Pro-Obama Flier Urges Republicans To Switch Parties To Block Clinton
A campaign flier created by a precinct captain for Sen. Barack Obama urges Nevada Republicans and independents to switch party affiliations "for a day" and caucus in the Democratic primary in order to defeat Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The flier, which was distributed in the Reno area, calls on voters to support Obama "if you think a Democrat will win in November and you don't want Hilary [sic]." It criticized Clinton for having "voted for the war when it was popular," and for taking "money from the special interest groups." Her nomination, the piece concluded, "will continue to polarize the country."
The flier was put out by Bob Buchanan, a volunteer organizer for Obama in Reno. Buchanan, who insists that Obama's campaign had no connection to the literature, said he distributed approximately 100 copies of the flier before rewriting it, replacing criticism of Clinton with compliments of Obama.
"If you think a Democrat will win in November and you may have said anyone but Hillary, we would rather focus on Obama," the new version reads, according to Buchanan. "He spoke out against the war when it wasn't popular. He refuses to take money from special interest groups. He would unite rather than polarize the country."
According to Nevada state law, voters can switch party affiliations on the day of the primary to cast their ballots for candidates of another party.
"I want to get them to the polls," Buchanan told the Huffington Post, after confirming that the flier was legitimate. "See, right now you have a number of Republicans not happy with the Republican Party. And most people here are independents. So how do they vote? They might not know they can switch parties. This hopefully will get out the vote."
Buchanan says the decision to create the flier was his own. The Obama campaign, he said, refused to even read the two-page handout. Ben Labolt, spokesperson for Obama, also asserted that Buchanan was operating as an independent agent. "This is not a campaign document," Labolt said, "and our campaign had no knowledge of it before it surfaced in the media."
As for why he changed the tone, Buchanan remarked: "As I reflected on it. I said, 'you know this would not be reflective of Obama, this is not his campaign.'"
Update: Buchanan tells Salon that, in the wake of the backlash against his flier, he could be parting ways with the Obama campaign. "I may have to resign as precinct captain or something," he said. "I don't want to screw his campaign up."
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January 14, 2008 03:56 PM