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March 25, 2008
Clinton's delegate strategy

As the fight for the Democratic Party's nomination continues, the Clinton camp is pushing a new strategy: pledged delegates are not really pledged.

Now, we've reported extensively on the so-called superdelegates: the party poo-bahs who can decide whom to endorse at a time of their choosing. But the Clinton campaign on Tuesday told reporters that the pledged delegates - the ones elected at the caucuses and primaries - are not legally bound to their candidate.

"No delegate is bound by party rules to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged," said Harold Ickes, a senior political aide to Clinton.

If a lower level aide had said that pledges delegates don't have to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged, that would be one thing. But it's Harold Ickes, a scion of the rough and tumble of New York politics, the manager of the presidential campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson, and a deputy chief of staff to President Clinton.

Ickes helped write the party's delegate selection rules in the 1980s.

After Ickes drops that bombshell, Phil Singer, Clinton's combative spokesman, said that, "We have said and continue to say that we are not seeking or asking pledge delegates for Sen. Obama to flip over. There is a rule, but we are not engaged in any effort."


Posted at 11:25 AM

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Comments

As First Lady to the present, every move of Hilary’s is documented.

Obama, on the other hand is not similarly documented of course. He, in fact, barely leaves a mark…..just study all his NV Not Voting in the Senate, and his “Present” in the ILL legislature.

How is it even possible to compare a record with a non-record???? How do you compare a factual candidate with a rhetorical one?

Obama’s failure to commit himself, over and over again, can this man really make a decision in the OPEN? Can he even make a decision? We know he can’t even Chair a Senate Committee, will he have a surrogate Chair Cabinet meetings?????

We know he lies about Wright, and that as a US Senator he has been sitting, doing nothing in a Hate America environment. Is he so willing to NOT stand up for American values that he would go around the world “winking” at non-friendly nations? That we have on record with Canada in the person of his surrogate staff member.

His pompousness and his non-documented circumstances are both PURPOSEFUL and, he hopes, POLITICALLY PROFITABLE.

Posted by SA
March 26, 2008 09:01 AM

SA,
I presume you will be one of the Hillary supporters who will vote for Mcain when Obama gets the nomination. Obama will still win the general election and Hillary will have sullied her legacy just like Bill!

Posted by RICK
March 28, 2008 07:47 AM

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Tom Bell has covered numerous beats for the Portland Press Herald since 1999, including education, marine, business and the Maine Legislature. He worked nine years at the Anchorage Daily News, including a year as a correspondent in the Russian Far East following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

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Dieter Bradbury is the Press Herald's political correspondent. His career at the newspaper started in 1980, and includes 21 years as a reporter and seven as an editor. Bradbury is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine.

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Kelley Bouchard has been a staff writer at the Portland Press Herald since 1998, covering a variety of municipal beats and statewide issues. A Lewiston native and University of Maine graduate, she previously worked in Massachusetts.

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Justin Ellis has been a reporter with the Portland Press Herald since 2003. He has covered politics on every level and also writes a weekly column on culture and young people as well as the NXT blog. He is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism.

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Matt Wickenheiser has been at the Press Herald for six years. Wickenheiser is a native of Madawaska and a 1994 graduate of the University of Maine. He thinks his first politcal memory is of waving to First Lady Rosalyn Carter.


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