December 3, 2008 2:50:24 AM CST
(Newser) – Barack Obama plans to lay claim to his party’s nomination on May 20, the day that votes in Kentucky and Oregon will net him a majority of pledged delegates, a top aide tells Politico, setting up what David Paul Kuhn calls “a train wreck waiting to happen.” For at least 11 days—until the DNC meets on whether and how to seat Michigan and Florida’s outlaw delegates—the Clinton camp will dispute it.
The Clinton campaign is arguing that the current pledged delegate majority—one adviser called 1,627 a “phony number”—is illegitimate, insisting that 1,784 is the authentic figure. An Obama memo warns superdels to expect “new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge” from the rival camp, and Politico expects a showdown in 12 days’ time.
Source Politico
Nov 17, 08 2:55 PM CST “Team of rivals” is the post-campaign buzzphrase, Graeme Allister writes in the Guardian, replacing the lipsticked pigs and pitbulls. The term refers to Barack Obama’s strategy of filling Cabinet positions with Republicans and political enemies (ie, Hillary Clinton), and comes from a 2005 book by Doris Kearns Goodwin chronicling similar maneuvers by Abraham Lincoln almost 150 years ago. More »
Aug 25, 08 8:28 AM CDT The much-contested delegations from Michigan and Florida will receive full voting rights at the Democratic National Convention tonight, the Washington Post reports. Michigan and Florida’s primaries favored Hillary Clinton, but adjustments have been made in Obama’s favor, and Clinton seems poised to release her delegates to vote as they choose. More »
Aug 14, 08 11:09 AM CDT Hillary Clinton’s delegates will be counted in Denver, the Atlantic Monthly’s Marc Ambinder reports, as her supporters near an agreement with Barack Obama’s. Reports of tensions over the issue are exaggerated, advisers on both sides tell Ambinder. Both sides agree that overlooking Clinton could anger her supporters, as would a delegate count below the 1,896.5 she earned in the primaries. More »
Aug 12, 08 7:26 AM CDT A group of Hillary Clinton's delegates are working to make sure their candidate's name is put up for nomination at the Democratic convention, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Clinton backers say the symbolic move will serve as recognition for the 18 million voters who chose Hillary in the primaries, and whose votes will be vital in November. More »
Jun 18, 08 2:59 AM CDT Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will make a joint appearance in Washington next week in a show of party solidarity—despite behind-the-scenes tensions. Though Clinton's finance director invited top supporters to the event, some Hillary backers are frustrated by signals that their candidate won't be invited to join the ticket, including the Obama team's hiring of Patti Solis Doyle, a former Clinton campaign manager fired in February, to be chief of staff to the VP nominee. More »
Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Democratic nomination • superdelegates • pledged delegates • Oregon primary • Kentucky primary
