Clinton

Hillary Clinton conceded to Obama today but not failing to do it with style. She thanked her supporters and committed to making sure that Obama would be the next President of the United States of America.

A call for unity was established as this competitive Primary season ended. Clinton supporters were asked to support Obama in his bid for President. Clinton claimed, "I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee and I intend to deliver on that promise."

Her message included the historic success of she and Obama had over the past 6 months. It will no longer seem impossible for a female or minority candidate to seek the White House. Clinton states, "I was proud to be a woman but I was running because I thought I’d be the best president. But, but, but I am a woman and like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious, and I want to build an America that respects and embraces every last one of us.”

Her speech was positive and took the right step in the right direction for Democrats to unite. The next logical step in this unification process would be for Obama to include Clinton on the ticket. I only make this assertion because I would not be surprised if some Clinton supporters deflect from the Democratic Party. Instead of unifying it, they divide it into two segments which make create the first real third party. This seems unlikely but one must be willing to entertain any scenario in the political realm. Who would have thought a minority or even a female candidate had a chance of having an actual shot at being our next President just five years ago?

It is officially over for the former first lady and current New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Her attempt to become the first female president in the United States has come to end. In an email to supporters she states, "On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy."

This should come as no surprise as the Democratic primaries have ended and she was behind in the delegate count. Feeling pressure from fellow Democrats she has bowed out to let Obama to assume the role of presumtive nominee. Clinton claims, "My differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans." This should serve as a reminder to Clinton supporters and delegates that McCain is the enemy and he comes no where close to sharing the ideals and beliefs of the Clinton Campaign.

Clinton fought a hard battle and for the first time in a long time, there were to qualified candidates that our country deserves to be lead by. She notes, "I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise. "

I agree. I supported Clinton in the March Primary in Texas. I will endorse Obama and do all that I can to see that he is the next President of the United States. Hillary Clinton, thank you for your public service and dedication/determination to become the Democratic nominee. The United States would have restored its greatness under your leadership . . . Obama shall restore it but history will not forget the historic primary that both candidates participated.

Hillary Clinton should not quit the race. I made this argument last month but this time I will entertain it with a different approach. Mark Leibovich of The New York Times wrote a great piece on this perspective arguing that Obama has benefited from the Clinton rivalry.

Obama’s campaign has been tested and prepped for a challenge from McCain (if Obama is the nominee) in the Democratic Presidential nomination by Clinton. Over the past weeks many have claimed that Clinton has had a negative impact on Obama but most importantly the Democrats opportunity to take back the White House in November. The negative ramifications imposed include but are not limited to prolonging the Primary debate and weakening Obama’s chances of beating McCain. I beg to differ. Obama has been trained by the best rival in order to overcome the GOP opponent this fall.

The challenge that Clinton has posed has made Obama stronger and a more formidable candidate. Obama has held his own against Clinton, helping him prepare for what ever McCain will bring for the Presidential election. Clinton is and was not an easy candidate to compete with. Obama has been able to establish his own base and support to garner the support to edge out Clinton. Obama has learned a lot and this was all due to his opponent. I recall advice from a high school coach that recommended I always train with people that are better in skill than me in order to improve my own skills.

Clinton has legitimized the Obama campaign. For the first time in countless years, Democrats have had two strong candidates to choose from. This has caused both Clinton and Obama to work harder to attract and retain voters that they would otherwise not seek if challenged by weaker opponents. Whoever ends up with the nomination, the other will benefit from the voter support garnered due to the Primary.

The Wright Effect should be non-existent in November. Obama should benefit from the Wright issue being an issue during the Primary season then in November. This has allowed Obama and company to prepare and orchestrate an effective damage control strategy should it come up in November. The McCain camp would be foolish to bring up an non issue again in November but if they do, at least Obama will be prepared.

Obama has indeed benefited from Clintons challenge. Let’s not forget though, Clinton has done a tremendous job in order to compete with Obama. Even though she was a favorite at the beginning, Obama was the populist once the Primary season began. One may claim that Obama was the underdog but it was Clinton who had work harder to get the support and funding for her campaign. Clinton has been scrutinized and under a microscope as the presumed nominee by the media. Clinton has had to overcome many obstacles in order to stay float with Obama. Obama like McCain may have benefited from a love affair by the media. Clinton has also had to distinguish herself from the former President Clinton and shine by herself. Whatever the outcome this June, one thing is for sure . . . the Democratic nominee will be better prepared for the general election than McCain.

The decision that John Edwards publicly commits 24 hours before what I speculate to be the last stand of this years Democratic primary will favor Obama. Edwards has been courting both hopefuls since his early departure in February but that does not mean that he has not been following the ongoing transactions.

Edwards would be a great resource for either candidate but because his views are more in favor with those of  Obama, I suspect that he will endorse him the day before the primary in order to deliver the  coup de grâce and end Clinton's hopes and campaign.

This is Clinton's last stand and her demise will commence after the election is over. There are no "big" states left and I predict that she will fight until early June. Bill Clinton may step in and sway her to call it a loss but I would not be surprised if Democratic big wigs step in and officially endorse Obama. Pelosis but in particular Gore would offer the most influence.

This is of course if Edwards supports Obama . . . if he ends up endorsing Clinton then expect this race to get tougher, nastier and more vital for either candidate. 

Tomorrow is the Clinton campaigns last stand. This is it! The Primary season will end tomorrow . . . if and only if Obama is able to pull out a win but not just a win, a devastating win. Just one month ago, the Clinton campaign set its sights on Pennsylvania and why shouldn't they have . . . they had a generous lead in the double digit realm. According to recent poll numbers, that lead has been diminished in some point out that Obama has a slight advantage. It does not matter what is the real case, the important item to note here is that Clinton was not able to protect that lead and at the 4th quarter of the game . . . it looks like she will lose the game.

 So what happens if she wins? If Clinton is able to sneak by with a close win then she gives herself enough life to hang around until May 6 when North Carolina votes. This is where the Democratic Primary shall end if it does not end tomorrow. I speculate that Edwards will give the nod to Obama and North Carolina overwhelmingly will give their vote to Obama. Indiana will play a role but the number of states remaning that are hosting elections is dwindling and playing catchup is futile now.

As I have claimed in the past and even Obama has stated, Clinton should entertain the nomination as long as she deems it fit. For some reason though, Obama may have stated that fact only because he was confident of his coup in Pennsylvania. When it comes down to it . . . if Obama does win tomorrow, the Clinton camp will have a hard time explaining how they lost after having such a commanding lead . . . and that folks is why I predict that tomorrow will be Clinton's last stand.

I have been entertaining this idea for a while now and I feel that I am correct in speculating that Gore is a closet-Obama supporter (not that it is a bad thing) and I shall explain.

Most high profile Democrats have publicly declared who they are endorsing. Those that have waited ended up endorsing Obama which in itself does not warrant that Gore is leaning to Obama but hear my case out. There is no reason why Gore should not have already endorsed Clinton by now.

Gore may publicly excuse himself but deep down he knows that he supports Obama but in order to respect Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, he will not disclose his support publicly until after and if Obama secures the nomination. You see . . . Gore spent 8 quality years with the Clinton's
and they had no trouble supporting him when he made his run back in 2000 and I don't mean the primary. Gore understands how the media will spin his endorsement for Obama and understands that it can be detrimental to Hillary's campaign if the former Vice President of the United States does not endorse the former President's wife.

One should entertain that a direct endorsement or lack thereof by Gore should be seen as support for Obama. Gore is attempting to remain neutral but it is that neutrality that screams "I want to endorse Obama but I can't" to me.

Why hasn't Gore endorsed Obama yet? Because, like I speculate he understands the firestorm it may create within the party. Heck, the way the media handled the Richardson situation should have traumatized him. I will go out on a limb and claim that Edwards is playing it safe for that reason as well. I imagine that Richardson secured a cabinet post before the public announcement and that is why he went public. Gore does not have such future aspirations in my opinion. He is currently wrapped up in his own personal projects that public life in the political spectrum is not a priority.

Gore, may have the privilege of delivering the coup de grâce to the second place candidate come June, which I see being Clinton the way the primary is playing out. I have said only 1 other time, I voted for Clinton here in Texas but I am a realist at the same time and to ignore the 100+ deficit when it comes to the delegate count is not optimism. Nonetheless, I understand the predicament that Gore faces and it makes perfect sense why he has been low key this primary season.

Many liberal bloggers attempt to make the argument that Clinton should quit the race as soon as possible . . . correction . . . many liberal bloggers that are Obama supporters attempt to sway Democrats into thinking Clinton should bow out of the race. The claim is there but there is no logical justification that comes to mind that explains why Clinton should bow out.

Some state that it is tearing the party apart or it is prolonging the process a bit to much. I have never understood the argument since it doesn't make any sense. Even Obama states that Clinton "can run as long as she wants."

Steve Benen entertains the idea of what may be keeping Clinton around for another 5 months and offers a solution to Democrats. Funny enough it is the same solution that I provide to Obama supporters.

I blame our instant gratification society. This is a primary folks. Think of it like the regular season of baseball or basketball. There is a schedule that has been set and it ends in June. This is no secret, we have known this for years. It hasn't changed that much. It was the same for Kerry when he ran in 2004. It was even similar for Bill Clinton when he ran in 1992. You see . . . if the Democratic Party wanted to make this a quick and easy thing it would not take place over 6 months. But it does and that is the reality.

Just because there are two qualified, competitive and may I say great candidates, it does not mean that one should have to concede before it is over.

Clinton still has a chance but as a realist I do not expect her to secure the nomination nonetheless, I do not consent to negating the possibility that she fight it until the end. If Obama supporters want to end this primary (or Clinton supporters as well) then your candidate of choice needs to step it up and blow out the other opponent.

The primary season still has a few more months to go and until one candidate secures the minimum delegate count for nomination it is preposterous to ask either or to bow out. No matter what happens from now until then, it is a different story in my opinion how that second place candidate should conduct themselves at the Party Convention. Until we reach the playoffs in Denver though . . . as Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over until it's over!"

On a side note . . . I wanted to poke some fun at Steve Benen for titling that last post, "She’s in it to win it — for at least another five months" because who's in it to lose? As Bill Engvall would say, "Here's your sign." j/k . . . lol, oh I am having too much fun this Sunday morning.

[Update at 10:30 am]

Benen has just released a post about the primary and the shenanigans surrounding it. He offers some legitimate reasons why the primary should not keep going on and as to not repeat what I already said earlier today I shall only add.

Benen claims, "Yes, there are 10 contests left, but that’s hardly a good reason to keep a nomination fight going. Primary contests are usually over by now; we rarely weep for those states that play a minimal role in picking the next nominee." I agree what just because there are 10 that is not a good reason[in itself] to continue the primary but because the Primary is "usually over by now" in itself is not any better. Heck the Democratic primary is usually won by a white male . . . sort of throws that argument into a spin this time around. In fact, Bill Clinton did not secure the Democratic nomination until April when he beat Jerry Brown in New York back in 1992.

He then asks, "Who really believes a 14-month campaign (so far) for the nomination is insufficient?" I agree . . . I do not think anyone will be foolish to claim that it is insufficient but that is not the issue at hand. No one has secured the minimum required delegate count and that reason by itself is good enough to continue. How would it look if party members call of the primary because they want to unite behind one candidate without giving the process a chance to finish.

I also agree with Benen when he notes that, "states have a choice about moving up their primaries/caucuses if this is a priority," if they want a voice in the primary. I actually offer this as a solution but the fact of the matter it they did not want a contest to last this long (oh the horror of the past 3 months) it would have never been setup the way it is.

Benen concludes by entertaining the following, "If you’re a consultant/strategist at the RNC right now, are you worried that a prolonged Democratic process is going to help Dems with voter registration and battle testing, or are you doing the Happy Dance that the Clinton/Obama fight is going to continue for the foreseeable future?"

This is quite elementary my dear . . . the RNC shall be worried not because of the the number of voters registering (although that in itself should be a nightmare) but how can you do a Happy Dance when you don't even know who you're opponent is let along what to attack them on. Plus, it does not help that your nominee is getting neglected and ignored half the time. It also gives plenty of time for McCain to make a fool of himself as he becomes restless about the process.

[Update at 5:45pm] Justin Gardener over at Donklephant just made a post about Clinton going all the way. I recommend reading my entire post to understand my position on the argument and I shall only add now.

First of forth-most, why are people shocked that Clinton is going all the way? She has not been blown out of the water to warrant her departure. As I said she still has a chance . . . a slim one but she gets the opportunity to entertain the nomination as long as the elections are there or she has enough money. There is no reason why she or Obama should have to bow out. Should we have expected Obama to quit when late last year Clinton looked like the sure shoe in? No, and we should not be surprised that Clinton does not want to be forced to step down. Most candidates bow out because they never got the support early on to make it a viable candidacy. Must I remind folks that Clinton and Obama have practically split the popular vote. Obama may have the edge on candidates and popular vote but as he stated she can continue as long as she wants to.

Who cares if her intentions are to continue until the last primary. That is how our democratic process works. Who decides when it has become to long? Did they really make the primary a 6 month event because they never thought anyone would care what happens in June? Now, what happens once the last ballot is counted on the last day of the primaries is a different story and that in itself can be a topic of its own.

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I'm sorry but I will have to rant about polls for a minute now. Perhaps, because the poll numbers they are currently releasing aren't of any value because the primary isn't until late April . . . a little less than a month away!

I have always disliked polls . . . because they are irrelevant and I still do not understand why the media likes to present them as news. You may ask yourself why or David there is a purpose . . . no, not really. Polls just serve as a popularity contest and only reassure folks of who they should vote for since most people want to vote for the "winning candidate"

Don't get me wrong . . . there is a purpose for polls but those that benefit from them are political insiders that crunch the numbers in order to know how well they are marketing the campaign. The news needs to stop highlighting the number of points a candidate is a ahead every day. Who cares? It doesn't matter because it is just a hypothetical analyzation of what pollsters anticipate based on a small sample group. I wonder what do regular Americans think they gain from seeing the latest poll. It is detrimental to the democratic process and has no productive purpose whatsoever so the next time you hear about a poll . . . make up the results because it's just as relevant as hearing their numbers.

I am currently blogging live from the Harris County Delegate Convention taking place at the Geroge R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. The hype about the Texas Primary and Caucus may be over but the this two-step continues. Unlike the Precinct Convention, this convention is a bit more organized which makes sense. Texans learned the hard way how democracy works during their Precinct Convention so most expected the next step to be a bit more brutal since it is larger That is not the case though. I would estimate that there are around 1000 delegates and it seems like they expected around 2000 with all the empty chairs visible.

Currently we are waiting for the event to take off at approximately 9 am CDT. I spoke to my girlfriend briefly who is a delegate out in Travis County aka Austin, Texas and she said parking and signing in was hectic. I understand why parking may have been an issue since their convention center provides free parking unlike Houston. I had to shell out about $15 but thats okay because I am contributing to the democratic process right? It is no secret that Obama won the caucus in Texas and I expect that to play out our convention since we are the largest urban city in the state. The Obama supporters and Clinton supporters are out in full force and it was pleasant to see a Rick Noriega volunteer informing fellow Democrats of this fellows run for the Senate in November.

[Update @ 10:25 am] So the convention had been at full swing for about 1 hour or so. I was surprised with the morning prayer that began the convention . . . so much for separation of church and state. Nonetheless, after the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem, we heard several local politicians speak about the change in administration and policy expected in November. We currently voted for the delegates that will represent this Precinct at the State Convention. My Precinct was only allocated 2 delegates. Nonetheless, I am going to apply for an at-large position and hopefully make it out on the first weekend of June to Austin. I now understand why there are not as many people as I expected at this convention. Apparently, this is a Senatorial convention, unlike what is going on throughout the state in which there are county conventions. Houston and what I expect is going on at other large metropolitan areas is divided into conventions based on the Senate district. That explains why the process has been smooth so far.

[Update @ 3:50 pm] I am still at the Senate Convention and two cups of coffee later we have ordered pizza and expect to spend the next three hours here. Currently, we are approving and amending resolutions. Most of our precinct has left and only those that are going to be delegates are hanging around. I spoke to Becky and it seems that it is the same situation in Austin. There was a moment when there was a heated debate about recognizing same-sex marriages.

I left around 7:30 while resolutions were being read. I grew restless and tired after being there for over 10 hours. For about 15 minutes there was controversy as some Obama supporters failed to follow parliamentary procedure when nominating a secretary for the convention. That was laid to rest once their concerns were taken care off. Nonetheless, it went smoothly after that. The resolutions took a while since some people had opinions about certain ones such as tolls, same-sex marriages and medical marijuana to name a few.