Sen. Leahy to Clinton: Get Out [Archive]

MarkK

03-28-2008, 02:28 PM

Dan Balz's Take
Where No Other Democratic Leader Has Dared Go
By Dan Balz
Sen. Patrick Leahy has gone where no Democratic leader has dared go. It's time, the Vermont senator said, for Hillary Clinton to get out of the presidential race. "She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama," he told Vermont Public Radio.

Clinton's campaign has spent the past two weeks trying to fight off such talk. The New York senator has argued her case that there are still 10 contests left on the calendar and that millions of Democrats deserve to be heard. She has argued that neither she nor Obama can hit the magic threshold of 2,024 delegates without the help of uncommitted superdelegates. She has argued -- correctly -- that pledged delegates aren't actually legally pledged to any candidate and can switch sides.

In every way possible, her campaign is trying to keep open any avenue that would help preserve a path to the nomination. Some of her leading fundraisers have tried to intimidate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into backing away from comments widely interpreted as sympathetic to Obama. Her advisers continue to look for a solution that will bring Florida and particularly Michigan voters back into play. Those advisers have continued to seed doubts about Obama's strength as a general election candidate.

The bitterness and frustration on both sides is growing. Near-daily conference calls by the two campaigns heap invective upon invective. Even if most of what is said on those calls is quickly lost to history, their fevered nature enlarges the gulf that eventually will have to be bridged once there is a nominee.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has given a series of interviews over the past 24 hours making two points. First, that the candidates and their advisers tone things down. Second, that superdelegates move quickly, once the primaries are over in early June, so that the fight doesn't spill onto the convention floor in Denver.

Dean said he remains confident that the party will know its nominee before the convention opens in late August. But he expressed doubt that anyone will be driven from the race prematurely. "Both these candidates believe that they can win this," he said. "And so I think we're going to be in for a tough primary fight between now and...June 3rd," he added.

Dean was dismissive that a council of party elders should step in and tell one of the candidates to quit. "Look, I've been a candidate. You don't step in and tell a candidate to get out of the race," he said on MSNBC Friday morning. "Nobody does that, and nobody's ever done that."

Well, Leahy has now done that. As an Obama supporter, he does not come to this as a neutral party. The question is whether he will embolden others, whether Obama supporters or neutral Democrats, to come forward and join him.

The presidential campaign is playing out in multiple venues right now. As recent polling has reminded everyone, developments obsessed over by talking heads often have far less resonance among most voters. For many Americans, what Obama and Clinton are saying every day about, say, the cost of health care or college tuition or job retraining or the home mortgage crisis is far more compelling.

But more and more Democrats are now worrying openly about the damage that the Clinton-Obama competition may inflict on the party. They fear that John McCain is getting a free ride as he opens his general election campaign. Some analysts say the answer to that is for Obama and Clinton to focus their attacks on McCain rather than each other.

The candidates try to follow that advice, as they did Thursday by going after McCain's views on the housing crisis. But, spurred on by their advisers and surrogates and supporters, they continue to be sucked into arguing with each other.

As she campaigns, Clinton sees enthusiastic supporters urging her to keep going. She is by nature a fighter -- a trait her advisers long have seen as one of her greatest attributes. Her husband demonstrated both in his 1992 campaign and during his presidency that hanging in when others might have quit can pay dividends. It's not in the Clintons' DNA to quit fighting. But she is also a political realist who understands as well as anyone the state of the Democratic race.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, another Obama supporter, said he hopes the Democratic race will come to a conclusion after the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, an implicit warning to Clinton to get ready to wrap things up. But Leahy has now trumped that.

Leahy's comment may turn out to be the sound of one hand clapping, an observation by a politician given to speak his mind but not necessarily something that opens up a torrent of supporting commentary from others in the party. That is obviously Clinton's biggest worry and her campaign will be waiting nervously to see what happens next.

AK

03-28-2008, 03:08 PM

Pa. Sen. Bob Casey Endorses Obama

, Friday March 28 2008

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey endorsed Democrat Barack Obama on Friday, a move that could help the presidential candidate make inroads with white working-class voters dubbed ``Casey Democrats'' in the Keystone State.

Appearing on stage beside the Illinois senator, Casey told a boisterous rally, ``I believe in my heart that there is one person who's uniquely qualified to lead us in that new direction and that is Barack Obama.''
Pennsylvania's April 22 primary will allocate 158 delegates, the biggest single prize left in the drawn-out nomination battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Clinton is leading Obama in the state, by 12 points in one poll this month.

Casey is a first-term senator and the son of a popular former governor of the state. Casey is Catholic and, like his father, is known for his opposition to abortion and support of gun rights. His support could help Obama make inroads among Catholic voters, who have preferred Clinton to Obama in earlier primaries and strongly favor her in Pennsylvania polls.

``I really believe that in a time of danger around the world and in division here at home, Barack Obama can lead us, he can heal us, he can help rebuild America,'' he said.

Obama told the crowd that he had not pushed Casey hard for an endorsement.

``Bob is such a gracious person and such a thoughtful person that I did not press him on this endorsement,'' especially since Obama trails Clinton in Pennsylvania polls.

``It would have been easy for Bob just to stay out of it, just to stay neutral, I think everybody would have accepted that,'' Obama said.
Casey said that he called Clinton Thursday night to tell her of his decision.
``She was very gracious. We know that she's a great senator, she's a great leader,'' Casey said.

Asked by Casey's endorsement, Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said, ``We're proud of the support we have from across Pennsylvania, including Gov. (Ed) Rendell, several members of Congress and mayors from across the state. We look forward to having his support in the general election as Democrats unite to beat John McCain and to turn our country around.''
Clinton's backers in the state include Rep. John Murtha, who was an early advocate of withdrawing from Iraq, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who is black.

Meantime, a leading Obama backer, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is saying Clinton should abandon her White House run.

``There is no way that Sen. Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination,'' Leahy told Vermont Public Radio in an interview that aired Thursday.

In a statement issued Friday, Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman who endorsed Obama in January, said Casey's endorsement of Obama is the latest sign of how the race is going.

``Sen. Clinton has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to. As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out. But as I have said before, that is a decision that only she can make,'' Leahy said.

The Casey endorsement came as Obama began a six-day campaign swing through Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has an estimated 3.8 million Catholics, or just over 30 percent of the state's population, and the percentage among Democrats is estimated to be slightly higher.

Obama's team hopes that Casey will help narrow Clinton's huge lead among white working-class voters - men in particular. Clinton routed Obama among that demographic in Ohio and Texas on March 4, raising questions about his electability in November. In recent weeks, Obama has stressed economic issues important to the middle class, and he is outspending Clinton on television advertising that features blue-collar imagery.

Clinton and her supporters have been making their own direct appeals: backers Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., last week wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Catholics emphasizing her plans on health care, mortgage foreclosures and fuel costs. Clinton has been endorsed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, giving her access to his potent political operation.

Obama has lacked a major endorsement by a statewide Pennsylvania politician, and Casey's could help jump-start his Pennsylvania campaign. Casey has close ties to organized labor, which has been divided in Pennsylvania between the two candidates.

Casey had a 62 percent approval rating among Democrats in a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

Casey's move could also be seen as a political jab at the Clintons. Bill Clinton was the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1992 when Casey's father was not given a prime-time speaking position at the party's convention, which outraged many of the state's conservative Democrats.
Casey was to campaign with Obama as he travels across Pennsylvania by bus.

The bus tour will feature ``listening sessions,'' a technique Clinton used in her 2000 Senate campaign to convince skeptical New Yorkers that she was not just a carpetbagger looking for a plum post after leaving the White House.

Obama hopes to prevent Clinton from racking up a large win in the state which could eat away at his delegate advantage and give her new life in the final primaries running to June.

It may be a tough sell for some in the state, which has a sizable elderly population. In the previous primaries, older Democrats have favored Clinton, while younger voters tend toward Obama.

Casey served two four-year terms as state auditor general. He lost a 2002 gubernatorial bid in the Democratic primary to Rendell.
Casey was elected to the Senate in 2006, defeating conservative GOP incumbent Rick Santorum. Obama campaigned for Casey, but so did Clinton and her husband.

AK

03-28-2008, 03:32 PM

Associated Press
Poll: Obama Leads Clinton Nationally
By The Associated Press 03.28.08, 2:55 PM ET

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT src="http://images.forbes.com/boxes/popvideos.js"></SCRIPT><STYLE>.headpopvideos { background-color: #336699; color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; padding:2px;}.borderpopvideos{ border:1px solid #336699;}.bordercolorpopvideos { background-color: #336699;}.rowpopvideos { background-color: #ffffff;}.row1popvideos { background-color: #ffffff;}.row2popvideos{ background-color: #efefef;}.rulepopvideos { background-color: #ffffff;}.spacepopvideos { background-color: #ffffff;}</STYLE><TABLE class=borderpopvideos cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=170 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=headpopvideos>Popular Videos</TD></TR><TR><TD class=bordercolorpopvideos height=1></TD></TR><TR class=popvideosrow1 vAlign=center><TD></TD></TR><TR class=row2popvideos vAlign=center><TD class=boxtext>Billionaire's Mile-High Plans (http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/billionaires/af_billies032008&boxes=popvideos)</TD></TR><TR class=row1popvideos vAlign=center><TD class=boxtext>NY Auto Show: Luxury Spotlight (http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/lifestyle/er_autoshow032108&boxes=popvideos)</TD></TR><TR class=row2popvideos vAlign=center><TD class=boxtext>$200 Million Collectibles (http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/forbescollector/cw_fc03_032408&boxes=popvideos)</TD></TR><TR class=row1popvideos vAlign=center><TD class=boxtext>The Hills Are Alive (http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/lifestyle/lr_buzz032408&boxes=popvideos)</TD></TR><TR class=row2popvideos vAlign=center><TD class=boxtext>Adventurer: Stanton Barrett (http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/adventurer/jc_adv032508&boxes=popvideos)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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THE RACE: The presidential race for Democrats nationally

THE NUMBERS
Barack Obama, 50 percent
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 42 percent.

OF INTEREST:
Obama's 8 percentage point lead in this Gallup Poll is his first statistically significant lead in surveys by this organization since the controversy arose over sermons by the candidate's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It ties Obama's largest lead in this survey since Gallup began nightly polling in early January.

The Gallup Poll was conducted March 25-27 and involved telephone interviews with 1,218 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey was a tracking poll, in which Gallup interviews voters every night and uses the results from the three most recent evenings.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Armento

03-28-2008, 03:33 PM

Patrick Leahy is the man

Armento

03-28-2008, 03:40 PM

Dean wants it over by July 1st. I'm glad someone's on top of getting this shit settled before it's too late.

Mr.I

03-28-2008, 03:45 PM

Saw a poll earlier that showed that if Hillary lost that a LOT of her supporters would be so pissed that they would vote for Mccain - that's a damn shame:jpshakehead:

dj-chefron

03-28-2008, 04:07 PM

This was a interesting editorial from Peggy Noonan today in the Wall Street Journal.
DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN
Getting Mrs. Clinton
March 28, 2008
I think we've reached a signal point in the campaign. This is the point where, with Hillary Clinton, either you get it or you don't. There's no dodging now. You either understand the problem with her candidacy, or you don't. You either understand who she is, or not. And if you don't, after 16 years of watching Clintonian dramas, you probably never will.

That's what the Bosnia story was about. Her fictions about dodging bullets on the tarmac -- and we have to hope they were lies, because if they weren't, if she thought what she was saying was true, we are in worse trouble than we thought -- either confirmed what you already knew (she lies as a matter of strategy, or, as William Safire said in 1996, by nature) or revealed in an unforgettable way (videotape! Smiling girl in pigtails offering flowers!) what you feared (that she lies more than is humanly usual, even politically usual).

AP
But either you get it now or you never will. That's the importance of the Bosnia tape.

Many in the press get it, to their dismay, and it makes them uncomfortable, for it sours life to have a person whose character you feel you cannot admire play such a large daily role in your work. But I think it's fair to say of the establishment media at this point that it is well populated by people who feel such a lack of faith in Mrs. Clinton's words and ways that it amounts to an aversion. They are offended by how she and her staff operate. They try hard to be fair. They constantly have to police themselves.

Not that her staff isn't policing them too. Mrs. Clinton's people are heavy-handed in that area, letting producers and correspondents know they're watching, weighing, may have to take this higher. There's too much of this in politics, but Hillary's campaign takes it to a new level.

It's not only the press. It's what I get as I walk around New York, which used to be thick with her people. I went to a Hillary fund-raiser at Hunter College about a month ago, paying for a seat in the balcony and being ushered up to fill the more expensive section on the floor, so frantic were they to fill seats.

I sat next to a woman, a New York Democrat who'd been for Hillary from the beginning and still was. She was here. But, she said, "It doesn't seem to be working." She shrugged, not like a brokenhearted person but a practical person who'd missed all the signs of something coming. She wasn't mad at the voters. But she was no longer so taken by the woman who soon took the stage and enacted joy.

The other day a bookseller told me he'd been reading the opinion pages of the papers and noting the anti-Hillary feeling. Two weeks ago he realized he wasn't for her anymore. It wasn't one incident, just an accumulation of things. His experience tracks this week's Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showing Mrs. Clinton's disapproval numbers have risen to the highest level ever in the campaign, her highest in fact in seven years.

* * *

You'd think she'd pivot back to showing a likable side, chatting with women, weeping, wearing the bright yellows and reds that are thought to appeal to her core following, older women. Well, she's doing that. Yet at the same time, her campaign reveals new levels of thuggishness, though that's the wrong word, for thugs are often effective. This is mere heavy-handedness.

On Wednesday a group of Mrs. Clinton's top donors sent a letter to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, warning her in language that they no doubt thought subtle but that reflected a kind of incompetent menace, that her statements on the presidential campaign may result in less money for Democratic candidates for the House. Ms. Pelosi had said that in her view the superdelegates should support the presidential candidate who wins the most pledged delegates in state contests. The letter urged her to "clarify" her position, which is "clearly untenable" and "runs counter" to the superdelegates' right to make "an informed, individual decision" about "who would be the party's strongest nominee." The signers, noting their past and huge financial support, suggested that Ms. Pelosi "reflect" on her comments and amend them to reflect "a more open view."

Barack Obama's campaign called it inappropriate and said Mrs. Clinton should "reject the insinuation." But why would she? All she has now is bluster. Her supporters put their threat in a letter, not in a private meeting. By threatening Ms. Pelosi publicly, they robbed her of room to maneuver. She has to defy them or back down. She has always struck me as rather grittier than her chic suits, high heels and unhidden enthusiasm may suggest. We'll see.

What, really, is Mrs. Clinton doing? She is having the worst case of cognitive dissonance in the history of modern politics. She cannot come up with a credible, realistic path to the nomination. She can't trace the line from "this moment's difficulties" to "my triumphant end." But she cannot admit to herself that she can lose. Because Clintons don't lose. She can't figure out how to win, and she can't accept the idea of not winning. She cannot accept that this nobody from nowhere could have beaten her, quietly and silently, every day. (She cannot accept that she still doesn't know how he did it!)

She is concussed. But she is a scrapper, a fighter, and she's doing what she knows how to do: scrap and fight. Only harder. So that she ups the ante every day. She helped Ireland achieve peace. She tried to stop Nafta. She's been a leader for 35 years. She landed in Bosnia under siege and bravely dodged bullets. It was as if she'd watched the movie "Wag the Dog," with its fake footage of a terrified refugee woman running frantically from mortar fire, and found it not a cautionary tale about manipulation and politics, but an inspiration.

* * *

What struck me as the best commentary on the Bosnia story came from a poster called GI Joe who wrote in to a news blog: "Actually Mrs. Clinton was too modest. I was there and saw it all. When Mrs. Clinton got off the plane the tarmac came under mortar and machine gun fire. I was blown off my tank and exposed to enemy fire. Mrs. Clinton without regard to her own safety dragged me to safety, jumped on the tank and opened fire, killing 50 of the enemy." Soon a suicide bomber appeared, but Mrs. Clinton stopped the guards from opening fire. "She talked to the man in his own language and got him [to] surrender. She found that he had suffered terribly as a result of policies of George Bush. She defused the bomb vest herself." Then she turned to his wounds. "She stopped my bleeding and saved my life. Chelsea donated the blood."

Made me laugh. It was like the voice of the people answering back. This guy knows that what Mrs. Clinton said is sort of crazy. He seems to know her reputation for untruths. He seemed to be saying, "I get it."

dj-chefron

03-28-2008, 04:33 PM

Also from today from the Union Leader in New Hampshire

Fair-weather friends: The Clintons cut NH loose

17 hours, 24 minutes ago

REALLY, there are no permanent Friends of Bill. For the former President and his wife, a tandem of duplicity and ambition unrivaled in American history, there are only temporary alliances. New Hampshire is learning this now, as so many others have before.

Ever since Bill Clinton proclaimed himself "the Comeback Kid" for his second-place finish in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, he has portrayed himself as a stalwart defender of New Hampshire and its first-in-the-nation tradition. He championed this state's retail politics as a model for the nation and made sure he maintained his ties here in preparation for his wife's inevitable future presidential run.

Those relationships paid off handsomely in January, when Hillary Clinton, who had spent more than a year fawning over New Hampshire's great electoral traditions, won here with the strong backing of the Democratic Party establishment.

Now, having used New Hampshire as the launching pad for both of their presidential bids, the Clintons have no more use for us. And so it was that on Monday, Bill Clinton threw New Hampshire and our Democratic Secretary of State Bill Gardner under the proverbial bus.

To justify his claim that Florida and Michigan delegates should be seated at the Democratic National Convention, the former President said, "We let New Hampshire go out of turn. They had a Democratic secretary of state. The Florida voters are totally innocent. They asked to vote on time."

To the Clintons, rewriting history is as simple as repeating their own talking points until they become accepted as facts. But the truth is that the Clintons happily accepted the bumped-up New Hampshire primary at the time because they perceived it gave Hillary an advantage. Hillary Clinton even signed a pledge to not campaign or participate in the Michigan or Florida primaries. That pledge was meant to punish those two states for moving up their primary dates, and she knew it.

But it was not sincere. It was one point of the famous Clinton triangulation. And before you knew it, Sen. Clinton was participating in both the Michigan and Florida primaries, which, of course, she won by violating her pledge.

Now, needing those delegates, she and her husband innocently claim that it was the sneaky New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner who broke the DNC rules, victimizing poor, helpless Florida and Michigan. And the DNC let him get away with it only because he is a Democrat.

Never mind the historical record, which shows that Florida and Michigan moved up their primaries first, prompting New Hampshire to respond. If they stand in the way of the Clintons' march through history, the facts be damned.

And, if they stand in the way of the Clintons' march through history, their friends be damned, too.

Rom

03-28-2008, 08:17 PM

Associated Press
Poll: Obama Leads Clinton Nationally
By The Associated Press 03.28.08, 2:55 PM ET

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THE RACE: The presidential race for Democrats nationally

THE NUMBERS
Barack Obama, 50 percent
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 42 percent.

OF INTEREST:
Obama's 8 percentage point lead in this Gallup Poll is his first statistically significant lead in surveys by this organization since the controversy arose over sermons by the candidate's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It ties Obama's largest lead in this survey since Gallup began nightly polling in early January.

The Gallup Poll was conducted March 25-27 and involved telephone interviews with 1,218 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey was a tracking poll, in which Gallup interviews voters every night and uses the results from the three most recent evenings.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

The effects of snipergate...touche!