TPM: Obama camp lowering expectations for ST

[featherman]

Spin or true?

"We fully expect Senator Clinton to earn more delegates on February 5th and also to win more states. If we were to be within 100 delegates on that day and win a number of states, we will have met our threshold for success and will be best positioned to win the nomination in the coming months."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/obama_campaign_memo_if_hillary.php

[Teaser]

1. can't it be both?

It's a good way to spin it and likely true.

[NJSecularist]

2. It's a good move by them

If they set a high bar for their expectations, and they don't meet them, they will only hurt themselves.

But playing the underdog role has the biggest advantage.

Hell, I'm not even sure Obama or Hillary's camp knows what to expect.

[Cha]

8. Agree...as long as Obama makes

a great showing then he's still in and he and Michelle and all their fantastic supporters can Carry ON!

[propol]

3. of course...

they could always do better than that too :)

[rodeodance]

4. lowering the Star endosments--The Kennedy et all stuff-Leher news hr reported this tonight.

[BootinUp]

6. Can you break that down a little more? :-)

[rodeodance]

17. they just made a comment that Obama is trying to lowering expectations-maybe

to much emphasis on the stars. not much more.

[AX10]

21. He is lowering his expectations in order...

to keep this thing going beyond tomorrow.

[Thrill]

5. He's the underdog....Shes suppose to win this thing

Obama is going to try to win, against all odds

[HughMoran]

11. Actually, the odds makers have Obama as the clear favorite tomorrow

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4394534

What do you think of that?

[Thrill]

12. Hillary is the big name and has all the recognition.....Anything less

Than a Big Victory for her is a failure.

[HughMoran]

14. She is the underdog now

Spin it any way that feels good inside you, but she is not now expected to win tomorrow.

[Thrill]

15. LOL She is no underdog

[HughMoran]

16. Did you look at the odds of her winning the the linked post?

She went from winning 13wins - 9losses states 2 days ago to 9wins - 13losses. These odds are based on a summary of all available polls - not just one or two.

[rodeodance]

18. ha ha --you are funny

[Clarkansas]

22. I think you need to go to intrade, where people put their money where their mouthes are

They favor Hillary.

[HughMoran]

23. Got a link?

I am curious about this "odds" thing as I think the people who make these odds have a larger knowledge base than the average biased voter.

[tishaLA]

7. Probably true

They are well behind in TN and OK. They'll lose NY and NJ. CT, MA, MO are hard to tell. CA has momentum but how much? The problem is that they started with such a deficit and they have been trying to make up ground, but the campaign realistically needs another week with all these states in play.

[abburdlen]

9. two months ago

it was expected Clinton would have the nomination in the bag the day after Super Tuesday so within 100 delegates seems a good goal from the Obama team.

[BeyondGeography]

10. Be within 100 delegates on a day that over 1,600 are being selected

is not "low expectations." That's saying they expect to play her to a standstill (which almost certainly means they privately expect to do much better).

[sandnsea]

13. That would be an amazing victory

Because the states that come next are much more likely to go Obama.

[NoBorders]

19. It makes sense to me - they know it won't be a blow out, but

If they manage to win something unexpected, all the better. I think they're just trying to calm some of the perhaps overly exuberant obamamania.

[VolcanoJen]

20. Neither spin, nor true. Rather, political artistry.

It's what campaign managers do on the eve of a crucial election. David Plouffe is one smart mo-fo. :-)

[MediaBabe]

24. SOME!?! From "Yes We Can!" to "We'll be happy with some."

Too Funny! I love it. That gave me the biggest laugh of the week.