Hillary Clinton published a video in which she directly talks to voters / her supporters. Be sure to watch the video here, and to read the text accompanying the video. It reads: ‘Thank you so much for everything you have done. Don’t forget to join Hillary on Thursday, August 7, at 12:00 PM EDT for an online web chat. She hopes you will join her on the blog to talk about all the upcoming exciting events and activities.’

That’s a nice, normal start, isn’t it? But there’s more! (more…)

Why the Obama campaign’s latest hire makes Clinton’s VP chances look dimmer

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The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton’s defeat will leave a blot on the Clinton legacy. Bill and Hillary Clinton were celebrated by their supporters - and by Democrats in general - for years, decades even, but they were also passionately hated by their opponents. And then there were others, others who held an ‘in-between’ view. (more…)

Hillary Clinton’s speech yesterday has gained her wall-to-wall positive press accross traditional and web-based media, all of it deserved.

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Greg Sargent reports for TPM Election Central that an ally of Hillary Clinton told him (Greg) that Clinton had authorized him (the ally) to launch a Hillary for VP campaign. The ally in question: Robert Johnson, the founder of BET and a key Hillary supporter. (more…)

Different media sources are reporting that Hillary Clinton will throw her support behind Barack Obama at an event on Saturday. The original idea was to do it Friday, but the release of the information has moved the event to Saturday to allow for her supporters to gather. That certainly seems fair enough. It should be noted that even if the media wanted her to concede at the very second Obama got the magic number, Obama said nothing of the sort. He has been completely gracious and patient, acknowledging Clinton as a very close second with wide support.

I saw Clinton’s speech and Obama’s speech. Obama’s people cheered Clinton when he praised her. Her people had to be prodded several times, virtually ordered, by Clinton to give Obama an applause.

The next question is the VP slot. Does she really want it or just to be asked? The vetting process is brutal, does she REALLY want her, and especially Bill’s records and finances to be fully vetted or does she want a theatrical effect? Only she knows for sure.

This bears restating:

Hillary Clinton has actually done a great service to women, if she doesn’t ruin it all by whining that her defeat was due to sexism. She has in fact shattered the glass ceiling by being completely, plausibly presidential, and even believable as Commander in Chief. She has also shattered the glass ceiling by being rejected (and narrowly at that) for her character, not her gender.

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The AP is reporting that Hillary Clinton has said she is “open” to a VP slot. Now, the AP already got slammed once today by the Clinton campaign for reporting that Clinton was ready to concede should Obama, so I urge caution in this case as well, even though it’s a very credible news organization, it could be getting sloppy in the rush of the last day.

But mindless speculation is fun!

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I, like so many road weary reporters I’ve been watching today, can barely believe it. The primary race is very nearly over. In a matter of hours, not days, the final primaries will be finished, and it looks like the magic number will actually be reached. Obama is planning a big rally in Minnesota, and Clinton another in New York. Speculation abounds as to the content of those events, but everyone seems to agree they will have very different tones.

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There’s a good site that’s keeping track of the daily superdelegate endorsements. From it I learned that in addition to the delegates I reported on earlier, Clinton picked up another SD from New York and Obama another several.

Keep in mind that the superdelegate race is no longer about who is getting MORE superdelegates, but how fast Obama can pick them up. It’s in his interest to get a flood to reach the magic number on Tuesday as the votes come in. I don’t see that happening by tomorrow, but it very likely will by Friday.

UPDATE: An interesting tidbit. On the page is a list of unpledged superdelegates and in green they have the ones who have promised to endorse the delegate leader at the end of the primaries.  On that list are 5 superdelegates including Nancy Pelosi and Jimmy Carter.

Obama continues to very slowly pull away from Clinton. The latest?

Two for Obama from Nevada and one for Clinton in Louisiana.

One for Obama in Conneticut.

Terry McAuliffe in a tropical shirt has conceded that Clinton won’t be able to declare victory tomorrow night. No, really.

Clinton has to convince about 80% of remaining uncommited superdelegates to go to her in order to get the nomination. Alternatively, she can make pigs fly.

Hillary Clinton has won, as expected, in Puerto Rico, media are reporting. The win in the biggest of the three remaining contests will give her a modest delegate bump. MSNBC is saying turnout was low, but she will use it as a popular vote argument, though Puerto Ricans can’t vote in the general election.

Currently MSNBC is declaring her the winner with 0% of the vote in, which is always entertaining. UPDATED WITH % BELOW: (more…)

For those who don’t look at lead stories, the Rules and Bylaws Committee has come to a final decision on Florida and Michigan. Both states will be seated fully, but both will be punished by getting half votes for each delegate. Allocation of pledged delegate vote will go as follows:

Florida:  Clinton 52.5, Obama 33.5 and Edwards 6.5 Unpledged delegates will get 0.5 votes each.

Michigan:  Clinton 34.5, Obama 29.5

Quite a gain for Clinton, though you’d never think so to hear the screaming from her supporters inside the meeting. Her official supporter, was literally swearing and saying it’ll go to convention, and her supporters were chanting “Denver, Denver!”. Quite a show.

I don’t know what happens to Edwards delegates, but I suspect they will end up going to Obama, since Edwards has endorsed him.

Former President Clinton recently said that he’s never seen anything like the Obama/DNC full-court press to get Democratic super delegates to commit to Mr. Obama.  But The Jed Report has a interesting post about the 1992 Bill Clinton vs. Jerry Brown Democratic primary race that belies that assertion.  To an extent, the same thing was going on during Bill’s breakaway win over Brown.

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Bill Clinton says that there’s a conspiracy against his wife Hillary’s attempt to secure the Democratic party’s nomination.  Strange as it may seem, he’’s right about that. 

President Clinton: 

“I can’t believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out,” Clinton said at a South Dakota campaign stop Sunday, in remarks first reported by “ABC News.”

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Of late Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been crying foul over alleged sexism directed at the New York senator.  But is that really what’s broken the back of her once-promising campaign?  Andrew Stephen says it is and blames media bias for causing her defeat.  But is Hillary’s real problem simply that she’s a Clinton?  Or was she simply out-thought and out-fought by the Obama campaign?

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The New York Post:

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said

Not the right thing to say - ever.  Certainly not given that a sizable number of her constituency are, uhm, not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer.  Idiot.

FiveThirtyEight has a thoroughly persuasive analysis of Hillary Clinton’s nomination prospects, and they are beyond dismal. In fact, they prove that the whole question about Florida and Michigan is “much ado about nothing”: (more…)

Hillary Clinton is going down, down, down.  But you’ve got to admire her tenacity.  She said she was a fighter and we didn’t really believe her.  But that description of her was an understatement.  Speaking about Florida and Michigan, states whose delegates are not being counted:

"there’s a reason why so many have fought so hard and sacrificed so much. It’s because they knew that to be a citizen of this country is to have the right and responsibility to help shape its future. Not just to have your voice heard but to have it count. People have fought hard because they knew their vote was at stake and so was their children’s futures."

Nothing wrong with what she’s saying, so far.

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The steady trickle of superdelegates is continuing. The latest:

Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney: Obama

Oakland County Commissioner Eric Coleman: Obama

Ohio attorney Craig Bashein: Clinton

Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Wayne Dowdy: Obama

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Larry Gates: Obama

drip, drip, drip….

The NY Times says that Hillary Clinton may win the reported popular vote when the dust settles on the Democratic party primaries and, like Al Gore before her, be left out in the cold, electorally speaking.  Ironic that such a thing should happen to the Democrats after 8 years of claiming that Gore’s victory in the popular vote against George W. Bush should have counted for something.

If all states with popular vote totals are counted — which would exclude four caucus states that have not released numbers — Mrs. Clinton would lead Mr. Obama by more than 26,000 votes out of more than 33 million cast. By other calculations, Mr. Obama is ahead in the popular vote.

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Obama has maintained a slow but steady trickle of superdelegates to his side since super-Tuesday. Though the pace has picked up in the past month, in general it has been virtually impervious to crisis. In good times and bad, the stream of superdelegates was constant, unrelenting. Either the campaign is incredibly disciplined, or the superdelegates have amazing timing.

Today we can add another 3 superdelegates to the list, plus one very prominent citizen:

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Hillary Clinton has received the votes of approximately 48% of the popular vote thus far in the Democratic primary, some 1% less than Barack Obama.  She has a lot support, some of it very intensely felt - to the point that some of her supporters say that they’ll vote for John McCain instead of Obama, should his nomination come to pass.

Despite the left’s fears, that’s not going to happen and Kyle Moore (no relation) knows why.

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