Howard Deans Endgame

[Bigleaf]

Special thanks to Du'er madfloridian for this link in another post:


It's been widely reported that tomorrow's primaries are do or die for the Clinton camp. Even a modest win to the four-state contest might not provide enough justification for continuing the fight into Pennsylvania.

While a modest victory across the board tomorrow might slow Clinton's decay on the superdelegate front, there is yet another matter which surely must be weighing on the mind of Senator Clinton.

As DNC Chairman, Howard Dean was able to hand pick seventy-five superdelegates.

Dean has been mostly quiet on the matter of superdelegates, but on February 5th he said, "The idea that we can afford to have a big fight at the convention and then win the race in the next eight weeks, I think, is not a good scenario... if we don't, then we're going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement." While the concept of an 'arrangement' conjures up those all too familiar images of a smoke filled back room, this comment might be read as serving two purposes:

First, it allayed the fears of rank-and-file voters that they will see the unraveling of their party at the convention. Second it could have been a hint to the supers themselves that the matter probably won't be in their hands because Dean and his 75 superdelegates would have the voters' collective back if push came to shove.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-myers/howards-endgame_b_89719.html

[LulaMay]

1. You people are amazing....who cares what the voters think, huh?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

17. "You people"? You mean Democrats?

[Radical Activist]

2. Interesting

My first thought is that any kind of arrangement would have to involve consent from Clinton or some kind of concession to avoid a longer fight. But I kind of enjoy seeing Dean have some power over the Clintons after the way their DLC wing of the party has treated him.

[UALRBSofL]

3. I didn't know Dean picked the superdelegates.

And it's well known Dean doesn't like Hillary but he favors Obama. Well, this seems to be an ethical issue. I wonder how it will play out in the coming weeks.

[cali]

11. Bullshit. I've never seen one thing that even hinted that Dean

doesn't like Clinton or favors Obama. And no one has ever found a hint of unethical behavior on his part. Put up or shut up. Let's see a link to something about Dean not liking Clinton.

[Bucky]

4. Notice he said "big fight"

I'm sure we'll have a first round nomination. If there's still a little jockeying going into it, I can't see that a well fought (and widely viewed) convention is a bad thing. There's simply no way the second place finisher won't come out loud and strong for the nominee. It won't be to our detriment.

I tell what would be bad--if Howard Dean on his own decides to use his 75 hand picked supers to powerstroke either candidate over the top. That would create bad blood before a hard fought democratic process with a certified winner.

[MaineDem]

5. Weren't these members selected over 3 years ago?

These are the At-Large DNC members. Some have endorsed (some for Clinton, some for Obama) and some have not. I don't think their appointment had anything to do with voting at the convention.

[UALRBSofL]

6. I don't know how that works

But from an ethical issue, he picked the superdelegates and they might go for Obama since it's well known how he feels about Hillary.

[HooptieWagon]

8. That I don't know

But I'm pretty sure they'll vote like HD does, and he's no DLC backer.

Interesting article, didn't know DNC Chairperson got 75 SDs...

[MaineDem]

10. I highly doubt they'll vote "like HD does"/ n/t

[HooptieWagon]

15. If he's appointing them

I doubt he's gonna appoint DLCers.

[MaineDem]

16. They've already been appointed

When he first became Chair. I don't think the '08 candidates were even known then.

Like I said, some of these have endorsed Obama and some have endorsed Clinton. They aren't going to vote as a bloc.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. If HRC Wins OH And TX *She Will Surely Win PA, WV, PR, And KY

She will most likely come to the convention with approximately half the pop vote and a loyal following of Latino, working class, elderly, and female voters... She, in my scenario, will also be beating both Obama and McCain in nat'l polls...

If her and her followers are given the big "f you" I can easily see many of them staying home and more than a few, especially Latino voters, voting for Grand Pa McCain, especially if he puts a Latino (Mel Martinez) on the ticket...

That being said Obama has a legitimate claim on the nomination too...

Try splitting that baby....

*If HRC doesn't win TX and OH she's done and everything I say is moot...

[HooptieWagon]

9. If she wins those states, she's still 100+ delegates behind.

That pesky little thing called math...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. There's A Pesky Thing Like Limping To The Finish Line And Being Fresh Meat For The Pugs In Nov.

~

[barack the house]

12. Thank god we have Howard Dean the voice of reason.

[IDemo]

14. I don't see Dean putting 75 delegates on the table to coerce Hillary

This isn't the mafia we're talking about here, folks. Dr. Dean doesn't want or need to rely on such tactics. All he wants to do is bring a dose of reality into the mayhem and make it clear to all concerned that the best needs of the party must come first. That won't happen if the current situation is allowed to become a protracted cage fight for the next three months while gramps McCain smiles from the sidelines.