Clinton Iowa Volunteers Train When To Push Backers To O’Malley — To Block Bernie

[Jarqui]

Source: BuzzFeed

Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president is instructing its Iowa caucus leaders to — in certain cases — throw support to former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, with the goal blocking her main opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, from securing additional delegates.

The tactical move is rooted in the complex math of the Iowa caucuses Monday night, where the campaign is looking to defeat Sanders in a state whose caucus-goers have historically backed progressive challengers.
...
The goal, in the caucuses’ complex terms, is to cost Clinton no delegates in the state’s 1,681 caucuses while ensuring stray O’Malley supporters don’t defect to Sanders.
..
“It’s sad and telling that their campaign doesn’t think they can win without these kinds of tactics,” said Rania Batrice, Sanders’s Iowa spokesperson. “At the end of the day though, we believe in the caucus process and know it’s in the very capable hands of Iowans.”

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/hillary-bernie-math#.hg45E8zrJE

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I was limited by the number of paragraphs.

There is a history of this sort of thing at the Iowa caucuses that the article explains

[Metric System]

1. Yeah, that's how caucuses work and it means the Clinton campaign learned from 2008. I personally

think they suck.

[JonLeibowitz]

2. It's the price you pay for having a form of Instant runoff voting which primaries do not have.

Primaries and Caucuses as currently run both have their problems. And yes, this part of the caucus process definitely sucks.

[JDPriestly]

9. Except that O'Malley voters are much closer to Bernie than they are to Hillary on

the issues and that O'Malley would, I suspect, have a better chance of a position in a Sanders administration than in a Clinton one.

[pangaia]

11. Hillary Clinton, broader experience you can trust.

[lsewpershad]

33. Indeed

hope it backfires.

[FreakinDJ]

3. “It’s sad and telling that their campaign doesn’t think they can win without these kinds of tactics

[JonLeibowitz]

4. I don't fault them for it. If Sanders were positioned similarly he would do so.

It's just part of the caucus game.

There are also situations where Sanders supporters will want to keep O'Malley viable to keep Clinton from picking up an extra delegate.

[SoapBox]

5. Even if it's part of the "game" in Iowa...

Camp Weathervane wouldn't have to do it.

But they do...because they look at it as a "game" and dirty politics are just second nature to their tired/old school tactics.

[jwirr]

20. Makes one actually sick. Because to her it is all a game. Win

or lose she is part of the 1%. It is not a game to most of us. What becomes of our future is vital. To lose it because someone is playing games is to know hopelessness.

Go Bernie Go

[GoneOffShore]

6. How Hilarian.

And how typical of the Clinton machine.

[Metric System]

7. It's typical of how caucuses work. The Obama campaign did the same in 2008.

[Jim Lane]

18. Yes, and per the linked article, the Clinton campaign was outraged.

So, in 2008, the Clinton campaign didn't dismiss this as being "typical of how caucuses work."

[Metric System]

19. That's politics. It was sour grapes.

[Jim Lane]

21. Even if the explanation for the hypocrisy is "sour grapes" it's still hypocrisy. (nt)

[StevieM]

8. Sorry, but this is not Hillarian, it is typical for the Iowa Caucus. Obama was the master

of this stuff back in 2008.

[pangaia]

12. Well, that makes it ok then.

[snagglepuss]

26. Back then Hypocritical Hill denounced Obama for doing it.

[George II]

15. You don't think the Sanders person is going to do the same thing?

[kracer20]

10. Really...

I just love how there is no denial or questioning the source.

They know it is sleazy, and their only responses are "Obama did it" or "that is how the game is played"

[hobbit709]

13. straight out of the Republican playbook. If you can't win, change the rules, cheat.

[TeamPooka]

16. Iowa has stupid rules and you don't need to change them to play the angles within them. nt

[DCBob]

14. If true it suggests the Hillary team is not going to caught flat footed like in 2008.

I doubt they will even need to do this to win but it might help give them a more solid victory.

[OhZone]

17. ^ This. n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

28. True. Brilliant move if needed

Politics is a game. You learn how to play by being beaten by various strategies in the past.

Smart way to play this ridiculous caucus game.

[Pastiche423]

22. She can not win on her merits

[Snotcicles]

23. I wondered why O'Malley was still hanging around. nt

[Omaha Steve]

24. And IF Bernie people sit with Hillary first her math will be...

OOPS!!!

[californiabernin]

25. I'm not sure I believe in the "Caucus Process."

What's wrong with the simple idea of each person casting a vote???

[4dsc]

27. Nothing new here

this has been going on since I caucused over 30 years ago. If your group doesn't get 15% then you have to go to a viable group.

[merkins]

29. Is Karl Rove her campaign manager now?

[Sunlei]

30. think by now those voters won't change their mind. Its republicans who should panic over trump lol

That's the real campaign circus and sideshow to laugh over LOL, they built that.

[davsand]

31. The Clintons historically have not done well in Iowa.

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but I'm thinking I remember that Bill never showed all that well in Iowa. I know Hillary didn't do win in Iowa against Obama, either. (I'm not surprised at the showing against Obama, however. Iowa is just across the river from Illinois, and I know a LOT of folks that went to Iowa to work that primary for Obama. We might be a corrupt political cesspool here in Illinois, but we DO know how to put together a campaign.) It could be that Clinton will do well with this strategy, but it could also really piss off the locals. You underestimate rural voters at your own peril, and Iowa is a lot of rural folks. With any luck the weather will cooperate.

It will be interesting to see how Iowa plays out.


Laura

[Gregorian]

32. I seriously doubt Bernie would ever do something like this.

A perfect statement for mocking if I ever did see one. But it's true.