Looks like the MSM is falling for Hillary's Florida win "news item"

[sfam]

Give it to Hillary, she's really playing this well. Just a few days after a brutal loss, Hillary is convincing the MSM to cover her comments, trips to Florida, and yes, "Victory Speech" in Florida. Nevermind that this is out of play and has no delegates. Nevermind that all candidates signed a pledge not to campaign in Florida. Or that prior to this weekend, nobody has campaigned here, and that Hillary wins by default name recognition alone.

In watching, its clear the MSM is already planning to cover her "victory" and is calling her shrewd for using Florida this way.

Some might say this is an underhanded way of getting an advantage, but in the grand scheme of things, even as an Obama supporter, I'm not too outraged over this (especially when compared to their race-baiting tactics). This is just smart manipulation of the MSM, plain and simple.

The only question is how much this strategy will negate Obama's bounce from SC and the Kennedy's stamp of approval as they come in to Super Tuesday.

[cali]

1. The big story coming out of FL will definitely not be Hilly

it'll be the repukes- the battle between Mittens and JMac and Rudy 9/11's demise.

[sfam]

2. The Republicans will be the headliner, Hillary will be the subtext

Its already a certainty. The only question is whether Hillary times her "victory speech" so that it doesn't overlap any of the Republicans. My guess is she's more than savvy enough to make this happen.

[UALRBSofL]

5. Were just excited she's here

And of course when all is said and done after MSM reports on it tuesday night and her photo is over all the newspapers wednesday it will make me that much more happy. :)

[sfam]

17. This is probably a good thing for Democrats, regardless who wins...

Lets face it, the whole thing was a fiasco. I don't know enough to say whether it was the Florida Democrats or the National party, but clearly both have egg on their face. Discounting their votes was just a really really dumb conclusion.

That Hillary is going there will probably be good for Democrats whoever wins.

[sunonmars]

20. The only thing i can think bad will be if Obama does get the nomination

The Repugs will batter him with those words.

Obama thought your primary was "a meaningless beauty contest"

That will go down like lead. He's seriously fucked it up here more than he realises.

[sfam]

21. No, I'm guessing he's smart enough to realize it at this point...

There's just little he can do about it now. What they should have done is held off on the Kennedy announcements till Wednesday - then this would have been a one-day story. As it stands, we'll have Hillary's Florida "win" competing with the Kennedy torch passing dominating coverage for the rest of the week, with Hillary's win being the most recent.

[sunonmars]

25. SFAM at least you have vision to think for yourself.

I applaud you

[DainBramaged]

3. Another Hillary hater sneaks in to spew shit

[sfam]

6. Saying she's using smart manipulation of the MSM is spewing shit?

Um, OK...if you say so...

[Maribelle]

8. I think the poster was referring to something else.

Try rereading your OP again.

[DainBramaged]

9. Who gives a shit, how much free press is McCain getting?

What was it, a couple of 30 second sound bites this morning? Jesus give it a break.

[themaguffin]

18. Blame the party, not others for playing by their rules

[Maribelle]

4. Too late. Millions of Floridians saw Obama's ads. You can't fool them.

Most know full well how cable companies in Florida can target political ads right down to specific neighborhoods.

[themaguffin]

19. National ads are not local ads. Know your facts first....

[Maribelle]

24. Most Floridians know full well the difference.

Try not insulting their intelligence.

[themaguffin]

29. Looks like you replied to the wrong post.

[HughMoran]

7. It's a good ploy to downplay her SC loss

I agree.

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. Try the truth some time. It is cleansing

Hillary Clinton is not campaigning inside Florida this week or any other. She attended a fund raiser in the same Florida city that Barack Obama attended his own fund raiser in earlier . Fund raising is allowed under all of the rules that the candidates agreed to.

One candidate, and one candidate only began airing overt no doubt about it campaign commericials for himself into 6.5 million Florida house holds and has been airing them for over a week continually. That candidate is Barack Obama.

Do you really believe that Barack Obama does not have massive national name recognition by now? Who do you think is that stupid? Florida's voters or us?

[Beacool]

13. Shhhhh, don't confuse them with the facts.

:eyes:

[sfam]

15. I wasn't aware that Fundraising events had public photo sessions with supporters

But perhaps this is just my naivite'. I suppose most fundraising events have photo sessions which get covered on the local news, right?

Again, I'm absolutely acknowledging that this was well played by the Hillary campaign. Point for her.

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. She was briefly with supporters outside of the fund raiser and photos got taken

Or you can word it as a public photo session with supporters. I don't care much either way. Obama shook hands with his supporters in public outside of his fund raiser in the same Florida city also. I don't know if anyone took photos of that. I do know that 6.5 million Florida households have been receiving Barack Obama TV Ads for his campaign and that he "approves of those ads".

[busymom]

11. Hillary is convincing THEM?

You're kidding, right? The MSM is following this so that they can accuse her of campaigning in Florida when she attends the fundraisers. When the media calls her "shrewd", they aren't doing it in a complimentary way.

[sfam]

14. I disagree. They are saying it in a complimentary way

Joe Scarborough absolutely used this in a complimentary way, as did Pat Bucannen. They were clearly impressed with the Clinton's campaign tactics. By all appearances the victory speech will be the main subtext, with perhaps a side comment about the Democrats supposedly ducking this state.

Worse, if the Obama folks try to say something about this, they will clearly be painted as whiners. Bottom line, it was a stupid approach the Democratic party did with Florida and Michigan. Hillary has used this to her advantage.

[sunonmars]

12. and Obama played it like an idiot

He's looking a fool in Florida by trying to say "its a meaningless beauty contest" somehow my friends down there in Tampa are'nt too happy with that. They have heard from various people that Hillary is the only one of them that gives a shit about Florida, so she has played this well. they are not happy with Obama's comments either.

[sfam]

16. Agreed. Point for Hillary. Obama comes out looking bad however he plays it.

His best approach is to stay silent on the matter.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. No points for Hillary. The national primary schedule was set,

then Florida and Michigan took it on themselves to deviate from the set schedule - the schedule that had already agreed to. In order to maintain the integrity of the process, the national committee opted to not seat those delegates. In support of the national committee, the candidates agreed to not campaign in those states. Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the state parties who chose to not play by the rules.

Hillary and the DLC have chosen to play with those who don't play by the rules.

As for the RW shills praising her, I don't think they realize that their words are toxic - or maybe they really are only toxic to Democrats. They want to knock Obama out of the saddle, so that Hillary, who they REALLY hate, will be the nominee, the nominee they believe they can beat.

[sfam]

23. The DLC are the clear idiots here. Hillary is taking advantage of this.

As an Obama supporter not from Florida or Michigan, even I can admit this was a truly stupid conclusion the DLC reached. Someone SHOULD have taken advantage of this. Hillary was best poised to do so. If you think the basic Joe Public folk will support the DLC's position here, you're believe in the power of spin lots more than I.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. Uh, Hillary IS the DLC. nt

[sfam]

27. And Kennedy isn't? But if so, she played it even better than I thought.

But really, I don't believe this. Hillary would have preferred having Florida on the "real" calander. It has a large latino population and a really large senior citizen population. She probably would have won this state hands down, even if Barrack and Edwards campaigned hard there.

[RaleighNCDUer]

30. No.

http://www.dlc.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council

For that matter, ALL the candidates would prefer to have the Florida delegates counted. It was the actions of Florida that ruled that out. The Democratid National Committee (DNC) set the primary schedule that all the states agreed to, then Florida and Minnesota violated that schedule.

The closest equivalent is NV, where the state party arranged for the casino caucus sites which all sides agreed to, then at the last minute the Clinton surrogates filed a lawsuit against the system that they had previously approved of - when they thought THEY were going to get the nod from the Culinary Workers Union.

You don't change the rules in mid-play. It's like having a 10yd 1st down when the other team has the ball, but wanting to change it to a 7 yd 1st down when YOU get the ball.

[sfam]

31. My apologies. I meant DNC are the idiots, not DLC

While I fully agree on the rules thing, I don't think this will mean much in the MSM speak. I think the narrative will be that Hillary is trying to give meaning to people who voted, even though there was no delegates. The "follow the rules" thing could easily sound like Obama-whining, which is something the Clinton campaign is trying to define Barrack with.