Obama, McCain Fight Over Clinton Supporters And Crossover Voters

This week Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are fighting hard to win support from independents and uncommitted supporters of Hillary Clinton. At a Philadelphia fundraiser, Obama shared with voters the same sentiment he shared with Clinton during their much-touted (and still quite secretive) private meeting. Obama told Hillary:

"You're the only one who knows what I've gone through and I'm the only one who knows what you've gone through."

And while many Clinton supporters and surrogates have fallen in with the Obama camp since the end of the primary, a few public defectors are making waves. The McCain camp has proudly touted one Wisconsin Democratic superdelegate who has promised to vote against Barack Obama:

In an interview, Bartoshevich expressed lingering unhappiness over the Democratic nominating process, said Clinton was treated unfairly by the party and said she has deep reservations about Obama's lack of experience and his judgment.

"I'm kind of disenfranchised," she said.

She said she planned to vote for Clinton at the convention, but in an Obama-McCain matchup in November, "I will not be voting for Obama. I will cast my vote for John McCain.

Still, to this point, Bartoshevich is the only superdelegate that both sides acknowledge has flipped sides.

Meanwhile, McCain's camp is pushing to the press a Clinton-oriented virtual town hall, as well as a list of "prominent Democratic and unaffiliated leaders" who have joined Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) in a group called 'Citizens For McCain.' In 2000, Bush had great success with a similar organization: Democrats For Bush. Of course, Ben Smith notices that the members of Citizens of McCain come up short in one respect:

What they could use: a bit more prominence. Beyond Lieberman, most are out-of-office local officials; only one, former Rep. Tim Penny of Minnesota, ever held federal office. Some are quite obscure, to wit: Commander of Newport Memorial-VFW Post 1119 Francis Harding Jr. and former State Chair of Environmentalists for Clinton-Gore 1992 Roberta Weisbrod.

And Obama is having his own luck tempting crossover voters, particularly with black conservatives. The Associated Press runs through some of the most prominent officials who are publicly wavering between McCain and Obama, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts:

J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the GOP House leadership, said he's thinking of voting for Obama. Watts said he's still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.

"And Obama highlights that even more," Watts said, adding that he expects Obama to take on issues such as poverty and urban policy. "Republicans often seem indifferent to those things."

Comments

[puffhost]

So McCa!n is having trouble establishing an effective Citizens For McCa!n campaign prop. He also cannot use a computer. No need to worry there are some things he uses well:

1. A pill crusher
2. Icy-Hot
3. Tylenol-Motrin rotation.
4. His Life Alert Necklace
5. Lobbyist / Mistresses
6. Wives
7. The forgetful card
8. Many Jazzy models
9. A parachute (unfortunately, sorry to say)
10. Obscure swear words
11. A Bingo Dabber
12. Stacked town halls

Please consider these attributes when going to the polls this November.

[kay]

This is very funny. Good job.

[lizr]

he needs a Gin ko IV

[Kalima]

Ginko is overrated. Took for two months but still couldn't remember where
I had left my glasses.

[SanityClaus]

Standing O from the HuffPo peanut gallery!

[Bettysdad]

This is really funny!

You should print this out, and hold onto it 'til you're in your '70s.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Ok

so Ch el se a

is a banned word.

Can it get any more ridiculous?

[BlueStateMan]

Way....

[lizr]

all words referring to the main 3 are banned.

skip spaces an dit gets in, got it?

[Nochnoi]

Oh yes.... I do believe so!

[kellygrrrl]

just the tip of the doucheberg

[kay]

I think the part that bothers me most is this: there are two possible outcomes to a competition. If women are going to compete, and they are, Clinton won't be the last, they have to be able to LOSE.

Because LOSING is part of it. What are we teaching our girls with this? That losing is so awful an outcome that it can't even be contemplated? That we have to attribute a loss to forces beyond our control?

Will young women compete if we set it up like that? That losing is UNTHINKABLE HUMILIATION, instead of, just, well, LOSING? Maybe we're not doing them any favors with this.

[AMJordan]

I have a hard time thinking they're really Democrats. My reasoning for this is, if they were Democrats, they'd be used to losing. I'm up to the Ford years in "Party of the People" and from about the Civil War onward, except for the twenty years of Roosevelt/Truman, it's been a long vale of tears for the Dems.

[kay]

True :)

We're gracious losers.

I'm not, though, to be honest, so I'm not as hard on Clinton supporters. I'm mad as hell when I lose, briefly. Like, several minutes of mad. As many as...20. Minutes.

I may just lack the quality of concentration it takes to actually execute a vendetta. I get distracted.

[Shriketzu]

Its not just something women have to face... I think it all comes back to our legal society. Real character is born on the monkey bars of steal over the concrete field of death.

[lizr]

yeah no kidding! not like we havent had any practice for Chris sakes.

[SanityClaus]

Good questions, kay. Ironically, it may be because our educational system has been inculcating the idea that participation is its own reward, and competition for victory is potentially damaging to the fragile egos of the children who lose.

Gold stars for everyone! You all did a GREAT job! Way to go everybody!

Then real life intrudes with a big fat wakeup call.

[kay]

I felt like I was about 107 years old when the manic media kept saying how HARD Clinton worked, so she DESERVED to win.

It's true, too. She did work hard. But, that's not determinative.

Hard work just isn't a guarantee of victory. Laziness probably insures defeat, but hard work isn't a guarantee either.

I don't want girls to think losing is so personal and humiliating and UNFAIR that they just say the heck with it, and stay "safe" and not try.

It's just losing. It's just the risk inherent in trying. It's not shameful.

[SeekerOne]

Well said.

[lizr]

very good pt, thanks Kay.

[PennP]

This relates to what kay is describing above. The faux feminist line of reasoning goes:
- Losing is unacceptable, wrong.
- We did everything right. We should have won, so we MUST have won.
- Therefore, our loss means the process was unfair.
- Gender is the biggest difference between our candidates. Ergo, sexism must be the cause.
- There’s a nutcracker doll that looks like Hillary. A man said Hillary was pimping out Chelsea. A man said she reminded him of his first wife. That proves sexism was part of this election.
- Obama and his supporters deprived her of the nomination.
- Obama was the beneficiary of the sexism, which means he is sexist. His supporters are sexist by proxy.
- Regardless of the details, the proof of the sexism in this election is in the fact that HRC lost when she should have won.

Women with this mindset think they should be treated differently from men--as precious goods, with deference and hyper-respect, with contests "thrown" their way. The flip side of this perversion of feminism allows the same women to say and do what they please, without consequence.

Drew Gilpin Faust's "Mothers of Invention" has an excellent examination of this mindset as a cultural phenomenon exhibited by antebellum and wartime Confederate women. This atavistic approach to reality has had feminism spinning its wheels for the past half century. It’s time for the next generation to step up--women who aren't invested in the dishonesty of the double standard.

[Liberoservative]

From the article:
"But Friday night, after a story about Bartoshevich appeared on the Journal Sentinel’s Web site, he had apparently reconsidered. At the state Democratic Party convention, party members, including Clinton supporters, unanimously passed a resolution asking the national party not to seat Bartoshevich at the Denver convention. Wineke spoke in favor of the resolution.

Another pledged Clinton delegate, Paula Dorsey of Milwaukee, offered the resolution.

Dorsey said trying to expel her fellow Democrat from the party’s convention “hurts my soul and it hurts my heart,” but it is the party’s presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), whom convention delegates must support."

[SaulGood]

why do they put "click here for additional comments" if there are no more additional comments?

[lizr]

computer glitch :)

[BlueStateMan]

Around here... the "glitch" is when things WORK.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

There are more, you are just forbidden from seeing them.

[SaulGood]

bastids!!

[AMJordan]

They scrubbed the comment. I should know. It was mine.

[SaulGood]

doh! not cool

[Kalima]

They are checking to make sure that we are alert.

[Groobiecat]

My question is:

Where is Hillary's promised support? When is she going to start putting her money where her mouth is to ensure that her people are still dems?

Just curious.

[Rose52]

She's on vacation. She needs it.

[WFV]

I hope she stays on vacation until November. Things are just starting to resemble a presidential race.....rather than a pity party.

[PAposter]

What money? She pulled in a bunch of Limbaugh democrats, her voters were never in our camp. It's all an illusion.

[WFV]

She probably hasn't struck the deal she needs with regard to her debt. She's not on vacation, she's working behind the scenes, out of the public eye, just where they do their best work. I was very proud of their public condolences of Mr. Russert this weekend. That was classy, as usual.

[SanityClaus]

I think she's coaching Larry Sinclair for his big moment at the NPC on Wednesday...

[puffhost]

I'll settle for silence!

[lizr]

LOL- and moi.

but there are plenty who need desp erately to hear from her.

[superduperandy]

I agree with that sad excuse for a superdelegate on one point: I'm not happy about the nomination process either - we need to get rid of superdelegates! Or at very least, drop the common root that the word 'Democrat' shares with 'Democracy'.

Look at the case in point, Bartoshevich. She has been granted 10,000s times the voting power than us less important voters have during the nomination by the DNC and then she turns around and openly opposes that party for some small reasons. She says that McCain is more experianced? Well even supposing that Obama would be relatively ineffective because of that (which is complete BS), would she prefer an effective enemy to a weak friend? That logic is placeholder-logic because it falls apart after you think about it for more than 10 seconds! If she opposes Obama, then why is she ashamed of her real reasoning?

She's making a protest vote to throw a public tantrum that Hillary didn't win and would sacrifice the future of our country for that. To all the Hillary supporters, I wish that both Obama and her could have won - they're both wonderful but although her name won't be on the ballot - a very large portion of her agenda's will be, especially in relation to McCain's agenda.

[darthdarcy]

Yes and neither of them know what we are going through..

Or they'd be up McCain's Wazoo and be screaming about the Phil Gramm and the Enron Loophole and the Sub Prime Crisis and the Credit Card Companies and bringing our Troops home from Iraq, and helping out our troops languishing in Afghanistan..

It's all about them not us..typical...

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

That's what O has been doing since the get-go. Try to keep up.

[NTO08]

I like that comment by Obama...despite all the drama during the election, I really think that Obama and Hillary can look past what happened and maybe work together...

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

SaulGood

"duuuuuuude" doesn't mean anything.

[lizr]

not to you :)

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

heh ;-)

[AMJordan]

One of Rob Schneider's old stand up act was how the word "Dude" could be used as a language all it's own. Like Chinese, it depends a lot on intonation and length.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

DUDE!

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Thanks for enlightening me.

[SaulGood]

is it really that confusing?

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

When I can't hear the intonation, it becomes meaningless.

[Anonani]

This inability to get beyond a hard fought race and to get on with the business of the party, to elect a Democrat, reminds of the war between the states. The supposed "disenfranchised" who lost the campaign would rather sell their soul to the erstwhile devil than support Obama. It is amazing!

It is they who in this community who have labeled Obama supporters as rabid....give me a break.

[lizr]

sometimes I think the old timers, those of us who have actually voted and worked for candidates and paid attention to campaigns in the past are a distinct minority,

and the newbies are in majority, and they are all f ing virgins.

That is how they talk.

Sorry.

[PAposter]

I am so sick of people looking for an excuse not to vote for Obama. These people love the status quo , it makes them feel superior.

Most of them (especially older white men and women) feel exactly as Harriet Christian stated, Obama is "an inadequate Black male", this has nothing to so with their candidate of choice being a woman. Belittling and bashing Black men is the favorite pastime of this country, because when you acknowledge their abilities, you find that they can be superior at many things, not just sports.

If anyone doesn't think race is playing a role in this, watch what happens if McCain puts a person of color on his ticket.

[SCG]

They have been filled with lies, manipulations and victimhood. From the top.

[ebanks84]

And we're the ones who know what both have gone through and don't want to go through ANYMORE!

[Austintatious]

Bartoshevich needs to read another Huff post that is posted, even as I write this brilliant comment. It tells us of McCain's plan to attend a fundraiser at the home of Texas oilman Claytie Williams. If Bart is as politically "in the know", as she should be, then she knows what a remarkably disgusting, Republican pig Williams is, and she knows of his social and political "crimes" against women, and sensibilities in general.

So, if Bart is willing to vote for a man like McCain, who openly embraces a pig like Williams, and if Bart is willing to vote for a man who will appoint pro-big business, anti-constitution, anti-choice Supreme Court Justrices, then she is not a true Dem. But, deep down, she is.

It's time to bite the bullet, Bart, and do what we all do when we're faced with hard choices. Come on, Bart. You're better than that! You can do it. You must do it.

[tchristin]

That Wisconsin superdelegate doesn't deserve the title or the respect it brings. She's so narrow-minded and self-centered that she should fit right in the Republican party.

[SaulGood]

huffpo - c'mon!!!!

she is not a super. she is an elected delegate, and she will be replaced by another elected delegate.

[lizr]

the computer does not respond to requests or common sense. just to spellings of certain names and concepts.

[bdd]

Bartoshevich needs to be bounced out of the Democratic Party.
She clearly isn't one.

[kay]

I don't think she can be "banished".

She should just step down and let the alternate attend the Convention. The delegate slots were hotly contested this year. There were actual "campaigns" to run as a delegate. The alternate would be thrilled, and she would have avoided giving John McCain a talking point this morning.

A lot of really enthusiastic supporters of the Democratic ticket want her seat, and her credentials. If she's going to actually damage the nominee, she should do the sensible thing and step aside.

[Centaur]

Absolutely! And the Democratic Party should take away her superdelegate status since it no longer makes sense for her to have it. Let her stupid ass go over to the "dark side" and the other "so'called democrats" can go as well. We don;t need them. There are more than enough new Democrats to make up for their treachery. I say GOOD RIDDANCE!

[WFV]

I have posted and read many comments on many websites this weekend. I never knew the depravity of some disheartened Democrats fully until I read many peoples' posts this weekend.

I say you want to go...go. And good riddance. I thought the greater good of the Democratic philosophies was efficient, but evidently not. Go. And don't come back.

[lizr]

dont forget there are many t roll s here esp on the wk ends.

[Marlyn]

l iz r, r u 1?

[timeforachangenow]

careful lizr....8)

me thinks you have a rabid thumb...8)

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

It's all about Identity Politics. It's merely a tool to manipulate the less self aware to vote their hatred or fears rather than their own self interests.