Riegle: Clinton's actions manipulated the ballot

[peoli]

January 14, 2008

By TINA LAM

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Michigan Democratic ballot is a sham that was rigged by Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband and her supporters to give the nation the impression that she’s the leading candidate in Michigan, an angry former Sen. Don Riegle said Monday.

Riegle appeared at a rally in Detroit today to encourage would-be supporters of Barack Obama and John Edwards to vote uncommitted in Tuesday’s primary. Riegle said he supports one of the two, but wouldn’t say which.




“What happened in Michigan is not very different from what used to happen in the old Soviet Union,” Riegle said. “The Clinton machine manipulated the ballot. They don’t care how they win, only that they do. It’s wrong and people need to know that.”




Riegle said the Democratic candidates had an understanding, after Michigan defied the party and tried to become the first state to hold a primary, that none of them would compete in Michigan. Obama and Edwards honored the agreement, but Clinton did not and put her name on the ballot, he said.




“People should not permit the Clintons—both Bill and Hillary—to have an unfair advantage in Michigan,” said Riegle.




Riegle retired in 1995 after 28 years in the Senate and House. He now lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for an international communications company and occasionally acts as a lobbyist. He said he paid his own way to come to Michigan to speak at rallies in Detroit, Flint and Lansing on the uncommitted vote. He owns a home in Glen Arbor, he said.




Besides Clinton, candidates Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are also on the Democratic ballot. Backers of other candidates have been told to vote Uncommitted. Write-in votes will not be counted. If Uncommitted wins 15% of the vote in a congressional district, delegates will be chosen later to represent other candidates such as Obama and Edwards, Riegle said.



Contact TINA LAM at [e-mail].


http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/NEWS15/80114043

[wyldwolf]

1. Mr. Riegle, how was the ballot manipulated? Was Obama's name misspelled? Left off? What?

[papau]

2. LOL :-)

[AtomicKitten]

3. I never in a million years expected election manipulation to come from the Democrats.

The Clintons have learned well at the feet of their antagonists, choosing to mimic the bad behavior rather than rising above it.

[wyldwolf]

4. ...and it hasn't... at least not in this instance.

[AtomicKitten]

5. Edwards and Obama honored the agreement - Clinton did not.

[NoPasaran]

6. Clinton honored the agreement not to campaign in Michigan

Unlike Dennis the Saint

[wyldwolf]

8. the only agreement was to not campaign in MI. Sorry.

[AtomicKitten]

9. I'm done with "sorry" when it comes to the Clintons.

I reached the limit of what I will defend months ago. It appears to you (and others) this is a game and the Clinton's cheesy manipulation of the process is perfectly fine. To the rest of us, she is becoming a pariah. Good luck with all that.

[DJ13]

10. ......the Clinton's cheesy manipulation of the process is perfectly fine.

Isnt it amazing how many Democrats that have been complaining about the ruthless, agressive behavior by Republicans supporting Bush over the last 8 years are eager to be just like them when it comes to supporting Hillary?

[AtomicKitten]

13. Quite frankly, it sickens me.

And there apparently is ZERO insight to be had by some on this caliber of behavior that is so glaringly apparent to the rest of us. It is deja vu in a very bad way.

[indimuse]

20. deja vu is right... Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has to contend with his own history.

In 1996 and 2004 Obama did not have strong opponents looking for ammunition.
In 1996 he was the only name on the ballot!-- he had wiped everyone else off the ballot by challenging their petitions (inluding Alice Palmer, who had helped him get in the race). In 2004 his opponents (primary and Nov) had "imploded when their messy divorce files were unsealed."*


"Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates?" Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what

honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?"

In a recent interview, Obama granted that "there's a legitimate argument to be made that you shouldn't create barriers to people getting on the ballot."

But the unsparing legal tactics were justified, he said, by obvious flaws in his opponents' signature sheets. "To my mind, we were just abiding by the rules that had

been set up," Obama recalled.

"Now, promoting himself as a fresh face on the national political stage, proclaiming his distance from lobbyists and the Washington culture of special interests, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has to contend with his own history. ... From Chicago to Springfield, his past is filled with decidedly old-school political tactics -- a history of befriending powerful local elders, assisting benefactors and special interests, and neutralizing rivals."—Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2007.<2>
In 1996, his first campaign for the Illinois Senate, "Obama quickly mastered the bare-knuckle arts of Chicago electoral politics. His overwhelming legal onslaught signaled his impatience to gain office, even if that meant elbowing aside an elder stateswoman like Palmer. ... A close examination of Obama’s first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career: The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it."—David Jackson and Ray Long, Chicago Tribune, January 3, 2007.<3>



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070403obama-ballot,1,57567.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

[AtomicKitten]

25. Clinton cheesy tactics that mirror the very worst of the wingnuts is apparent to all but a few here

[indimuse]

30. so.....ah....

How DO you feel about Barack's TACTICS? Have read the article?

[AtomicKitten]

32. Every OTHER candidate has run a honorable campaign to date.

The victim card is wearing thin but, please, by all means keep playing it. It's amusing if nothing else.

[indimuse]

34. you just answered my question...

double standards...:(

[AtomicKitten]

35. The others play by the rules of the game & engage in civilized behavior - Clinton not so much.

And in that sense, you are right, there is a double standard. The Clintons have chosen a lower, not particularly honorable standard.

[indimuse]

37. You know...

From reading the FULL article and related articles,,,Obama wasn't EVEN viable at the time...with out these low rider tactics..he would NOT be in the Senate today! Really no disrepect but... take off you Obama Denial Goggles for a moment.

[Sulawesi]

14. delete

[MonkeyFunk]

12. there was no manipulation of the process

nobody was obligated to remove their name from the ballot. There was only a pledge not to campaign there.

Clinton is 100% clean in this - unlike Kucinich.

[sunonmars]

16. Correct

In fact tbh they took themselves off the ballot partly because they were going to get slaughtered in that primary so they decided to try and make it as inconsequential as possible. Could be that they may give Hillary a huge advantage when the Michigan delegates do get finally seated and she has a whopping chunk of it.

[wyldwolf]

15. no one is asking you to "defend" them. Just try to be honest - which you're not being now.

[AtomicKitten]

17. I'm not buying into the "by any means necessary" tactics shown by your candidate.

[wyldwolf]

18. no one is asking you to buy into anything. Just be honest - which you're not being now

[AtomicKitten]

19. and I'd accuse you of same but I'm not into the trash & burn politics you support

[wyldwolf]

22. are you not going to admit you're being either dishonest or uninformed in this thread?

[AtomicKitten]

23. no, but I have no problem now accusing you of same

[wyldwolf]

27. If you're not going to call your contention of ballot rigging dishonest or uninformed...

... what would you call it?

[AtomicKitten]

28. One more time: I call the Clinton strategy cheesy politics that mimics RW behavior and

your willingness to prostitute any semblance of values you have left to defend it.

[wyldwolf]

29. In post #3, you agreed with Reigle. Plain as day. Now you deny that, too.

[AtomicKitten]

33. Um, okay. It is clear you are just being combative now. THEY ARE MANIPULATING THE VOTE.

There you go. Asked, answered, asked again, answered, no doubt will be asked again, but I'm off to see Sweeney Todd, so I'll leave you to your reindeer games.

[wyldwolf]

36. how so?

[MonkeyFunk]

11. bullshit

there was no agreement to be removed from the ballot. There was only a commitment to not campaign in Michigan.

Only one candidate broke that commitment - Kucinich.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. Hillary Got Jobbed

She was the odds on winner in MI and FL and those two states don't count...

She's beating Obama by thirty three points in Florida:


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/fl/florida_democratic_primary-261.html

[sunonmars]

26. Exactly.....

Why is no one going off on Kucinich about being on the ballot. Thats just double standards.

[HughMoran]

31. Kucinich = good, Hillary = bad

It's simple math dontcha know?

:sarcasm:

[Pathwalker]

7. CHRIS DODD is also on the ballot, I saw it when we voted today.

I take it he's not worth noting, though.

[SaveElmer]

21. Former Republican, Keating Five member, Lobbyist, and Obama shill Don Riegle...

Lies for his candidate...

Shocking! :sarcasm:

[Recursion]

38. Why isn't the story here that Michiganders are being denied a vote?

Seriously, the party gets all high-and-mighty with its defense of Iowa and New Hampshire hayseeds*, and decides that Michigan and Florida (two states with enough electoral votes to matter) don't count because they had the temerity to try to make their voices heard in the primary process.

Yet somehow who is or isn't on the ballot is the story, rather than the fact that the whole ballot itself is a farce and doesn't matter?

Clinton dodged the ballot question (lamely, IMO) by saying she "didn't want to insult the voters of Michigan" -- but what's insulting is that their votes won't matter in the first place.

* I know that's an inflammatory remark but I'm absolutely sick of these two states acting like they have some sort of special wisdom that the rest of us should listen to, as opposed to other states that aren't almost entirely rural, aren't right-of-center in general and aren't almost entirely composed of white people.