Here's what Bob Menendez, Clinton surrogate, said today on Late Edition:
BLITZER: All right. Well, let's talk about the last point that Senator McCaskill just made. I'm going to put some numbers, Senator Menendez, up on the screen in terms of the delegate count that we estimate here at CNN right now. We estimate that Hillary Clinton has 1,108 delegates, Barack Obama has 1,049 delegates. Remember, 2,025 are needed to get the nomination.
But those include the pledged delegates as well as the so-called superdelegates, the party leaders like you, members of the Senate, members of the House, governors, high officials in the DNC, in the Democratic National Committee.
If you just take a look at the pledged delegates out there -- those are the people who have been elected, in effect, to go forward -- you see that, on those pledge delegates, Barack Obama is now ahead 918-885.
Are you worried that the party bosses could make this decision, as opposed to those who were actually elected by rank-and-file Democrats?
MENENDEZ: Well, Wolf, first of all, this party elects its delegates in many different ways. It goes from caucuses, where small numbers of people vote, compared to the population. It goes to primaries, where millions of people vote. It goes to primaries where only Democrats can vote. It goes to primaries where Democrats and independents can vote.
So, at the end of the day -- and it includes party leadership. You call them bosses. I call them leadership. These are individuals, like Claire, like myself, who ultimately get elected statewide.
BLITZER: But you're saying it would be appropriate if you -- that the super delegates had the final say in this...
(CROSSTALK)
MENENDEZ: Well, I certainly believe that we're going to get to a convention where, it is my belief, that Senator Clinton will have the delegates necessary to win.
At the end of the day, these elected officials, who are elected statewide, not just by Democrats, by the way, but by Democrats, Republicans, and independents, are elected to make their judgment, every day in the Senate, in the House, on the critical issues of the day.
They're also, in this context elected to make critical issues as to who they believe has the strength, ability to, from day one, be able to be the next president of the United States and win.
Sounds to me like he's saying, if Obama wins the delegate count, but the superdelegates give it to Clinton, that's OK by me.
Is this the Clinton strategy going forward?
5 comments:
I've heard this possibility raised before but I can't see Clinton actually stooping to it. She was my last choice of the Democratic crowd but as much as I dislike her, a move like this would kill her chances not just this fall but the rest of her life.
At least that's what I'm telling myself.
Well, Mark, you can read Menendez's remarks as well as I can. It seems pretty clear that what you are afraid of is exactly what they are preparing for.
The Clintons aren't going quietly into the good night. I'm afraid it is going to get ugly.
I am hoping that Ohio and Texas will make the decision easy for the super delegates to support one candidate or the other.
I'm trying to hold onto a shred of hope--they've had to have done some market research on this, right? Even hard-core Clinton fans would resent this, right? Wasn't that the big outcry during the impeachment, "The Republicans aren't respecting the American people's wishes."
I'm worried but at least I understand why weasels like Glenn Beck, Ann, Dobson, and Rush like Clinton over McCain.
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