Clinton Says Obama Wants to Stop Votes

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack Obama and his allies of trying to stop people from voting as some of his backers have called on her to drop out of the presidential race.

The Obama campaign rejected the charge, dismissing Clinton's criticism as "completely laughable."

In a series of television interviews in states holding upcoming contests, Clinton vowed to press on with her campaign and suggested Obama and his supporters wanted to keep those states from playing a role in selecting the party's presidential nominee.

"My take on it is a lot of Senator Obama's supporters want to end this race because they don't want people to keep voting," she told CBS affiliate KTVQ in Billings, Mont. "That's just the opposite of what I believe. We want people to vote. I want the people of Montana to vote, don't you?"

Montana holds its primary June 3. The New York senator made similar comments in interviews with stations in Indiana and North Carolina, which hold primaries May 6.

Obama leads the overall race for the Democratic nomination with 1,631 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. He got the backing of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Monday. Clinton has 1,501, according to the latest AP tally.

Clinton almost certainly will end the primary season narrowly trailing Obama in the popular vote and among pledged delegates unless the nullified primaries in Florida and Michigan are counted _ an unlikely scenario at best. But Obama is unlikely to end the race with the 2,024 pledged delegates needed to win outright either, meaning the nominee will be determined by roughly 800 superdelegates.

Responding to Clinton, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: "That is completely laughable from a campaign that thought the race would be over on February 5. We have encouraged our supporters to do no such thing and Senator Obama was very clear he supports her carrying on in this race."

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Campaigning in Pennsylvania, Obama called the continuing primary battle "a struggle" but said he believed it was a good process that would strengthen the party in the long run.

"It is a healthy thing that so many people are passionate," Obama said in Johnstown. "I think it is great that Senator Clinton's supporters are as passionate about her as my supporters are about me... I think that is making this historic race that much more compelling."

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy last week became the first leading Democrat to openly call on Clinton to step aside and cede the nomination to Obama. He said he worried the prolonged nominating battle was strengthening the chances of the Republican nominee in waiting, John McCain.

Since then, Obama and his supporters have said Clinton should stay in the race as long as she chooses while indicating a lengthy primary battle would not help the party's position in the general election.

Obama has been picking up superdelegates at a rapid clip while Clinton's success with that group has slowed considerably.

"I don't even keep track of it, I can't even tell you that figure," Clinton said when asked by Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA how many superdelegates had endorsed her in recent weeks.

As she spoke, her husband, former President Clinton, was in Oregon, lobbying uncommitted superdelegates.

___

Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett in Johnstown, Pa., contributed to this report.

Comments

[Gordon]

Hillary Clinton climbed Pointe Du Hoc with the Rangers on D-Day.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Hillary Clinton was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. At least that's what she told him. It doesn't matter that she was born years before he climbed Everest.
http://www.thebluesite.com/archives/000527.html

[Gordon]

She has a track record with this lying thing. She's out of control.

[patapsco99]

Yes, this blog looks as rabbit as the liberal rabbit dogs of the democratic party, unable to control their emotions. See, this is for the people who come in here and read your liberal post to see how unbalanced you really are. Hillary should win as long as you all look like emotional monkeys who cannot control their outburst.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Pls learn the difference between rabbit and rabid.

[BlueStateMan]

Forget it, Jake..... it's Chinatown.

[Gordon]

The pro-Obama Huffington Post is a Bosnian-Sniper-Free Zone.

[SCG]

lol

[TiffShelton]

Stop it. I am going to die laughing.

[fanFroMCan]

IS THIS NOT THE WEEK THAT SENATOR CLINTON PROMISED THE VOTERS THAT SHE WOULD BE RELEASING HER TAX RETURNS??? I MAY BE IMPATIENT BUT I HAVE SEEN SEN OBAMA RELEASE HIS TAX RETURNS AND EARMARKS WITH NO CONTINGENCIES AND DELAYS, AS HAVE SEN MCCAIN!! WHERE IS YOURS HILLARY???

[BlueStateMan]

Please speak up.... we can't hear you.

....and oh, by the way.... it's TUESDAY.

[fanFroMCan]

your point slips me....because you have none

[Aleka]

Hillary can't hear you.

She is too busy keeping her fingers in her ears.

[chandler02]

How can Hillary's supporters tolerate her LIES?

To say that Obama doesn't want people to vote is just too absurd! She tried to pull that same line in reference to Michigan and Florida, dispite the fact that Obama said he would support whatever the DNC came up with.

I think it is tragic that she is slandering one of the best candidates that America has ever had, simply for her own self interest. She is lying to voters, and I think that is hideous.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

I think what you'll find is that they think lying and being unethical is an attribute.

[SCG]

err....it's misspeak like 1984

[Mike O.]

Probably the same way that Obama supporters tolerate his lies. Just a guess.

[Plank]

Hillary: Stop lying and release your tax returns.

[Gordon]

never gonna happen.

like vampires and sunlight.

She's a born liar.

[patapsco99]

Please, everyone, and I mean everyone cheats on their taxes, and I think the bottom 30 percent of the nation does not pay taxes. We should just get rid of income tax all together. Let coporations pay for social welfare programs, they create the dysfunction in America. What ever happen to reponsiblity to community.

[BlueStateMan]

Speak for yourself.

.... and it is the CORPORATIONS that don't pay their fair share to support this country.

Some "American" you are.

[NewJerseyMike]

I don't. BTW, how the hell can you be so confident that EVERYONE cheats on their taxes?

[Mike O.]

You're an idiot. Cripple the corporations. Where do you think they get the money to pay the taxes? Customers! That's right, the prices go up as taxes go up. And don't forget increased layoffs due to reduced cash flow.

Why do liberals claim to be so intelligent and educated yet they open their mouths and the most ignorant, ill-thought-through staements come flowing out?

You people are so ignorant. Why don't you go tell your employer what an evil employer they are for giving you a job.

Moron.

[Anastasia]

RE: Clinton Says Obama Wants to Stop Votes.

We get that Hillary thinks that she's tough enough to go up against the Republicans in the fall. But she's using Rovian tactics against a fellow Democrat, which will hurt the party in the fall.

One of reasons why the Republicans win so many contests and so many legislative battles, even though they are the minority party, is because they are disciplined.

The public tends to punish political parties, who don't have their act together. Some of the biggest defeats the Dems have experienced, have been in years when the Presidential nomination was fractious, if not chaotic.

Hillary's behavior is fratricidal towards Obama and suicidal in terms of her own career. Obama doesn't want to prevent people from voting, he wants to prevent the Democratic Party from bleeding to death.

Amy

[patapsco99]

Whats your point, if the liberals are so strong, and so RIGHT, they should have nothing to fear by conservative dems crossing over. You are weak without the conservative dems, and conservative people do not share the ideas of liberals.

[BlueStateMan]

Please list what you feel the "ideas" of liberals & conservatives ARE, if you please.

[HumeSkeptic]

Conservatives, my friend, is who we are trying to defeat. They have screwed our country up. Jeeeez!

[ruscle]

Really, What if the reverse were true and large numbers of voters helped pick Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican candidate? Would you consider those cross-over votes to be fair?

[finethnx]

Get real. Obama doesn't care about the people or the party.

[HumeSkeptic]

All he cares about is Mars and Martians.

[Aleka]

What makes you say this? What, exactly, has he done to show this lack of care?

[MichaelTenery]

That's why his motto is yes we can. That's why he has nearly 2 million donors. That's why he fills capacity halls and stadiums to get the message out and always meets with the overflow crowd first because they will not get to get inside. He does all this because he doesn't care. Brilliant observation.

[chandler02]

Obama isn't the one bringing the party down, Hillary is.

[McSurgent]

Obama, please drop out and put country and party before all else. As the only Dem candidate with true principles you can do it!!

[McSurgent]

Rube Goldberg could not have designed a better nominating system that the Dems have. Remember how the Dems touted how they had such a wonderful field of candidates. Thanks for prolonging our enjoyment of the last two. What till the Rube and the Dems tackle the health care system!!!

[patapsco99]

You have to admit, even though the Democrat party might be destroyed in the process, this has been an exciting race to watch a party split into two. This is history in the making. There will be a new plan written because of this election. It is too late to unit.

[BlueStateMan]

There is no such thing as the "Democrat" Party.

[IntelligentDesign]

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask if Barack Hussein Obama attended al Qaeda training camps.

[BYOB]

ask not if your mother dropped you on your head, ask how many times

[unenrolled]

Here is another Sniper story from the Clinton camp.

[Aleka]

Goodness...is this the latest ridiculous lie that only a baboon would beleive?

[BlueStateMan]

You can't REALLY be THAT stupid, can you?

....and what is wrong with the name "hussein"?

King of Hussein of Jordan was a peacemaker & a great friend of the United States.

[MichaelTenery]

It's funny to watch the back and forth between he is a crazy Christian and a crazy Muslim. His opponents can't make up their minds. Each assertion undermines the other.

[kevenseven]

So let's get back to how it is that caucuses are undemocratic.

Caucuses, which are a long-established form of voting that date back hundreds of years in America.

While we are at it, let's have a chat about why it is better to let people who only want to take two minutes to vote have a say vs those prepared to spend a few hours helping my party pick its nominee.

Oh, do remember. Nobody anywhere has a "right" to vote in the primaries or caucuses. The process is governed entirely by party rules. Nowhere in the constitution or bill of right or US code is there a word about the right to participate in the primary process.

The party could decide that only residents of Boston would vote, and they would choose the party's nominee, and there would be not one damned thing any court could do to stop it.

Now wait. Some idiot is going to say that I am arguing for the above. Some people are too stupid to live.

[ScandalousCandice]

This was just announced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

[ScandalousCandice]

I can't decide if you people don't want to admit you were Rick Rolled or if you don't care.

[kevenseven]

I was an electrician on that video! I set those lights!

The crazy thing, the guy's voice. I knew the song, and with the soul style and his big voice, I thought for sure that he was a black guy about 6' 4" with a huge chest and operatic training.

I don't miss those days.....

[ZsaZsa]

I couldn't agree more. I did not stand in line in the freezing cold of a mid-winter Iowa night, then stand around for an hour and a half in a packed gymnasium so that someone could tell me that my vote was somehow illusory, or that the process by which I cast my vote was somehow undemocratic, or that the delegates I elected were somehow different than the delegates from New York or New Hampshire or California, or that I only voted the way I did because of peer pressure.

Clinton's disparagement of the caucus process is just an excuse for her failure to put together the organization necessary to win caucuses. She decided to take a one-size-fits-all approach to all the states, and she got killed in many caucus states by 2-to-1 margins. Her own failure to prepare is not my problem.

[chandler02]

The Clinton's didn't have a problem with Caucuses when Bill was winning them!

[KQuark]

Again Clinton supporters want to change the rules in the middle of the game like seating FL and MI delegates per faux primary results. Caucuses are the purest form of democracy because the people are fully engaged in the process. On the contrary something like a mail in vote is a form of Democracy for Dummies because people who would never bother to show up for a primary would vote and college students and transients would not be able to vote in many cases. Clinton should have learned her lesson about bashing caucuses when she lost 9 delegates to Obama in Iowa.

[Irons]

I hope nobody in America is dumb enough to vote for someone who won't show their tax statements.

[LeftLeaner]

Getting back to Obama wanting to stop the voting....­..........­..........

It is clear by the loud and persistent screams of his Surrogates, that they want her out, ESPECIALLY before PA.

What disturbs me is the talking point made by the Obama clan that the Super Delegates should follow in lock step with the elected delegates.

The POINT of the SUPER delegates was to be INDEPENDENT of all other influences otherwise THEY BECOME REDUNDANT and do not exercise the ROLL for which they were intended.

The other issue that bothers me is Richardson's hypocricy and double-standard when making this point, when HE is going AGAINST the WILL of the people of HIS STATE, New Mexico, where HILLARY WON. What's up with that??????­??????????­???????

I would like someone to address these points, please.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Obama and his campaign have said on numerous times that the super delegates can vote whatever way they want. Nobody can force the supers to vote against or for the way their state voted.

[LeftLeaner]

I see, that's OK because it suits your scenario, but isn't that going AGAINST the will of the people in New Mexico, where Senator Clinton WON. Richardson ENDORSING Obama is exactly THAT!!!!

You can't have it both ways.

Just like disenfranchising the voters in Florida and Michigan.

As a Floridian, I want (AND DESERVE) a REVOTE, as do the people of MIchigan.

How dare the "PARTY LEADERS" decide whether I am ENTITLED to Vote or Not.

If it weren't for me, and all other Democratic party members, they wouldn't exist.

I can't believe the ARROGANCE!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!

They better let us vote, or I'm WITHDRAWING from this IRRESPONSIBLE and DISORGANIZED PARTY.

[DAbraha]

Hillary is such a liar!! You know it and I know it!!

[HumeSkeptic]

I would like someone to address these points, please.
----------
No. You are making this too complicated. Here. I'll simplify this for you. Hillary cannot win. Therefore, she should quit.
She's being a nuisance and delaying us in going after McCain.

[ZsaZsa]

I agree with you on the superdelegates. They are supposed to be independent. The theory behind the superdelegates was to make sure the best interests of the party are served. But therein lies the problem. Many superdelegates are beginning to think that the party's interests would be best served if this race were over now. Agree or disagree with that if you like, but that's their reasoning. Also, how would the best interests of the party be served if the vote of the pledged delegates, elected by the people, were overturned? That is another factor for the superdelegates to consider.

As for the Richardson thing, there are two ways of interpreting the idea that the superdelegates should not go against the will of the people. One is that they should go with whoever wins their state. I assume you would be against that, since the idea that the superdelegates should "follow in lock step" "disturbs" you. Another interpretation is that they should not overturn the OVERALL delegate count NATIONWIDE. I guess that's what Richardson was referring to. I don't see any hypocrisy in that at all.

What is hypocritical is when Hillary Clinton says that the voters of Florida and Michigan are being disenfranchised, even though those states broke the rules that she agreed to abide by, but when questioned whether the superdelegates should really be able to overturn the will of the people, she shrugs and says "well, those are the rules."

[unenrolled]

You have no points.

[lornejl]

Has either candidate said that violating the oath of office is a bad thing ? Crimes that go unpunished will continue.

[HumeSkeptic]

Violating the oath of office is not a bad thing if you took the oath with your hand on the Bible.

[ZsaZsa]

This is the same Hillary Clinton who has insinuated that caucus states are undemocratic, that red states aren't as important as blue states, and whose only chance of winning is for the superdelegates to overturn the pledged delegate results, right?

So glad to hear she wants everybody to get the chance to vote.

[ruscle]

Just more words from Hillary. If you said. Okay Hillary, we are going to have full revotes in MI and FL... but to make it fair, we are going to give both candidate a month to campaign in those states. Hillary would not agree. Why? because as we see in PA, the more you get to know Barack Obama, the more you realize that he's a good guy. The more you like him. And the more you see of Hillary, the more you dislike her tactics and important lies about the issues (like NAFTA). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BrPZYbCdJ4&eurl=http://www.jedreport.com/

Plus, She's broke. She's doesn't have the money to campaign in those states. Most of her campaign has been based on name recognition. When voters have a chance to see the two candidates up close, the break heavily for Obama. (Unless Republican/Rush voters are counted as being legit.) Hillary talks big. But when it comes down to it, her record is thin, her experience leads her to vote for War and Flag Burning Amendments and she's a corporate Republicanesque candidate.

[ChiGuy]

Oooooh, Hillary, Hillary...
When will you ever learn that the American people are not as stupid as you assume them to be?

They've seen your lies before, and now know to check and double check anything you say.

[Oldtt]

She will never learn that be reading these posts.

[Oldtt]

That's "by reading these posts." See, I even caught the disease myself.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

I think you mean, "your" posts.