second that 100%.

itsmeeeeeee

it's been over for a long time...

but i've got a great big juicy steak in my freezer that's been waiting for her to drop out...

time to get that sucker out and let it thaw!
i'm sure i'll be eating it soon - if not tomorrow night!

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ibex

You might want to keep it in the freezer and refrain from making the marinade until at least the end of the week. This woman is so obsessed and power hungry, I won't believe any of it until it's official and all the votes won't be counted tomorrow night. I really, really hope the stake is driven through the heart of the vampire that is the Clinton campaign tomorrow night but I wouldn't put anything past her, a law suit dragging the whole thing out all summer long perhaps. After all, even bad publicity is better than none when you're an attention craving psychopath like HRC.

RK77

Funny you should mention that:

Does Clinton Have A Trick Up Her Sleeve?
By
Adam Boulton
Political editor

Updated: 03:31, Friday May 30, 2008

When Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses back in January, I cautioned against counting out Hillary Clinton too soon.


Clinton's campaign team has a plan
Now as conventional wisdom grows that she may bow out soon after the Primary season ends on 3 June I'd repeat my caution.

For sure Obama will remain the favourite to be the nominee because he will have more pledged delegates (currently the Obama/Clinton balance is 1,658/1,500 or 1,732/1,613 should Florida be counted).

Even if Clinton continues to finish strongly in Puerto Rico and elsewhere she won't close that gap.

However Obama will not have won because he will still be short of the 50% of all delegates.

That means that the super delegates (party elders) will hold the balance at the Convention in September.

Effectively unless Clinton withdraws they will have to choose between Clinton and Obama for the nomination.

The Clinton campaign is now preparing a two-pronged argument to persuade them to back Hillary.

Prong one is their argument that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to beat John McCain.

This is based on her Primary victories in key big states including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, Ohio and Massachussetts.


Obama's not got the nomination yet
And a belief that she will have narrowly won "the popular vote" should votes cast everywhere for each candidate be counted.

The second prong is far more contentious.

To my certain knowledge the Clinton campaign is drawing up a legal case to challenge the legitimacy of the entire 2008 Nomination Process.

At the core of this is a furious attack on the caucus system.

So far 34 states have held primaries and fifteen have held caucuses.

Obama owes all his delegate lead to his victories in the caucuses (excluding them the Obama/Clinton split is just 1,373/1,353 or 1,447/1,466 including Florida - a spread of less than 0.1%).

The Clinton case is that the caucuses are over-represented and undemocratic.

Primaries are normal elections as we would understand them in which votes are cast and counted.

The Democrats (but not the Republicans) then apportion delegates on a proportional basis. This explains why Clinton's wins in big states have not given her big leads in delegates.

Caucuses are not elections.


Who can take on John McCain?
They are small gatherings of activists, which reach a consensus on which candidate to support. It is not always known how many people take part in caucuses.

Based on official figures and estimates the Clinton Camp reckon around 1 million people voted in caucuses, 32.9 million have voted so far in Primaries.

That means, according to the Clintonistas, that caucus voters make up 2.9% of the total yet account for 14% of pledged delegates.

Caucus states, they argue, are over-represented on a votes per pledged delegate basis. On this calculation Obama won in caucuses in all 10 of the most over-represented states and Clinton won primaries in 7 of the 10 most underestimated.

More seriously still, Clinton supporters argue that caucuses are exclusionary - because they take place at a set time, usually in the evening, for a few hours only and are run by activists who may put off outsiders.

The Clintonistas claim this excludes voters on active military duty, blue collar shift workers, the elderly and families with children.

As a result they claim that Obama will be a "contaminated nominee" if the super delegates decide simply to rubber stamp the delegates selected so far.

Of course the Clintons would be on much stronger ground if they had complained about the nomination process before the race began.

But such detailed arguments do not suggest to me that Hillary Clinton is prepared to go quietly.

The_Heretic

Just so long as there isn't four months freezer burn.

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"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium