Letters to the Editor
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Obama would love to win Florida
It never hurts to win a popular vote. If Obama were to win Florida, we wouldn't hear the end of it.
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"It never hurts to win a popular vote."
Yeah, it helped Al Gore! ... er ...
I think Clinton's attempts to get the delegates from MI and FL are despicable, and were the final straw for me. If she got the nomination, I would have voted for her with a song in my heart even though I am supporting Edwards at this stage. But now I will vote for her with a growl in my heart instead. Talk about false populism.
But that doesn't mean I'm pro-Obama either. Little fun-poking e-mails look stupid and petty. Even when the person you're making fun of deserves it. And she doesn't deserve to be made fun of about the delegate thing; it's actually a serious breach of trust, from my POV, not just something to make cutesy insider jokes about.
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You know...
That's not really all that cryptic.
I'm just saying.
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2 words: Name Recognition
The fact that they were not able to campaign in these states (FL, MI) is a good reason to dismiss these primaries.
The way I see it is that if any of these candidates had a problem with the DNC stripping frolida of delegates, they should have brought it up then...doing it now seems manipulative.
Since these are the rules that all the candidates agreed to then...those are the rules..full stop.
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Bill Burton better keep his trap shut because...
...he's really pissing off a lot of Florida PRIMARY VOTERS, just has he pissed off the PRIMARY VOTERS in Michigan.
When he said to the press before Michigan: "Our position and the position of the DNC is clear – neither the Florida nor Michigan primaries are playing any role in deciding the Democratic nominee and we are not campaigning in either state."
Those citizens who took the time and effort to vote in the Michigan and Florida primaries don't appreciate being told by Obama's punk-ass spokesman that they don't play any role in deciding the Democratic nominee.
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Petulant
He can't stand losing, can he?
Guess he'd better get used to it.
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Obama may joke, but FL may reinforce that Obama cannot win FL
Everybody knows that Florida will not count in terms of delegates, but the meaningless election says something about voting patterns, especially if Obama comes in third or very close to Edwards. We saw a dramatic drop in the white vote in S.C., that was expected, but FL should demonstrate if Obama has the depth to win a general election. If Obama loses badly, it will not help. I guess he is trying to minimize the effect in case he loses FL by a big margin.
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"Those citizens who took the time and effort to vote in the Michigan and Florida primaries don't appreciate being told by Obama's punk-ass spokesman that they don't play any role in deciding the Democratic nominee."
Then maybe they should have done something about it when they had a chance. Just like Clinton should have. It's not Obama's fault their votes don't count. AND, both he and Clinton agreed to the rules ahead of time. You don't get to take that back just because you now see it was a tactical error. If you really cared about enfranchising those voters, you would have done something about it ahead of time - as a matter of principle. Of which Clinton appears to have little on this particular issue.
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explain to me why
Hillary's victory in FL "doesn't count" in terms of the pissing contest (I get the delegate count part).
The CNN pundits are saying Obama didn't win because he didn't campaing there, and so couldn't make his famous inroads. Floridians don't know him.
Except ... I don't think the DNC is jamming cable signals and preventing the delivery of national news magazines. I live in CT and haven't seen the Obama bus or the HRC bus or the Edwards bus come to my diners, and yet I "know" them as much as anyone anyone who was eating eggs and toast when the buses rolled in to Iowa, by dint of paying attention to the campaigns.
I thought everyone "knew" HRC, and hated her. I thought folks "knew" Edwards from 04, and he was highly likeable (yet he's got half the votes as Obama has, so far).
Now I'm hearing HRC "only" won because she promised Cuban Americans she'd continue the standoff with Castro. (And I'll say here I actually like Obama's plan better, and give him kudos for saying so in a Miami newspaper). Would that be more or less racist than saying the large black population in SC had something to do with Obama's decicive victory there?
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And by the way
half the country has no role in deciding the Democratic nominee. I'm in that half, since I'm after Stupid Tuesday. Our system is broken, and whining and inside jokes and calling people "punk-ass" are not fixing it.
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Obama ran campaign ads in Florida
Obama ran campaign ads on CNN and MSNBC that ran in Florida. That broke the pledge of not to campaign in Florida. But of course, it won't be held against him by the media.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080123/NEWS/801230668
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THE OBAMA CAMP IS GETTING REAL SMUG
The Obama Camp is getting real smug and cocky again, just as they did after Iowa. God willing, they will be brought down to earth on February 5. Don't miss the essay in today's Wash Post .. New Camelot Knight in Shining Armor (by Neely Tucker) ... especially the comments following. The Ted Kennedy endorsement may not be so magical. Many remember history.
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@Juliebird
I think anyone's pissing-contest win or loss in Florida or Michigan is tainted by the fact that being utterly disenfranchised supresses turnout, to say the least. In this particular election year, Obama has been notable (at least allegedly) for bringing out people who don't normally vote because they feel disenfranchised by the System. I don't think those people were voting in Florida today. It's pretty hard to come to conclusions one way or another about what any winner's win there "means." And since "meaning" something is all it's about, I guess that's fairly important to the discussion.
What do you think about Clinton's ex post facto interest in making sure "all" the Florida and Michigan's voters voices are heard?
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National campaign
This is the real difference that Clinton has stated from the beginning: she is running a national campaign.
Obama has won the two states he campaigned in the longest. One was next to his home state (Iowa) and the other has a heavy black population (South Carolina).
This might have worked if he did live in JFK's time and the news cycle was very slow. But Hillary's name recognition will trump any traction Obama makes with this accelerated schedule.
Whenever Obama loses, the delegate count matters, not the percentage vote. Whenever he wins, the percentage vote matters. Obama is a quick study and plays "old" politics pretty comfortably.