Chris Dodd: This Race Must End

In a new interview with National Journal, Sen. Chris Dodd says that continuing the Democratic primary race for the next several months would be "devastating," and that over the next several weeks, Democratic leaders "have to step up to the plate and say enough is enough."

A few excerpts from his interview:

Look, we've got five more months to go before the Democratic convention at the end of August and, candidly, we cannot go five more months with the kind of daily sniping that's going on and have a candidate emerge in that convention. My hope is that it will be Barack Obama, but if it's Hillary Clinton, she too will suffer, in my view, from this kind of a campaign that I think is undermining the credibility and the quality of the two candidates that we have. We have two very strong candidates. So I'm worried about this going on endlessly and to a large extent, Linda, the media, a lot of these cable networks, are enjoying this. It's what is keeping them alive financially. The fact that this thing is going on forever, back and forth every day, all night -- I don't think it's really helping the candidates or the political institutions.

Asked about the solution to ending the race:

Dodd: Well, the solution is -- look, we've got a contest coming up in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina and Indiana very quickly afterwards. In my view, the outcome of those three races will determine -- I think the race has been determined, anyway, at this point. I think it's very difficult to imagine how anyone can believe that Barack Obama can't be the nominee of the party. I think that's a foregone conclusion, in my view, at this juncture given where things are.

But certainly over the next couple of weeks, as we get into April, it seems to me then, that the national leadership of this party has to stand up and reach a conclusion. And in the absence of doing that -- and that's not easy, and I realize it's painful. But the alternatives, allowing this sort of to fester over the months of June, and July and August, I think, are irresponsible. I think you have to make a decision, and hopefully the candidates will respect it and people will rally behind a nominee that, I think, emerges from these contests over the next month. That's my suggestion. That's what I would do.

...I mean, if a person wants to stay in the race, stay in the race. But if you have enough people rallying behind what appears to be the likely choice, and I believe the choice is Barack Obama, and I believe that will be the choice over the next several weeks, then I think you have to step up to the plate and say enough is enough. We want this to be over with. We want to get behind this candidate, and we want people to pull together to win that election in November, to build those majorities in the House and the Senate if we can, and then start doing the work on health care and Iraq and all these other issues that demand our attention.

Read the full interview here.

Comments

[smustaro]

I shouldn't be stunned after these months of blogging but I am. It seems like every fatcat Democrat that steps up to push Obama's scared run into the ultra fast lane to end it before what Obama fears being seen & heard by all of us, before he's got this locked down.
Chris Dodd , what a shame, You were my pick to VP my guy Joe. Chris, this is just WRONG. We're ready for this election here in Oregon. Who the hell are you to keep us from this primary? Who the hell are you to be TELLING Hillary what to do? Someone die & name you King? >>ppffft

[majseventh]

There does seem to be some straightarming in the Barack camp. I agree with you that this is wrong. The process is the process.

[rucognizant]

Get over it!
My pick, Kucinich was not on the ballot by the time we had our caucus either........
This entire election is being rigged by the TV pundits. McCain is going to win., He was 'promised" after Rove's black baby slam down!
Didn't you notice him kissing Bush & flip flopping over issues, over the last few years?
Don't you see the media giving him a pass on every awful thing he does or says?

[Thomei]

It isn't the fact that Hillary is still in the race, even though behind, it's the nastiness of the campaign that has Chris worried. Chris is a good democrat and the stability of the party is important to him. Is there really a reason to destroy a minister, for instance, who has had 30-40 years of preaching and helping his members after a tour of duty in the Marines? Do we make a racial divide so huge we can't repair it one day? I WANT you all to vote - and so does Barack Obama. If you've been following his campaign, he would have campaigned in EVERY state, including Oregon, because he believes every state is important. This is probably the first time Oregon really counts - but if Barack hadn't been in it, the race would have been over long ago and your vote would have been meaningless...again. Remember that!

[EinChicago]

"If you've been following his campaign, he would have campaigned in EVERY state, including Oregon, because he believes every state is important"*

* Legal disclimer: except for florida, which is just a beauty pageant. Oh, and MI. And if the DNC could pretty please tell those white folks in PA not to vote, he would appreciate that too and not be forced to try and use his lawyers to find a way to suppress their votes.

[Thatcher]

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The endorsement comes as something of a surprise. Casey, a deliberative and cautious politician, had been adamant about remaining neutral until after the April 22 primary. He had said he wanted to help unify the party after the intensifying fight between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20080328_Bob_Casey_to_endorse_Obama__join_bus_tour.html

[whizkid]

Bob Casey sez...
Gee.
How's bout Harry Reid?

[Opus007]

I don't think it's appropriate for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid to endorse someone. They have to stay neutral.

[Oldtt]

Senator Casey's endorsement of Obama is no surprise, since there has been bad blood between the Clintons and Casey ever since his father - PA Gov. Robert Casey - was prevented by Bill Clinton from giving a strong pro-life speech at the 1992 Dem convention. As in life, some politics are personal.

[Oldtt]

The first two reasons given by Casey in his endorsement speech referred to his daughter's reaction to Obama's 2004 convention speech, and to his Iowa caucus victory speech. There you have it in a nutshell - Obama makes great speeches.

[Trinidad707]

why should the primary end ? Dodd voted just as Hillary did in 2002 war vote on Iraq...whoops so did John Kerry, Tom Daschle, Ben Nelson, all Obama endorsers..--....only pundits, and biased politicians from the Obama camp say it is bad for the party..as they don't want Florida or Mich counted as they are ahead . There are 50 states people...do we just forget about some states and just count the ones Obama has won??....what about Ca, Ny , Texas, Florida all the big states that went fo Clinton....Obama would be hapy if we only had caucuses as all the people don't vote in caucuses....Dis-enfranchising ANY voters would make the nominee just as illegitimate as George Bush's appointment to president was in 2000. I know Obama wouldn't really care as the point is just getting in office any way you can, but let the people vote Obama, stop listening to corp talking head pundits paid for their slanted opinions MSNBC owned by GE (govt contractor) (usually republican) think about that for a moment, as now they are pushing Obama, wonder why???....and stop listening to politicians with abias..................just let the people vote........ if the DNC wants superdelegates to vote with the voter they wouldn't have given them the option not to....so if the dnc changes their mind then Obama supporter Richardson will have to give his vote back to Clinton, as his state voted for Clinton..

[drunkentheologian]

Just to be clear could you please link a source that claims Senator Obama's campaign or even any of his supporters are calling for the elimination of primaries/caucuses in Penn, NC, IN, SD, OR, MT, KY, WV, PR, and Guam? Most people who are calling for Senator Clinton to concede see the party being driven further and further into extremely entrenched, bitter positions. Yes, they are politically motivated as well, but not afraid for those events to occur, rather the aftermath of the scorched earth strategies. They do not however advocate the elimination of these primaries and caucuses. If the environment was more hospitable between these two candidates, i.e. Huckabee, then reasonable people would probably not be calling for Senator Clinton to get out. Let's not forget that these two candidates are extremely similar in platform, if not, personality and political approach.
As for the big states, I am still amazed that this is a talking point for any campaign.I think yo missed the memo, it is now, electoral college numbers that are important :) Purple states are the battle grounds, not the big states. Or do you really think Mcain is going to take Illinois or New York? Senator Clinton should be concerned why in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, (my neck of the woods), she did so horrible. No its not because we are a caucus state. (We do a presidential preference poll in MN)

[Oldtt]

Senator Obama isn't calling for the elimination of these remaining primaries and caucuses, his supporters are just calling for the elimination of any opponent. See the difference?

[Trueheart]

"Dis-enfranchising ANY voters would make the nominee just as illegitimate as George Bush's appointment to president was in 2000. "

I think that is exactly how voters will feel if Christopher Dodd's viewpoint prevails.

[EinChicago]

Because of FL and MI, if Obama wins, no matter what, at least half teh dem voters are going to truly believe that with an unshakeable belief anyway.

[AnninCA]

Pelosi, Kennedy, and Kerry would have to switch to Clinton under the Pelosi Plan. *haha

[JohnnySorrow]

Finally, someone is speaking frankly about this primary process.

Barack is the nominee, people. In the words of the immortal Ric Flair, "Whether you like it, or not. Learn to love it, because it's the best thing going today."

Everyone is so afraid of upsetting the Clinton voters, but hasn't this process illustrated that there are fewer of them than Obama voters? So, should we upset the majority of voters instead?

If Clinton supporters (who claim to be the base) would really rather vote for McCain, then they aren't true Democrats. I wonder if James Carville would call them Judas as well. No candidate should be bigger than the ideals and goals of the party.

[timinhi]

No, this process hasn't "illustrated that there are fewer of them (Clinton voters) than Obama voters." In fact, what this process has illustrated is that the Obama camp is so afraid that in fact there are more Clinton voters, that they have no problem whatsoever in denying Florida & Michigan (two hugely important states in the general election) and all the remaining primary states the right to voice their opinions on who the nominee should be. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign keeps touting the fact that they won small states like South Carolina, Iowa, etc., mostly all states that will go to the Republican candidate in November no matter what. Meanwhile, other than Illinois, Hillary has won not only all the big Democratic states, but also important big swing states like Florida and Ohio, and most probably will win Pennsylvania as well. It is crucial that the campaign be allowed to play out. If Obama wins legitimately, then fine. If you have confidence in your candidate, it shouldn't be a problem. If a large percentage of Democrats are simply told to stuff it however, without a true winner being determined democratically, then expect huge defections from the party. If you don't think it can happen, ask Carter, Mondale & Dukakis. Or look what happened to Gore and Kerry--Even if you believe Bush stole both elections, enough people who normally associate themselves with Democratic ideals still crossed over and voted for Bush to make it close in the first place.

[EinChicago]

"Everyone is so afraid of upsetting the Clinton voters, but hasn't this process illustrated that there are fewer of them than Obama voters? So, should we upset the majority of voters instead?"

No where even close. As it stands right now, both candidates have about 12.5 million votes and are in a statistical tie. Once PA is over, Obama will likely be behind in the popular vote. Even added together, you're still only talking less than half of the 55 million or so dem voters needed to win the general. At best, Obama can be confident he has 20% of teh votes needed to win teh general. He may get the rest, he likely won't. But either way he has certainly not "proven" anything excepot his ability to repeatedly vote the wrong way in Springfield (because he got confused) and somehow ignore 20 years of racist hate mongering. He's not exactly teh most attentive or perceptive candidate we've had yet. In fact, with every passing week he's starting to look more and more like Dan Quayle.

[billrott]

Ok, your math is as faulty as Hillary's. Even if all 4 million PA Democrats vote, Hillary would have to win by a 23% margin to eclipse Obama's popular vote lead of ~800,000+. So wrong there.

As for racism, please stop pushing racism and bigotry as a means of enhancing support for your candidate, Hillary Clinton. Obama is not a racist. I would actually love to understand how he is a racist when he is half black and half white. Which ethnicity does he hate? I really want to hear this from you. Please speak up. Don't be shy.

[popozuda]

Nice Ric Flair qoute. You rock!

[GravitonX]

Time for the Press to begin treating Obama like the (mathematical) Democratic Nominee.

[GravitonX]

Obama is a noble American. The light of his character shines through the jealous mudslinging of the Clintons. People understand "guilt by association." We all have friends who do not reflect our own personal views.

[EinChicago]

But we don't go on national TV and laud them as our mentors and role models. That's the difference.

[thebirdstheword]

You're distorting what happened, Mark Penn.

[GravitonX]

Hillary is still married to a cheating spouse. Nice role model and mentor...especially for Chelsea.

[GravitonX]

After Hillary is gone, cooler heads will return to Americans. They'll look at their bank accounts, they'll look at McCain. They'll look at their job security, they'll look at McCain. They'll look at their health care and they'll look at McCain. And the choice will be clear. Obama '08.

[afgail]

By all means the Democratic Party should start making up new rules on the fly. And while they are at it, they should count the votes Hillary got in Florida and Michigan. Then they have to throw out all the caucus state delegates as not representative of Democratic voters and only count the votes of the states that acutally had citizens go to the polls and vote in a real election. Then Hillary would be the real winner. Not Obama the hypothetical winner. Dodd's nonsolution is a perscription for political suicide for the party.

[thebirdstheword]

Uh, Obama leads in states, delegates and popular votes. What's so hard to understand?

[EinChicago]

Seriously, what on earth makes you think that if HRC is, as Obama Cultists keep screaming, equivalent to McCain that if HRC is gone, they wouldn't just go to McCain? Obama cultists have created this trap for Obama. They have set up McCain as teh equivalent of HRc and now expect all that to be ignored once their candidate steals the nomination by suppressing two vital swing states.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

I'm glad you mentioned this. I support Senator Clinton. Obama supporters keep telling us that she is JUST like McCain. So, by their logic, if she doesn't get the Dem. nod, I should vote for John McCain since they are......JUST ALIKE!! Hm....and then they extol us to support Obama if he is the nominee. That just doesn't make sense, now does it.

[GravitonX]

Hmmm, if supposedly 30% are willing to commit suicide because the little Princess doesn't get her crown, I wonder who the true cultists are? ;)

30% to 18%...The number don't lie.

[AnninCA]

30% will go to McCain.

So you best hope those teenagers actually remember to show up and vote. He's attracted about as many people as he's driven out.

[GravitonX]

I doubt it. They'll forget all about the self-absorbed Hillary and her train-wrecked and start thinking about their pocketbooks, healthcare, etc.

[GravitonX]

Hillary is having a massive temper tantrum. I agree. Give her a bottle and put her to bed.

[kevenhusseinseven]

A time out? She is 60, a 60 day time out?

[jbsouth]

Dodd is a baby and your man Obama is outed as a racist.

[GravitonX]

Would that be baby as in "nobody asks Barack the first question" or "Shame on you Barack!" or racist as in "Blacks don't count and only vote for Blacks because their Black" or "We can win with uneducated White and the anti-Black Latino vote"? LOL

Sorry, some of us remember the facts all the way back to the beginning.

[kevenhusseinseven]

Predictable as sunrise: Any prominent Dem comes out against Clinton's interests, and the Clintonians slime him like a child molester.

[whizkid]

Two words for Dodd and the two candidates.
Pelosi. Reid.
They have as much political capital as Bush..

[applespider]

They wish. Bush STILL mows them down every time.

[Megaflow]

Before he dropped out of the race, Senator Dodd was the only candidate I had contributed to. Since then I, like Dodd, have taken to supporting Obama. I'm glad he's starting to speak out more in favor of an end to this disheartening and self-destructive political bloodbath.

[PardonMyFrenchFries]

You think this has been self-destructive?

Get ready for a rude awakening this fall if Obama wins

Democratic defections of 30% will leave the party.

[natasyenehc]

Pardon : Typical clinton misinformation.

What Dodd is rightly saying is that, the party should focus and get behind ONE nominee NOW - which is very very likely to be Obama, simply because there's no way Clinton can surpass him in the remaining primaries.

At least a democrat unafraid to speak the truth exactly as it is. the media do want to prolong this rigamorale as it serves their financial interests but it is destroying the chances of beating McCain come November.

[ScandalousCandice]

No they won't. They will say that at first, but when push comes to shove and we get to really look at facing another 4 years of Bush Politics, you can forget about defectors. Only a few bitter losers will still hang on to the idea that voting McCain is better than voting for a Democrat.

[on2them]

Interesting that the Clingons have no problem with Carville calling Richardson, another Democrat, 'Judas' but your own betrayal to the democratic party, when you don't get your way isn't. How undemocratic.

Typical Clintonian double standards.

[nohat]

I don't know about the 30%, but I agree with the 'rude awakening' prediction.

[Thomei]

Speak only for yourself! When you wake up just before the general election and you have the choice of ending the war or another 100 years, I'm sure you'll forget you made these statements and do the right thing. Oh, and by the way, the 30% of old democrats will just be replaced by about 40% of new youthful democrats. LOL

[alinawazz]

In response to those who think a prolonged race will damage both Dems, the Pew research poll on "Candidate Most Heard on the News" has Obama on 71% for March 20-24, up from 38% during the period March 7-10. John McCain is languishing at 3%. I doubt very much these figures would be even close to this contrasting had it come down to a one-on-one battle already. The longer this race draws out, the longer mccain is starved of the oxygen of publicity during the run-in to november. Even though McCain is already well known to the public, one would think that he is being pushed to the margins at a critical time

[natasyenehc]

mmm that's interesting, never thought of it that way.

[1dogs2]

Have you glanced at the recent polls? The result of the Democratic mud wrestle is that McCain has gotten a free pass and his numbers have risen to the point where he runs neck-and-neck with both Obama and Clinton. Get a clue! BOTH Democratic candidates are being harmed by the continuing in-fighting, Clinton more than Obama, and if it continues, will render BOTH candidates unelectable.

[Opus007]

I thought about this too. But even running essentially unopposed at the moment- MCCain is making one blunder after another. Plus the press has given him a total free pass on his busload of lobbyists and Vicki Iseman.

If it doesn't escalate much farther - this sparring has been Spring Training for the Dems while McCain has been sitting it out on the bench. The Clinton strategy seems to be backfiring as more and more endorsements are coming out for Obama.

[bccity]

Chris Dodd should go take a good enema and reflect on just what he is saying. To end this race before every single Democrat has had a chance to vote in a primary will be the end of the Democratic party. He thinks that because he believes his candidate is winning we should just call off the race and declare him the winner. Well lets just think about what has happened so far. Obama has won more small mostly Red states that will vote for McCain no matter what Obama supporters think. Obama, should he be the nominee will carry most of the states that Hillary has won but that is not the point. What is the point is, is that those Obama votes in those Red states will not count for anything because the states delegates will go to McCain. So if you want to rant about the popular votes, all of Hillary’s votes will go to the Democratic candidate and should be counted but half of Obama’s votes coming from states Democrats are not and have not won in previous elections mean nothing. This is more than a popularity contest and if the Democratic party self-destructs in this election I will, after being a life long Democrat not just not vote for our candidate but will quit the party and work to support another party. They will get both my physical and financial support. The arrogance of Dodd and other party leaders is disgusting..

[kevenhusseinseven]

Utter nonsense. There is nothing even remotely unusual or even noteworthy in a primary campaign ending before the last primary. It is very much the norm.

There is no arrogance here. The continuation of this contest is damaging the prospects of the party in Nov.

[popozuda]

You speak the truth........and don't forget the math.

[nohat]

Words are cheap. You say it must end? Then end it. The Clintons have this party by the b---s, and that is shameful. But whatever you do, don't end it by putting Al Gore up, on a Gore/Obama ticket. Gore hasn't done the hard work, Obama has. Gore chose not to run. Mahoney says "If either Clinton or Obama suggested to a deadlocked convention a ticket of Gore-Clinton or Gore-Obama, the Democratic Party would accept it, " which shows the mentality of some in the party. Put the black boy in second slot after letting him do all the hard work for the white boy Al Gore. I am sorry but that is how it looked to me when I saw the Gore thing that Huff ran yesterday, and, judging from some of the other posts, that's how it looked to many others. How arrogant. Just end it, show some spine---tell the Clintons to get stuffed. For you are exposing the party to ridicule.

[kevenhusseinseven]

A) How did Gore get into the conversation?

B) The Time article you mention was a mindless fabrication by Klein, for the love of God, as you have been told a dozen times. Nobody but Klein thinks it could happen. Oh, and you.

[whizkid]

nohat
Get a hat.
Get a grip.
Is all your agnst cause one is a black man, the other a Clinton woman?
This is why we're stronger than Republicans.

Courage.

[rucognizant]

I aggree nohat!
Those who want Al Gore to "save them" are not yet grown up!
I came out of the womb a Democrat and so far in 69 years...............JFK won. Jimmy Carter won ONCE!
I called theClinton campaign office last Junew to say that I would not be supporting them v=because they had such extravagant monetary needs, and were e-mailing ME for MONEY. Imagine trying to get by on $823. per month and they were asking me to support their $1,200. per month donut habit!
If you all had SUPPORTED KUCINICH: we wouldn't be in this mess! We would have gotten the government we wanted!
Have you noticed McCain isn't much taller than Dennis? What makes HIM electable?

[cybersense]

Hillary has every write to keep running. It's a close race, and it's still pretty early.

[drunkentheologian]

40 of 50 odd states already having voted does not make it "early" in the race. Unless I just missed your sarcasm, I could have as its still early for me :), I believe you are inaccurate claiming that this race is A) close or B) Far from Over. She does have a right to keep running but many, myself included, question how she is running not whether she should be able to continue on.

[PardonMyFrenchFries]

I hope the Democrat Party renames their party to Obamacrat.

This disgusting endorsement of him has led so many away from the party.

Just watch and weep during the fall. I like many do not support winers and backstabbers.

I wonder if Obama is going to run with the old Clinton team? Oh wait, he has been doing it. I guess that's the new kind of "hope" politics.

[kevenhusseinseven]

I can certainly do without you in my Party.

Why did so much of the "old Clinton team" choose Obama over Princess Hillary?

Perhaps they had hope for change.

[bccity]

They joined his campaign because Hillary took too long to announce her candidacy.

[Mondayboy]

You are clearly an idiot

[kevenhusseinseven]

He is a flaming idiot. You will never get a thoughtful argument off that one.