FOR UNITY BACK OBAMA!

FOR PARTY UNITY BACK OBAMA!

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GOOD MORNING FLINT! BY Terry Bankert 3/20/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
SUMMARY ON Flint Talk http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=26292#26292 _____

Last chance for redo of the primary(F) Clinton Presses Obama on Efforts For Revotes in Florida and Michigan(W)

Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination(NYT)

DNC won't give in on Fla., Mich., official warns(B)

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

The race is certainly not over. With 10 contests remaining, Mrs. Clinton trails Mr. Obama by about 150 delegates out of the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination.(NYT)

HILLARY IS DESPERATE

Obama alluded to a Clinton campaign ad and said: “What we need in our next commander in chief is not a stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality or empty rhetoric about 3 a.m. phone calls.”(K) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) shifted her schedule to make a last-minute visit here Wednesday, demanding that the state's Democratic Party hold another primary vote or count the results of the earlier disqualified balloting, and she challenged Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to live up to his claim that he cares about making sure people's votes count. (W) "This is a crucial test: Does he mean what he says or not?" Clinton said. (W) Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton needs three breaks to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Senator Barack Obama in the view of her advisers.(NYT)

She has to defeat Mr. Obama soundly in Pennsylvania next month to buttress her argument that she holds an advantage in big general election states. (NYT)

She needs to lead in the total popular vote after the primaries end in June. (NYT)

HILLARY WILL LOSE WITHOUT MICHIGAN

Her decision to plant the flag in Michigan came amid ongoing wrangling between the Clinton campaign and state parties there and in Florida, another state with a disputed primary. The Michigan legislature has not yet voted on a bill that would establish a state-run primary in early June, replacing the unsanctioned voting that took place in January. Florida and Michigan Democrats were stripped of their convention delegates after scheduling their primaries earlier than national party rules permitted. (W) Despite Mrs. Clinton’s last-minute trip to Michigan on Wednesday, Democrats there signaled that they are unlikely to hold a new primary. That apparently dashed Mrs. Clinton’s hopes of a new showdown in a state she feels she could win, and it left the state’s delegates in limbo.(NYT)

OBAMA IS BETTER OFF LETTING HILLARY,BREWER AND MDP BOIL IN THEIR OWN STEW

Aides to the two candidates said even with the best possible showing for Mrs. Clinton in the states ahead, it was hard to see how she could pass Mr. Obama without Michigan and Florida. (NYT)

The Democratic National Committee said it would accept a proposal for a new round of balloting in Michigan, but the bill has been bottled up in part because Obama's campaign has raised objections to it. (W) Without new votes in Florida and Michigan, it will be that much more difficult for Mrs. Clinton to achieve a majority in the total popular vote in the primary season, narrow Mr. Obama’s lead among pledged delegates or build a new wave of momentum. (NYT)

Unless Florida and Michigan Democrats devise workable plans to redo their outlaw primaries, there is no chance the national party will yield to pressure and approve their delegates if it could tip the outcome of the Democratic presidential race, a potential key arbiter of the dispute said yesterday.(B)

OBAMA: FOLLOW RULES BECAUSE I WILL WIN

Among those objections is that the legislation says that if an individual voted in the Jan. 15 Republican primary, he or she would be disqualified from voting in the do-over primary in June. Robert F. Bauer, an attorney for the Illinois senator's campaign, raised other potential problems with the latest Michigan proposal for a revote, saying it would be "unprecedented in conception and proposed structure," as no other state has ever "re-run an election in circumstances like these." While all sides had hoped they could avoid the controversy, the nomination standoff has made the results in Michigan and Florida potentially scale-tipping. (W)

Skeptics, including the Obama campaign and his supporters in the Michigan Legislature, said they were unmoved by any of the arguments being made Wednesday. Sen. Buzz Thomas, a Detroit Democrat and cochair of Obama's campaign in Michigan, said he wouldn't support the legislation because "it is so riddled with problems that they overwhelm any possible positive outcome for the people of Michigan."(F)

Republicans in the state Senate said they wouldn't move the bill unless both campaigns agreed to the plan.(F)

Most of the objections to the second primary centered on three issues: the propriety of a privately funded, publicly run election; the burden, compensated or not, that a high-turnout election would place on local and county clerks, and the barring of Democrats who voted in the Republican primary because Obama wasn't on the ballot Jan. 15. They might now sue if they can't vote when it really counts.(F)

INDIGNANT? SO THATS WHAT IT IS CALLED NOW!

Clinton, adopting an increasingly indignant tone, described the voting controversy in both states as part of a question of democracy -- albeit one that just happens to address her deficit in pledged delegates. "Senator Obama speaks passionately on the campaign trail about empowering the American people. Today I am asking him to match those words with actions," Clinton said. (W)

MARK BREWER NOT BARACK OBAMA DISENFRANCHISED MI VOTERS TO HELP CLINTON!

"That is why generations of brave men and women marched and protested, risked and gave their lives for this right, and it is because of them that Senator Obama and I stand before you as candidates for the Democratic nomination," Clinton said. (W)

DEMOCRATS RULED BY ELITE SUPER DELEGATES

Obama supporters among the superdelegates who are likely to ultimately decide the nomination, conceded they still fear a late winning streak by Clinton. A big win in Pennsylvania on April 22, followed by victories in Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico, could change superdelegate thinking on which candidate is more electable. Clinton victories in Florida and Michigan revotes would make matters worse for Obama. (W)

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

"It would make no sense for the Obama campaign to give the Clinton campaign that extra ammunition," said an Obama supporter in the House. "That would make no sense at all." (W)

MY ENEMIES ENEMY IS MY FRIEND

Without new votes or a new plan for counting the disqualified ones, Clinton is likely to continue to trail Obama in pledged delegates even if she scores victories in Pennsylvania and several of the states that follow. Both Democrats are campaigning in upcoming states despite the six-week lull until the next contest; Clinton is scheduled to campaign in Indiana on Thursday. (W)

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said they had spent recent days making the case to wavering superdelegates that Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright would doom their party in the general election. That argument could be Mrs. Clinton’s last hope for winning this contest.(NYT)

HILLARY NEEDS A MAKE OVER TO LOOK LIKE A WINNER

Good Luck(TRB)

Backers of the do-over Democratic presidential primary will be back at it one last time today, following up unsuccessful efforts Wednesday from Sen. Hillary Clinton, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and assorted party luminaries to schedule a second primary June 3.(F)

Today is viewed as the final chance for the do-over primary because state House lawmakers, who would have to approve the primary legislation, are set to leave for a two-week spring recess, and it would be too late to organize the election by the time they return.(F)

Hopes for the second primary -- intended to resolve an impasse over the status of Michigan's delegation to the national convention -- flickered Wednesday as top backers of the idea, including U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, lobbied Democratic legislators in separate conference calls with Senate and House members.(F)

WE ARE FAMILY, MY SISTER HILLARY AND ME..........

On Wednesday, the four leaders of the effort to get Michigan's Democratic delegation seated -- Sen. Carl M. Levin, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and DNC member Debbie Dingell -- issued a statement urging the legislature to go ahead and approve the primary to assure the seating of Michigan's delegation, to avoid a credentials fight at the convention and to enhance the Democrats' chances of carrying Michigan in November. (W)

The proposed legislation won informal approval from the co-chairs of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which ultimately must sign off on a plan submitted by the Michigan Democratic Party for a new primary. (W)

One Democratic source said Michigan Democrats, in submitting their plan for a new primary based on the legislation, could ask to waive the provision barring those who voted in the Republican primary from the new Democratic contest. (W)

VOICES OF THE COMMON DEMOCRATS?

The other development is a letter sent to Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm from Govs. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania and Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey -- all support Clinton -- certifying that they have obtained pledges from wealthy fundraisers who are prepared to guarantee the raising of as much as $12 million in private money to cover the cost of the primary. (W)

LIBERAL, THE NEW GOOD LABEL!

A sobering 41 percent of the 413 conventioneers who participated in the straw poll said they would feel "dissatisfied" if Clinton were the nominee, compared with 86 percent who said an Obama candidacy would satisfy them. Seventy-two percent said they would most like to see Obama as the party's nominee, and 69 percent believed that Obama had a better shot at defeating presumed GOP nominee Sen. John McCain in the fall.(U) 1.

SNAKES IN A BASKET! Of the 10 donors listed in the letter as being willing to guarantee the money, eight are Clinton contributors and five are "Hillraisers": individuals who have raised at least $100,000 for her campaign. None of the 10 is an Obama donor. (W)

If the legislation fails, it is possible that Democrats in Michigan would propose a vote-by-mail plan or a caucus to assure some kind of do-over contest. (W)

SMALL LIE OR CHARACTER?

Clinton's stop in Detroit pushed back her schedule in West Virginia. A stop in Huntington was moved to late afternoon. When she finally arrived, Clinton offered a different explanation for her tardiness. "We got off to a bit of a slow start this morning due to some weather delays," she told a group of veterans (W)

At a hastily arranged campaign stop yesterday in Detroit, rival Hillary Clinton challenged Obama to support new contests in Michigan and Florida, saying it would be "wrong and frankly un-American" to disenfranchise nearly 2.5 million voters.(B)

Her campaign accused Obama of blocking a revote, citing a memo issued earlier yesterday by Roosevelt and the rules committee cochairwoman, Alexis Herman, saying they believed the Michigan plan could pass muster with the party.(B)

Obama accused Clinton yesterday of being "completely disingenuous" on Florida and Michigan, telling CNN that she didn't show concern for the voters in the two states until "it looked like she would have no prospects of winning the nomination without having them count."(B)

PARTY UNITY NEEDED

It is in the interest of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign to portray the contest as being highly competitive. Her campaign is intent on combating Mr. Obama’s efforts to pick off superdelegates. And it is increasingly concerned that any sign that the window is closing could lead a Democrat like Al Gore or Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step in and urge Democrats to back Mr. Obama in the interest of unity.(NYT)

"They've got to find a way to get their act together on something as simple as voting. Or John McCain is going to start looking better and better," Machesky said.(F)

WHEN THIS IS OVER, WE DEMAND THE PUNISHMENT OF MARK BREWER

Michigan was stripped of its 156 delegates to the national nominating convention for scheduling an early primary in violation of party rules.(F)

Mark Brewer is the current occupant of the Chairmanship of the Michgian Democratic Party.

(TRB) THANKS MARK

Finally, the poll showed that half of the progressives would like to see Michigan and Florida hold new primary contests—a desire that appears all but hopeless. And that just about guarantees a floor fight in Denver in September when those states, stripped of delegates by the national party for holding their primaries too early, are expected to try to seat their delegates.(U)

Posted here by
Terry Bankert ...GOOD LUCK
http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference,
http://www.michigandems.com/join.html

—Where did this stuff come from-----
(U) U.S. News and World Report http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/03/19/liberal-democrats-overwhelmingly-choose-obama-over-clinton-in-straw-poll.html
(NYT) The New York Times http://www.nyt Flint MI divorc eimes.com/2008/03/20/us/politics/20memo.html?em&ex=1206158400&en=662aa50769f14234&ei=5087%0A
(trb) Comments of Terry Bankert to include CAP headlines http://attorneybankert.com/
(W) The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031903258.html?hpid=topnews
(B) The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/20/dnc_wont_give_in_on_fla_mich_official_warns/ (K) Kansas City.com http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/538776.html
(F) Freep.com http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/NEWS06/803200386

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