Democrats are turning on the Clintons

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

She wasn't only hated by Republicans, she was disliked by Democrats as well.....

[JaJae]

CNN has confirmed that David Wilhelm, Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign manager, will endorse Barack Obama’s presidential bid Wednesday afternoon…

[Obama campaign manager David Axelrod] added that Wilhelm represents a move of former Bill Clinton supporters into Obama’s camp

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign manager backs Obama « - Blogs from CNN.com

She's quickly becoming unelectable. Her name recognition wore off, her true colors are showing and people's memories aren't willing to excuse all the previous garbage that encompasses the Clintons. They're risky and divisive.

[Scrum]

ouch

[JaJae]

Here comes the hammer:
Rasmussen Reports™: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a mid-term election.

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Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Thursday, February 14, 2008
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The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama opening a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Today’s results show Obama earning support from 49% of Likely Democratic Primary Voters while Clinton attracts 37% (see recent daily numbers). Perhaps the most stunning aspect of the Obama surge is that he now leads 46% to 41% among women. Clinton retains a lead among the narrower subset of white women, but her lead in that vital demographic is down to just three percentage points.

Obama now leads 47% to 44% among white voters and 69% to 10% among African-American voters. Rasmussen Markets data now shows Obama to be a solid favorite to win the nomination. However, while the national data is all moving in Obama’s direction, new state polling data shows Clinton is competitive in Wisconsin’s Primary next Tuesday and holds a significant lead in Ohio’s contest scheduled for March 4.

Daily tracking results are collected via nightly telephone surveys and reported on a four-day rolling average basis. The next Presidential Tracking Poll update is scheduled for Friday at 11:00 a.m.

In general election match-ups, Obama leads John McCain 46% to 42% while McCain leads Clinton 48% to 41% (see recent daily results).

State polling released yesterday and today shows Obama leading McCain in New Hampshire, Colorado, and Nevada. Clinton does not do as well against McCain in these states. In Missouri, McCain is essentially even with both Clinton and Obama.

Another new poll shows Democrat Jeanne Shaheen lead in New Hampshire’s Senate race. Colorado’s Senate race remains a toss-up while Democrat Jay Nixon enjoys a double-digit lead in his quest to become Governor of Missouri.

Obama is the most popular candidate at the moment, viewed favorably by 55% and unfavorably by 43%. Clinton is viewed favorably by 44% of Likely Voters nationwide, unfavorably by 53%. McCain’s is viewed favorably by 50% and unfavorably by 47%. Opinions about Clinton are more strongly held than opinions about either Obama or McCain.

These results come as consumer confidence has fallen to the lowest level since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Just 9% of consumers now believe the economy is getting better.

In the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination, John McCain currently earns 47% of the vote, Mike Huckabee attracts 34%, and Ron Paul is supported by 8%. Later today, Rasmussen Reports will release polling data on the Republican Presidential Primaries in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Rasmussen Markets data now shows McCain with a 95.1% chance to win the nomination and Huckabee has a 0.9% chance. On the Democratic side, the Markets give Obama a 75.0% chance to win the Democratic nomination while expectations for a Clinton victory are at 31.9%. Numbers in this paragraph are from a prediction market, not a poll. Using a trading format where traders "buy and sell" candidates, issues, and news features, the Rasmussen Markets harness competitive passions to provide a reliable leading indicator of upcoming events. We invite you to participate in the Rasmussen Markets. It costs nothing to join and add your voice to the collective wisdom of the market.

Each Monday, full week results are released based upon a seven-day rolling average. While the daily tracking result are useful for measuring quick reaction to events in the news, the full week results provide an effective means for evaluating longer-term trends. Rasmussen Reports also provides a weekly analysis of the race each Monday.

Daily tracking results are collected via nightly telephone surveys and reported on a four-day rolling average basis. The general election sample is currently based upon interviews with 1,600 Likely Voters. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.

The Rasmussen Reports ElectionEdge™ Premium Service for Election 2008 offers the most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a Presidential election.

Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.

Obama up by 4, Hillary down by 7 against McCain. Obama with a 12 point lead nationally against Hillary Clinton. Markets show him 75% chance to win. Hillary's campaign continues to fall apart.

[Publius]

i move that thorgrim be unbanned, i want to see how he spins this as actually being proof that Clinton will win the nomination and the presidency.

[JaJae]

Is Clinton's campaign in turmoil?

Clinton Team Seeks to Calm Turmoil
By MONICA LANGLEY and AMY CHOZICK
February 14, 2008; Page A1

MCALLEN, Texas -- With Spanish music blaring, Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned across South Texas yesterday with a more populist message, as her new campaign manager sought to reshape a campaign that has lost eight straight primaries in a week.

Maggie Williams, a confidante of Mrs. Clinton from when she was first lady, has moved to assert her control following the departure last weekend of former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle. Ms. Williams is running a daily conference on what ads to put up and expanding the inner circle with advisers from the old Clinton White House.

But the campaign has something of a shellshocked feel, as staffers privately chew over a blowup last week where internal frictions flared into the open. Clinton campaign operatives say it happened as top Clinton advisers gathered in Arlington, Va., campaign headquarters to preview a TV commercial. "Your ad doesn't work," strategist Mark Penn yelled at ad-maker Mandy Grunwald. "The execution is all wrong," he said, according to the operatives.

"Oh, it's always the ad, never the message," Ms. Grunwald fired back, say the operatives. The clash got so heated that political director Guy Cecil left the room, saying, "I'm out of here."

Adding to the sense of drama, an aide to Sen. Barack Obama yesterday declared the Clinton campaign all but doomed. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said that Mrs. Clinton can't become the Democratic nominee without winning every remaining contest in "blowout form." In a conference call with reporters, he said that "even the most creative math" won't get her there.

Clinton Team Seeks to Calm Turmoil - WSJ.com

[Scrum]

This looks like a sound campaign strategy. Insult 40 or so states that have already voted.

Clinton to fight for every delegate - First Read - msnbc.com

Originally Posted by Mark Penn

"Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois? That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama."

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Publius

i move that thorgrim be unbanned, i want to see how he spins this as actually being proof that Clinton will win the nomination and the presidency.

Perhaps he took another "leave of absence" because he saw this coming even before we did?

[garbagemanlb]

Originally Posted by Publius

i move that thorgrim be unbanned, i want to see how he spins this as actually being proof that Clinton will win the nomination and the presidency.

I was thinking the same thing.

I really would have liked to hear his spinning over the past week.

[JaJae]

Rich Lowry on Hillary Clinton on National Review Online

Hillary -- By Any Means Necessary
Hillary Clinton wants to win, no matter how.

By Rich Lowry

Editor’s note: This column is available exclusively through King Features Syndicate. For permission to reprint or excerpt this copyrighted material, please contact: kfsreprint@hearstsc.com, or phone 800-708-7311, ext 246).

For two and a half months now, Democrats have been voting in primaries and meeting in caucuses to select their nominee for president. The last gasp of Hillary Clinton’s campaign could be telling them, in effect, that they shouldn’t have bothered.

Clinton trails Barack Obama among pledged delegates (by roughly 100), in the overall popular vote (by four points in states that were contested) and in states won (by about two to one). She could make up ground with convincing wins in the big states of Ohio and Texas in March, but she’ll be hard-pressed even then to pull ahead of Obama, according to the analysis of NBC News’s influential political tipsheet “First Read.”

That leaves Clinton the appropriately graceless expedient of trying to find ways around the will of Democratic voters. Her campaign will, if necessary, push to have the Michigan and Florida delegations seated at the Democratic Convention. She won those states overwhelmingly — because no one competed there. Candidates made commitments not to campaign in the two states that were stripped of their delegates because they advanced the dates of their primaries in defiance of party rules.

Florida and Michigan show that if only she hadn’t had to run against anyone, Hillary might have a lock on this race. Or at least a lead: In Michigan, where she was the only major candidate on the ballot, she beat “uncommitted” by just 15 points. Her potential Florida and Michigan gambit raises the question of why anyone in the Democratic Party thought the Clintons would abide by an agreement. Obama is audaciously hopeful; Clinton is audaciously shameless.

Then, there are the so-called superdelegates. They are roughly 800 Democratic elected officials who can decide on their own which candidate to back regardless of the primaries and caucuses. Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson says there is no difference between delegates chosen by voters and the superdelegates — they are all delegates with a vote at the convention. True enough, except one tranche of delegates has a democratic legitimacy the other doesn’t.

If the current state of the race holds, neither Clinton nor Obama will get to the 2,025 delegates needed to win through the primaries and caucuses. Both will need superdelegates to win. The difference is that Clinton might be asking them to ignore the explicit preferences of the public. Winning this way will throw up the loudest cry of “corrupt bargain” since Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams in 1824 in a contested election that went to the House of Representatives.

Of course, our political system is not designed to be perfectly democratic. Perhaps seasoned pols, the superdelegates, know best. But Democrats reflexively denounce any check on the naked popular will as tantamount to “disenfranchisement,” especially of black voters. Already, Al Sharpton and NAACP head Julian Bond are arguing over how racist it is not to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations. If Clinton denies Obama the nomination despite losing the popular vote, she will open herself to inflammatory charges of disregarding black votes of the sort that she and her husband would eagerly resort to if circumstances were different.

Hillary herself was once a democratic supremacist. After the disputed 2000 election, she supported abolishing the Electoral College. “I believe strongly that in a democracy,” she said, “we should respect the will of the people.” At least until that strong belief ran up against her pursuit of a presidential nomination. “I hope no one is ever in doubt again about whether their vote counts,” she said. This turns out to have been a wan hope.

Her attitude clearly is to win, no matter how, and worry about the repair job later. There’s no benefit to her in being a graceful loser, since she’ll probably never run again. And besides, she’s not going to defer to a callow, three-year senator trying to deny her what she’s rightfully entitled. There’s only one ethic that accords with her interests and her style — by any means necessary.

Another interesting article on the Clinton campaign.

[SoFlaJDM]

very nice google skills

[Scrum]

Looks like she could be losing a big supporter.

A few months ago, when Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) endorsed Hillary Clinton, it was a key development. Lewis, a Democratic icon and civil-right legend, became Clinton’s highest-profile African-American supporter, and sent a signal to the party about Clinton’s strong connection to the African-American community.
As I understand it, Lewis was, a few months prior, undecided on whether to support Clinton or Barack Obama, but cajoling from Bill Clinton reportedly pushed the Georgia congressman into Sen. Clinton’s camp.
Now, it appears circumstances have pushed Lewis in the other direction.

Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.
“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” said Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endorsed Mrs. Clinton last fall. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”
Mr. Lewis, who carries great influence among other members of Congress, disclosed his decision in an interview in which he said that as a superdelegate he could “never, ever do anything to reverse the action” of the voters of his district, who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama.
“I’ve been very impressed with the campaign of Senator Obama,” Mr. Lewis said. “He’s getting better and better every single day.”

Time’s Mark Halperin argued that Clinton’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination, in light of Lewis’ announcement, have been cut in half. That strikes me as a bit of an exaggeration, but I think it’s certainly fair to say this is a major development.

Right off the bat, it’s worth remembering that not all superdelegates carry equal stature and credibility. Lewis is one of the most respected and admired lawmakers in the party. He carries enormous, almost unrivaled, moral authority, and his switch may very well lead others to do the same.
Moreover, it leaves the Clinton campaign’s broader superdelegate strategy looking suspect. The principal reason to distrust the superdelegate counts we see in the media is that these are people who haven’t actually voted yet. They can, and will, change their minds, and are susceptible to prevailing political winds and shifts in momentum. It’s obviously too soon to say, but Lewis’ announcement may signal a break in the dam.
The Clinton campaign has suggested in recent days that the superdelegates would be their ace in the hole. That may no longer be the case. Josh Marshall explained:

The Clinton camp’s super delegate gambit is not only audacious. Far more than that it is simply unrealistic. The super delegates who are gettable for Clinton by loyalty, conviction or coercion are already got. And enough’s been seen of both candidates for everyone to be more than acquainted with them. The ones who remain — who make up roughly half the total — are waiting to see who the winner is.
The truth is that there are over 1000 elected delegates remain to be won. We really don’t know what’s going to happen yet. But if the trend continues and Obama ends the primary season with a clear majority of unelected delegates, the idea that those remaining super delegates will break for the candidate who won fewer delegates, raised less money and is polling worse against the Republican nominee simply makes no sense.

My hunch is this hurts Clinton most because it seems to represent a tipping point. To be sure, it may not be, but that’s certainly the perception that many Democrats may have this morning. The post-Super Tuesday period has been an awkward one for her campaign, between a string of defeats and a significant staff shake-up. But there was also a sense that, if Clinton could keep her team together and focus on some likely victories down the road, this unpleasant streak could pass.
Lewis’ move, in this sense, signals that time may not be on Clinton’s side.

[JaJae]

Wow, excellent article.

Time’s Mark Halperin argued that Clinton’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination, in light of Lewis’ announcement, have been cut in half.

[Scrum]

Some Texas numbers are out and Obama is leading.

Texas Democratic Presidential Preference

48% Obama, 42% Clinton

[motivez]

Hillary has just run a crappy campaign. She had a chance to do it right, and blundered at every turn really.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by motivez

Hillary has just run a crappy campaign. She had a chance to do it right, and blundered at every turn really.

I agree Hillary's campaign has been poor, mostly due to arrogance IMO.

But, I think Obama and his crew are due alot of credit too. He is one likable guy and has done a great job conveying that to the world.

[motivez]

Oh, sure.. he has. He's a masterful orator, and has been able to use that skill to inspire lots of people to support him and his campaign. Even Chris Matthews said he had a "feeling go up his leg" listening to his speech (fair and balanced!)

But, there's really dislike of the Clinton's now from the Democrats that I've never seen before, and that's directly attributable to decisions the Clinton campaign has made..

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

But, there's really dislike of the Clinton's now from the Democrats that I've never seen before, and that's directly attributable to decisions the Clinton campaign has made..

I think it's always been buried. I think people used to defend the Clintons all the time because they were prominent Democrats, but now they're remembering all the shit they had to take defending the Clintons. They remember all the corruption. And they remember all the BS that surrounds them. And with a completely viable alternative they don't see the need to keep defending them anymore.

If you look at Hillary's numbers before and you look at them now you'll find her likability rating hasn't changed much at all, if anything since the start of the campaign her likability rating has actually gone up. The difference is people are no longer willing to support her as they were before. They see there is an option. I don't think her campaign has necessarily made people dislike her to the point where it is ruining her candidacy. I think most of the people willing to now speak against the Clintons always had these feelings, they just didn't feel comfortable saying them. Speaking out against the Clintons in the liberal sector was political/career suicide. It's slowly becoming acceptable though. And the more people are comfortable to cross the Clintons the worse her numbers will get. This will directly correlate to Obama's electability.