Hillary Clinton Deluged With Calls For Her Withdrawal

Washington Post:

In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan.

A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid...

...Her remarks come as Clinton faces a mounting drumbeat, driven by the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his backers, for her to bow out and avert a party crisis. Obama's supporters argue that he is too far ahead in pledged delegates for Clinton to catch up; Clinton counters by saying that neither of them has secured the 2,024 delegates needed for the nomination.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Cbag]

Remember these troubling facts. Other than winning his own state of Illinois, Obama has failed to win any other large state. Setting aside the delegates and if you count ALL the votes so far, Hillary having won both Florida and Michigan leads in the national vote count. I find Obama’s strategy not much different than that of George Bush’s win over Al Gore in 2000 by having technically won the election without winning the popular vote. I find the current situation no less problematic for Obama. You can argue all you want about DNC rules and delegate count, but the fact remains the voters in two separate states voted and so far Obama doesn’t want their votes to count. Again setting aside the delegates, if Obama succeeds in disenfranchising those millions of voters whose only crime was to cast their vote on the day they were told to, then I think Obama will have succeeding in doing what only one other Presidential candidate in modern times have managed to do, winning without the winning the popular vote.

[frappe]

Assuming that the Democratic party gets its act together and becomes united behind the candidacy of Barack Obama, do you honestly think that those who voted for Hillary would rather vote for McCain than Barack? Now remember, Hillary's supposed strong base consists of lower income, blue-collar types who are really feeling the pinch during these hard economic times under a Republican administration. To think that they wouldn't vote for Obama is absurd. And if what I say is true, then Obama will win by substantially more than had Clinton been our nominee as Barack's coattails are much longer and wider than Hillary's.

[Aleka]

Sure...sor­ry to point out that your "troubling facts" leave out several truths, LOL.

1: it is about delegates, not big states. If big states were that much more important than the rest, why is hillary not winning?

2: he is ahead in popular vote by some 700k NOT counting the 4 states which didn't count voters - by estimating, he is up by some 800+k votes. the popular vote thing is ridiculous in this instance, as the dems have no winner take all states to compensate for - the delegates ARE the most accurate measure of the people.

Further, you cannot use a measure anything that involves "estimating" - caucus states dont submit a large vote like other states, and it is patently ridiculous to say, "Well, we want to change it from delegates (which everyone agreed too ahead of time) to "popular vote" - which wasn't accurately measured in all states and which conveniently "disenfranchises" or "guesses" the vote of many states that Obama won fairly.

3: All parties agreed FL and MI wouldnt count. Contrary to Clinton "i ran from sniper fire" lies, obama didn't "block" any vote. He wants to seat them as much as Hillary. the difference is he wants them seated fairly, and she wants them seated unfairly.

[vulcan]

So are you counting the Michigan votes for None of the above for Obama??? I would love to know how you people can with a clear conscience say that those votes should be counted when she was the only one on the ballot. And they all agreed to the rules prior to the race.

[bluesnot]

"but the fact remains the voters in two separate states voted and so far Obama doesn"t want their votes to count. Again setting aside the delegates, if Obama succeeds in disenfranchising those millions of voters whose only crime was to cast their vote on the day they were told to,"

You are not presenting facts. You are Clinton spinning the Michigan and Florida primaries. Please stop. Don't be a Rove Republican.

[debwarot]

You state that , "Other than winning his own state of Illinois, Obama has failed to win any other large state." What about Texas? Surely you recognize it as one of the larger states? You do realize that Senator Clinton did not win Texas, right?

[Dap]

We got a nominee, Obama, Obama, Obama! Now let's go after McCain.

[Amminadab]

Don't take your eye off the brass until you have it in your hand.

[Dap]

Hey well some time later this week I'm going to go down to the Federal Court House and file a suit, after doing a bit of research. The DNC will have to include Florida and Michigan or remove their delegates form the total, can't be both ways.

[StanTheManic]

"Hillary Clinton Deluged With Calls For Her Withdrawal"

Since I question EVERYTHING in the media, I question this headline. How many calls is considered a deluge? Who told the reporter, certainly not Clinton, whythefuck would she?

WHY would she withdrawal, she's running, like all candidates, with someone else's money, so it's not costing her anything.

And since her reputation is already lower than crocodile piss, it can't hurt her in that way to stay in the race.

This story is way too "wolf blitzer" for me to take seriously.

[recruitgal]

She's got at least 5 million in the game...

[Siren]

They aren't paying their campaign debts to lots of small business folks in places like Ohio and even ignoring certified letters demanding payment. She doesn't have the money to stay past May. Don't do business with them unless they pay you upfront first. You won't get paid otherwise.

[vulcan]

If this is true it should be a huge media story. Is it getting any type of press in places like Ohio???

[zippywpinhead]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9259.html

[Beowoof]

This is Media-hype designed to have Hillary fight back as the down-and-out underdog.

[TiffShelton]

You got that right. This is Sen. Clinton crying all over again. I wonder if we will see that again?

[SCG]

closer to the primary date.

[canadianlibrarian]

I clicked to the original article and the headline was "Clinton Vows To Stay in Race To Convention­." Nothing new here - This site has just added an inflammatory headline "Hillary Clinton Deluged With Calls For Her Withdrawal" to rehash last weeks news.

[afgail]

And of course nothing on the huge backlash senators Obama, Dodd and Leahy got for their arrogance. They just proved again that they learned nothing since the ill treatment of Anita Hill and subsequent backlash from women voters. Hillary doesn't need their permission to keep campaigning - especially not Obama's. I, and many other women, insist she keep campaigning and not cave in to the bullying of her male counterparts. She is setting a good example for women like me.

[nomobull]

what backlash examples please

[editorjuno]

Even rival wild animals understand that a fight to the finish benefits nobody when both fighters are so damaged that they're more likely to lose to their next opponent. I agree that it's long past time for a woman to run for president, but now that it's clear that it cannot and will not be this particular woman, it's time to think about succeeding generations of female Americans who will have to live with what amounts to a third G.W. Bush term and its effect on their lives, e.g. judicial appointments including Supreme Court justices.

[Dap]

Obama has won the Democratic primary for President of the United States. Congratulations Senator Obama, let me be first to call it. Obama wins Texas and is over the top with 1858 delegates enough to clinch the primary! Whoopee! Hip Hip Hooray!

[Amminadab]

Except....­. he hasn't yet won.

And he still needs 2024 to clinch.

But please, keep making it up as you go along.

[Dap]

That's for the Courts to decide.

[kevenseven]

He will win the pledged delegate race, I think with a minimum lead of 145 delegates. Should he then be the nominee?

[kevenseven]

There are increasing apparitions of the incredibly stupid suggestion that we go to a one-day primary.

Wikipedia:

Criticisms

The major flaw in the concept is that it takes the phenomenon of frontloading, which other reform plans seek to alleviate, to its ultimate conclusion. Candidates would need to raise huge sums of money, before the first vote was cast in any state, in order to wage a nation-wide campaign. Neither the Republican National Committee's 2000 Advisory Commission on the Presidential Nominating Process nor the Democratic National Committee's 2005 Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling considered a national primary as a reform concept; rather they considered it the consequence of inadequate action to reform the process.

"The trend of frontloading, which will, in the not too distant future, produce a single national primary day is a disturbing trend that needs attention. To have ... a single day of dozens of primaries ensures little to no deliberation on this extremely important decision. It would result in minimal give-and-take on issues such that the succeeding candidate would not be the product of a thoughtful issue discussion­."[4]

"I also concur fully in the Commission's belief that a national primary would NOT be a welcome replacement for the current system, since it would create as many problems as it might solve."[5]

"I think we need to preserve the possibility for lesser known, lesser funded candidates to compete, and a national primary on February 5th will not do that."[6]

[Lemeritus]

keven, you raised my hackles this morning, not because I fail to see the drawbacks to a single national primary day but because you were so flat-footed about calling it an "incredibly stupid suggestion".

I advocate a single primary day because it would:
1. Encourage a broader range of candidates (instead of allowing the media to thin the herd on our behalf) which should provide a greater depth of dialogue
2. Preempt the media (again) from ever swinging from innuendo to non-issue (and, did I mention, from determining which candidate they like best and excluding the others from debate?)
3. Prevent small states with negligible electoral college impact from creating false momentum (not that I have anything against small states or momentum, per se).

I do not see how a single primary day would create a candidate who "would not be the product of a thoughtful issue discussion" -- some of our most dynamic debates were at the beginning and this assumes the American voter cannot choose wisely from a wider field (or is that simply a fear of both parties?) Nor do I see how the great expense of mounting essentially 50 different campaigns and climbing 50 different hills can be more cost effective than waging one national drive with many whistle stops.

It seems we won't agree on this point, but I would also be amenable to a regional primary process, rolling the regions every 4 years so that no one region owns the momentum.

[kevenseven]

A single day primary will not in any way prevent the first of your two points. The unlikely candidate will never get any traction because the race will become all about money.

And I am not overly concerned that small states open the race, but I would like to see the starters rotate. It is only in the small markets that a dark horse would have a chance of getting his message heard.

I do prefer in general the regional primary system. Wiki has a good overview and is a good start in your research.

Your obsession with the impact of the MSM is misplaced, if you do not understand that the massive money raising capacity made golden in a oneday primary is much the same issue. The one day primary is the stupidest idea floated yet.

[BardEric]

Hey lemeritus,great comment!

[LaFeminazi]

Hillary is doing a wonderful job of vetting Obama now rather than later. Hillary cant win and wont win, it is however keeping Obama's feet on the ground. The race issue would never have come up this early if he hadn't been forced into talking about so obvious an issue, imagine his preachers comments coming up in October.

Or would you prefer to leave that to the repugs and their tender talking heads?

I wonder how the Dem's are going to attack crazy old McCain, experience, service, a black baby? Its a fairly thin choice of attack, Iraq.

[Aleka]

Well I don't think anyone disagrees with this in essence. The problem seems to be that Clinton is undermining Obama's ability to win by elevating McCain over him. If it were just the smear stuff, fine, but she goes too far, and this business with FL and MI may turn out costly as she has convinced a lot of people that he blocked a revote when he did no such thing. Despite her Bosnia stories, her followers seem to think she is telling the truth all the time.

[TiffShelton]

Why can't she vet herself, Femi?

Is there any reason why Democrats have to wait until April to see the Clinton tax returns from 2002 to 2006?

Is there any reason that Sen. Clinton hasn't released her full earmarks?

Is there any reason why we can't have access to her complete First Lady schedules and memos?

Is there any reason why we can't have access to the Clinton's donor list?

I thought Sen. Clinton was vetted?

[bluesnot]

Excellent point.

[bluesnot]

If it is vetting and nothing more then it is a good thing.

Iraq is the only way to attack McCain? How about the first two things you mentioned, old and crazy?

[phroso]

Must be the Obamababies using their parents cell phones, when they should be studying and cleaning their rooms.

[SCG]

After they vote.

[debwarot]

Every vote has the same weight, phroso, whether it is being cast by an 18 year old or someone who is 118! That being said, if you think Senator Obama only has support among the young then you are dead wrong!

[3billis811]

Sir, I belive you're lost again, here lets get you back to your room, and back into bed, their you go. Is your adult diaper dry? Very good. Now let me put on "Radio Revisited" so you can listen to episodes of "The Shadow" and"The Honeymoone­rs"...

[crl9]

3billis811,
Insulting people that's the unity ticket. Just for the record, last two youth vote surges gave us Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush. Did those results work for you?

[Beowoof]

This is just a campaign ploy. There are a lot of Clinton supporters even on the Huffington Post who make stuff up as Obama backers(di­stinctivel­y rude). I wouldn't be supprised if most of the calls are from her own staff who can't take anymore. MEDIA---just keep the attention on Clinton...­.FIGHTING her way to the top.

[speakingtruth2power]

Hey guys, I actually got an apology yesterday,

from Huffpo for the "recent inconvenience"!

They say things will get worked out ASAP!!

[willowbarcelona]

Senator Clinton and former President Clinton have lost. They can't overtake Senator Obama. So, one has to wonder if the reason they are staying in the race is because they promised significant favors to contributors to the former President's library.

Senator Clinton's insistence that she stay in the race until a fight on the convention floor for FL and MI delegates runs parallel to, and is uncomfortably similar to, Heather McCartney's renewed energy in wanting to appeal her recent divorce settlement. Both ladies, and their surrogates, do not seem to understand the words: "It's over."

[BardEric]

Comparing HRC to Heather McCartney??? LOL!! if that is as profound as you get, save your energy and wait to post until you have something that adds to the discussion­....

[vulcan]

Maybe Hillary is going to dump a container of water on Michelle Obame's Head just like Heather Mills did to McCartney's Attorney.

[Amminadab]

Maybe she is just staying in the race because Obama does not have 2024 delegates and the nomination is still up for grabs. Maybe?

I don't think it's over until it is over.

[afgail]

If Obama has won and "it's over" why don't we just call off the rest off the primaries and the convention and anoint him today. Then we can just skip the general election as well. You Obama supporters are arrogant AND stupid.

[jayj]

ED. HUFFINGTON POST: Please update this post to include the data that supports the headline, as well as its source.

[eugenegerard]

She is the death nell of the Democratic Party. She will destroy the party before conceding defeat. She like all Corporatists care only for themselves.