What’s up with that?
Kid you not. That’s what the Clinton Camp wrote in a Memo to reporters:
“Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral.”
Ben Smith, Politico, has this piece:
“In a laudably bloggy spirit, the Obama campaign annotates a bravado-filled Clinton memo from earlier today –
(“Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral.”)
This exchange jumped out a bit though:
The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can’t win there, how will he win the general election?
[Answer: I suppose by holding obviously Democratic states like California and New York, and beating McCain in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin where Clinton lost to Obama by mostly crushing margins. But good question.]
That sort of suggests Obama is contemplating a strategy that doesn’t run through the traditional swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, though an Obama aide assures me that’s not what it means, and that he expects to beat McCain there as well.
Full, annotated, memo after the jump.
From: Bill Burton
Sent: Wed 3/12/2008 6:36 PM
To: Bill Burton
Subject: FW: The Clinton Memo… as annotated by the Obamatake the full read
Just wondering what the Clinton’s camp take will be on this Wall Street Journal piece:
The Numbers Guy: Obama’s California Comeback
March 10, 2008, 4:43 pm
A little-noticed shift in the tally of California’s Democratic delegates may affect the primary between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton as much as the heavily hyped results last Tuesday in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.
[.]
ED: Trust The Bloggers
The shift, if validated once the state certifies its election results this week and the party chooses its delegates, is a reminder that the commonly reported delegate totals are mere estimates, subject to change as states finalize election results. It also highlights how a blogger with intense focus on the numbers may be faster than the established delegate counters.
David Dayden Dayen, who blogs at the site Calitics and serves on its editorial board, wrote last week that Sen. Clinton won 203 of the state’s 370 pledged delegates — and not the commonly reported total of 207. He relied on updated vote totals from the state, based on late counts of absentee and provisional ballots. Later, when he noticed that several major news organizations still were showing Sen. Clinton with 207 delegates, he wrote a follow-up post explaining his calculation and exhorting, “I know math is hard and everything, but get out your calculators, people.”
It’s hard to explain the difference because most news organizations don’t provide a breakdown of projected delegates, district by district.
Some of the discrepancies may arise from the peculiar math of congressional districts. For instance, in the 16th district, Sen. Clinton received 50,056 votes; she needed about 58 more votes to get three of the district’s four delegates, but instead she split them evenly with Sen. Obama.
In the 53rd district, which has five delegates, Sen. Clinton received a small plurality of the early returns, but has fallen behind, which swings that fifth delegate to Sen. Obama.
The statewide vote matters, too. On primary night, it appeared Sen. Clinton won the state by 10 percentage points. Now she’s up by 8.7 percentage points. That means she gets an 11-margin win among delegates apportioned on the basis of the statewide vote, rather than a 13-margin win.
(emphasis added)
There’s that other big state.
How about Texas?
Obama: 99 Clinton: 94
Take a look at this map at The Numbers Guy website.
Obama: Pledged delegates 1411 Clinton: 1250 Others: 26
According to Clinton’s interview yesterday with Morning Edition, aired by NPR, this morning – those wins are meaningless. Those 30 states won’t count in the general election.
Yep, sure looks like a downward spiral.
So, as she attempts to win this thing her justification will be Obama has been in a downward spiral, anyway…. There’s not a snowball chance in hell he can with the General Election.
Here’s what’s troubling.
Clinton is up 18 points in Pennsylvania Primary but the polls show Obama to be the more electable.
In PA she loses to McCain.
Karma gods, please make her go away.
A defeat won’t be enough.
We need to rid the party of the Clintons.
I thought the annotated version was hilarious–hilariously devastating! It’s past ridiculous the depths that the Clintons will go to to preserve the illusion that she actually has a chance for the nomination without effectively destroying the Party. Their position is just sad and ludicrous. Somewhere, George Orwell is laughing his ass off.
The Clintons are living in a fantasy world that I thought could only be inhabited by lunatic right win religious fanatics. There is no way she can win unless she is willing to completely burn down the Democratic Party. What’s becoming moe and more evident is that she is an narcissitic as her husband, and apparently willing to do just that all in order to get her ass handed to her by McCain in November. She cannot beat McCain because she can’t carry independents because she is as much mired in the “old” pollitics of identity and personal attack as the Republicans. Obama will best McCain because he will take the independents in November and the millions of new voters he has brought into the process. As an “old” voter, I will not vote for Clinton after he smarmy “I’ve got life experience, Sen. McCain has life experience, Obama gave a speech.” Not only is that false, it’s unforgiveable to throw one’s fellow Democrat under the bus like that. She doesn’t have the character to be President.
HRC has been promoting McCain’s “life experience” This morning on NPR she avoided the question on her praise of McCain…”McCain has life experienc, I have experience..”
Note to Hillary: Read the following refresher of McCain’s views on your husband’s foreign policy b/c should you steal the nomination, Rove or some 527 will clean you up.
In your praise of McCain, you’re running against Bill. Lookie what we have found here.
A capture of what McCain said and wrote of President Bill Clinton: OUCH!
Read this extensive Obama Q & A. with reporters on his plane today. Imho, learn why Obama deserves to win this nomination.
“Speaking to reporters on his plane today, Obama rejected the notion — repeated by Clinton this morning on NPR — that he competed in Michigan, because some of his supporters there urged a vote for “uncommitted.”
The guy’s just flat-out impressive. Geez, can you imagine interactive White House press conferences with Obama in there after what will have been 8 years of Bush? I can’t wait for January ’09.
On ABC News – This Week – to be aired in full on Sunday, Nancy Pelosi tells George Stephanopoulos:
it might not be a downward spiral.
It might have turned into free fall.
ya think that’s Hillary’s wish? McCain has Pastors Hagee and Parsley. How about Robertson and others. Have you heard of them and why should any candidate be responsible for their ministers?
Is this a free fall?
Friday March 14, 2008
Gallup
Obama 50% Clinton 44%
Rasmussen
Obama 50% Clinton 42%
Obama is viewed favorably 51% Clinton 47%
Clinton’s negative assessment at 51%
Yep, like the man says, free fall right into the nomination and drop straight through to the White House.
yep, it’s such a downward spiral that they’ve resorted to more thuggery:
The Hatman Drudge, cites a NY Times piece on the MI and FL delegate controversy:
Clinton’s high powered donors have issued threat to DNC.