by kos
Thu May 01, 2008 at 08:45:13 AM PDT
Last November, the Clinton campaign issued
this following release:
The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of former Democratic National Committee Chair Joe Andrew <...>
Andrew became the youngest DNC chair in party history when he took the reins in 1999, after five years as Indiana Democratic Party Chair. Under Andrew, the DNC rose out of debt, implemented new technologies and grassroots mobilization efforts, and raised more than $225 million.
Andrew is the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of The Blue Fund, a mutual fund which invests in companies meeting standards of social responsibility, environmental sustainability, community participation and respect for human rights.
He is currently a partner with the law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in Washington, DC in the Corporate and Securities, Venture Capital and Public Law & Policy Strategies practice groups.
"Joe was a strong leader who put the Democratic Party on the right path,” Clinton said. "I'm honored to have his support."
Andrew is not a household name, but as a former DNC chair carries great cachet inside the party establishment. As such, he's just become
Clinton's biggest nightmare.
A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator.
Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates.
"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC near the end of his presidency, and Andrew endorsed the former first lady last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.
Andrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."
His defection to the Obama camp is a disaster for Clinton:
- It's a high-profile, high-level signal to other super delegates that it's okay to switch to Obama in order to finally bring about the inevitable conclusion. One got the sense that many Clinton supers were getting antsy at the direction the campaign had taken. The dam was holding, but it has now sprung a leak. The whole thing now threatens to collapse.
- It has the potential to give Obama a friendly news cycle for once. He hasn't had many of those lately what with Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Jeremiah Wright, and John McCain all making common cause against Obama.
- The math, already near-impossible for Clinton, just got that much harder. It's a net gain of two delegates for Obama -- +1 for Obama, -1 for Clinton.
- Attack dog James Carville will likely blow his lid again.
Some people will also stress that Andrew is a Hoosier and can help Obama in his state's primary next Tuesday. You guys know my theory -- that only machine politicians actually deliver any tangible benefits at the ballot box (and that's mostly mayors, though some governors like Ed Rendell also qualify). So I would put this endorsement in the category of Bob Casey or Mike Easley -- they can't hurt, but don't expect many (if any) votes out of it.
But at this point, this is no longer a race about regular votes. Obama will win the pledged delegate, popular vote, and states won counts. The only race left is the one for the supers, and Andrew's defection is probably a fatal blow to Clinton's chances on that front.
Update: And Obama will officially pick up
three more supers in Illinois next week.
Update II: And another super, this one in Texas,
endorses Obama.
Since Feb 9, Obama has won 11 states to Hillary's 3
February 9Obama wins Louisiana and Nebraska
February 10Obama wins Maine
February 12Obama wins District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia
February 19Obama wins Hawaii
March 4 Hillary wins Ohio and Rhode Island
Obama wins Texas and Vermont
March 8Obama wins Wyoming
March 11 Obama wins Mississippi
April 22Hillary wins PA
The media is spinning horror for Obama, but it's spin. Hillary is fighting to continue in a primary race made possible by spin. When there is no more spin, her campaign will have to accept that it's over.
Now, some are touting the latest Quinnipac poll as good news for Hillary, but the results run counter to their argument that Obama has been damaged:
On the bright side for Obama, his showings in Florida and Pennsylvania have improved since the last poll from a month ago. However, Hillary is still outperforming him in all three states.
linkObama improved? Impossible! What about Wright-gate and Bitter-gate?
All of these BS GE polls are smoke and mirrors to bolster Hillary's argument in a race she can't win.
The movement of superdelegates is not in her favor. Obama is picking up more support and the defections are from Hillary's camps. All she can do is try to keep pace to keep the spin alive, but that's not enough:
By Greg Sargent - May 1, 2008, 1:18PM
Hillary just picked up four new super-dels -- so-called "add ons" that were selected by the New York state party today.
The four, according to her campaign, are: Andrew Cuomo, Thomas DiNapoli, C. Virginia Field and Carmen Arroyo.
Separately, the Obama camp announced a new super-del today: Texas DNC Member John Patrick.
Between these, an earlier Connecticut super-del for Hillary, the Joe Andrew switch to Obama, and the three Illinois add-ons for Obama announced earlier, that brings the daily tally to this:
Obama netted five super-dels; Hillary netted four.
Late Update: The Obama camp says he's 283 overall delegates from winning the nomination.
There is also her disastrous
gas tax, which has now been rejected by the Governor of NYS:
Clinton's home-state governor isn't so into the idea, as floated in the state legislature:
Governor David Paterson expressed doubts about the plan, saying he would first need a pledge from distributors and sellers of gasoline that they would actually pass the savings on to customers.
"The benefit of the tax doesn't go directly to the consumer," said Paterson. "There's a middle man. And they can't guarantee that it's going to get there right now."
Update: Hillary's eroding superdelegate lead is from NY supers.
Posted: Thursday, May 01, 2008 2:12 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Clinton picked up four more New York superdelegates--all add-ons named at the state's convention, taking place today.
Clinton, a senator from New York, has gotten the vast majority of New York's superdelegate total, buffeting her superdelegate lead, as, of course, New York is one of the most Democratic states in the country. (States get more delegates based, in part, on past presidential voting preference as well as size.) Clinton has picked up 45 New York superdelegates to
Obama's one. Three NY superdelegates are undeclared, by our count.
Obama, as we've noted, is likely to pick up the three Illinois superdelegate add-ons by Monday, after they are officially named at this weekend's Illinois state convention.
There are almost 60 add-ons from various states, who have yet to be named and will likely declare their endorsements after they are appointed at state conventions. Those included, there are 276 undeclared superdelegates overall.
The New York superdelegate add-ons are: New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (former Gov. Mario Cuomo's son), former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and New York Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.
SUPERDELEGATES: Clinton 272-249
PLEDGED: Obama 1,490-1,334
OVERALL: 1,739-1,606
With these four from NY (but not including those from IL), since PA, the count is Obama 12, Clinton 10.
Why exclude IL, when only two of the four from NY have committed?
Since PA: Obama 15, Hillary 10
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