More to Michigan ballot bailing than initally thought....

[Debi]

http://iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1264

Michigan, Iowa and the Games the Politicos Play

Iowans are by and large straight-forward people. Given that, it should come as no surprise that to the average Iowan, the Michigan ballot situation seems pretty cut and dry: Democratic presidential hopefuls who honor their four-state pledge and support the nomination calendar won't be on Wolverine State's ballot. As with most things in life, and especially politics, the situation is more complicated.

Five individuals connected to five different campaigns have confirmed -- but only under condition of anonymity -- that the situation that developed in connection with the Michigan ballot is not at all as it appears on the surface. The campaign for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, arguably fearing a poor showing in Michigan, reached out to the others with a desire of leaving New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as the the only candidate on the ballot. The hope was that such a move would provide one more political obstacle for the Clinton campaign to overcome in Iowa.

<snip>

[rinsd]

1. I knew it was a political move

And if what is said here is true(and its largely anonymous sources) its even more craven than I thought.

[Debi]

6. It would be nice to know from the Obama camp if this really did happen

of if it was misinterpreted by the other camps. :shrug:

[rinsd]

8. They will deny it. They have to.

But if the Dodd campaign was involved and refused or Kucinich decides to blow the whole thing up they could be faced with some heat.

Interestingly Yepsen called this a gang up too though he did not have the more conspiratorial angle to it.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/OPINION01/710110375/1035/OPINION

[Debi]

13. This reminds me of the gathering of Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards and I think Clark

on how to trip up Howard Dean in 2004.

[rinsd]

15. Maybe I was wrong and 2008 IS 2004!

:evilgrin:

[Debi]

16. *sigh* it's 2004 in 3-D baby! (didn't want to use the steroid reference....) n/t

[Adelante]

21. I don't remember that

Do you have a link, Debi?

[Debi]

25. Arrgghhh, I knew somebody would ask for a link...let me go hunting...n/t

On edit:

Here's one re: Kerry & Gephardt - but I know there was one about several of them meeting up. I'll keep looking.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDB133FF931A25753C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

[Adelante]

26. I was just curious

I'd never heard of Wes at such a meeting. Don't go to too much trouble. Water over the bridge now. :hi:

[cobalt1999]

9. Of course it was a political move.

Same with Hillary staying on the ballot, that's a political move too.

She doesn't need Iowa as much as the others do. She is also thinking past the primaries, whereas the others are trying to score some needed points in the early states even if it means damage control later.

[Debi]

14. Yes, she has the name recognition and the funding sources to run

a national campaign (or even the national primary of Feb. 5th). And she has Bill. Nobody else has that.

[tkmorris]

2. Hillary could have prevented it........

by simply withdrawing her name from the ballot. She chose not to.

I don't see any way to portray this as some sort of nefarious plot. You can't exactly trap someone with something they can avoid by simply saying no. Clinton knew what was going on in Michigan, and what the other candidates were doing. She chose to stay on the ballot. It's that simple.

[Debi]

5. Agreed, she chose to stay on the ballot instead of showing a united

front w/her other Democratic candidates.

No, she did not break any rules. I'm not saying she did. However, it would have been a clear signal to a rule breaking state if ALL Democratic candidates had said "move your primary back or we won't be on the ballot".

[madfloridian]

3. Michigan's Democratic govenor did not have to sign the bill

Florida's Democratic Party did not have to vote 115 to 1 to break the rules.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1564

As a result of the rule-breaking, there are already two lawsuits against Dean and the DNC who followed the rules. There is a possible lawsuit by a Florida senator against the first four states.

In addition the DNC is already fighting a lawsuit going on for months and into next year by a someone in the gay community who is asking for damages.

That's how you destroy someone with integrity who cares about his party and country.

Get a bunch of damn lawsuits going and wear them down.

:puke:

[Debi]

4. Yep, mad, the DNC will be busy fighting law suits from Democrats instead of working to

get Democrats elected. :eyes:

[flpoljunkie]

7. Got any proof? This crap more than likely came from the Clinton camp.

[Debi]

10. Read the entire piece, I don't think anyone working for the Dodd campaign

also works for Clinton...

[rucky]

11. Voters lose, not Hillary.

bad strategy. bad sportsmanship.

[incapsulated]

12. I wouldn't be surprised

They are all posturing and playing games. But the ball was in her court and she made the decision to stay on the ballot.

Who wins this little chess match remains to be seen.

[ieoeja]

17. Everyone seems to be forgetting...

... that Michigan and Florida did not just jump past New Hampshire by moving up their primaries. They also jumped past the following states which followed the rules and scheduled their primaries to take place on the earliest valid date:

Alabama
Alaska (caucus)
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah


That is a whole HECK of a lot of primary voters to piss off.

[Debi]

18. They could have stayed w/in the rules and gone Feb. 5th

:shrug:

[rinsd]

19. Yes but those states don't live for their 1st in nation status.

[kdmorris]

23. You keep saying that and it's not exactly true

Florida moved their date to Jan. 29th, which was the same day that South Carolina's primary was. Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada were still ahead of Florida. Michigan moved their date to January 15th, which was before New Hampshire and Nevada, but after Iowa.

Accuracy is important in a mess like this. Yes, Florida did try to make their primaries before all those other states you listed, but they did NOT jump ahead of Iowa, Nevada or New Hampshire and they only tied with South Carolina.

[Bitwit1234]

20. Oh my God do you think St. Obama would ever ever do something like that.

gee wee jumping jellybeans.

[Froward69]

22. Alls fair in

Love, war, and politics... :sarcasm:

[Yukari Yakumo]

24. If true, this could heavily damage the Obama campaign.

Plus their gambit likely won't affect the polls at all. It'll be forgotten by caucus time.

The real goal is to take away a likely momentum boost w/ a Clinton win in Michigan. Even though there are no delegates on the line, a win would be a boon for the winning candidate.

Unfortunately... it looks like it may be backfiring on Obama, et al.