Patti Solis Doyle and the 2008 Iowa Caucuses
By Kirk Tofte on July 11, 2008 at 6:00 PM in Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Iowa
As someone who lives in Des Moines, Iowa and worked as a volunteer precinct captain in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency prior to the 2008 Iowa caucuses, I am still haunted by what happened to her candidacy here. Earlier this week it was reported that Hillary’s national campaign manager at the time of the Iowa caucuses, Patti Solis Doyle, has been hired by the Obama campaign. This news has caused some in the media and elsewhere to comment upon the role Doyle played in Hillary’s campaign prior to her being replaced as her national campaign manager in early 2008.
From my limited perspective, the role Doyle played in Hillary’s campaign in Iowa was a mixed bag, at best. My biggest criticism of the campaign throughout the fall was that Hillary was being kept too far from the people attending her events and from the reporters (particularly with the national media) who were covering those events. This approach made it easy for some to characterize Hillary as being aloof. It also led to embarrassing moments such as the charge that her campaign had planted questions with event attendees in Iowa.
My constant request last fall was for the campaign to “let Hillary be Hillary.” This is exactly what she was allowed to do in the later contests and the main reason why she won Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and so forth.
Beyond my criticism of Hillary being too closely protected from Iowans and the media, I have few negative things to say—on balance—about the campaign she conducted in Iowa. Almost everything, however, about the nature of this year’s Iowa Democratic caucuses worked to Hillary’s disadvantage.
First of all, the left-wing of Iowa’s Democratic Party was very anti-war and felt that they had found a candidate in Obama who deserved support for his initial stand against the War in Iraq. Some (particularly those under age 30) found him to be attractive because he was young and black. It also did not hurt that Obama was from the neighboring state of Illinois.
Perhaps the biggest factor in Obama’s success in Iowa, however, was in an area that I completely misunderstood. It had to do with the $15 million or more in television ads he ran portraying himself as someone uniquely equipped to change the way Washington works. The ads were patterned after those his media consultant, David Axelrod, had used in Obama’s senate race in Illinois and in the most recent governor’s race in Massachusetts.
These ads drew a disproportionate number of moderate Republicans and Independent voters to Obama’s campaign. Most had never participated in an Iowa Democratic caucus in the past and these voters were the ones who really made the difference for Obama.
Finally, there was consistent evidence in polls taken before the caucuses that the second tier of candidates in combination (Richardson, Biden and Dodd) was the choice of roughly fifteen percent of Iowans. But on caucus night less than three percent of the delegates chosen were assigned to any one of these three individuals. This was the result of the Iowa Democratic caucuses’ archaic and undemocratic “viability” rules. Almost all Richardson, Biden and Dodd supporters ended up caucusing for Obama or Edwards.
Obama won in Iowa with roughly 37% of the delegates chosen and Hillary virtually tied Edwards at 30% of the delegates elected. The total number of Iowans who supported Hillary, however, was roughly equal to the number that John Kerry garnered here in his winning effort of 2004. Support for Obama totaled something like 83,000 Iowans versus about 68,000 voters each for Hillary and Edwards. In other words, a mere 15,000 Iowans made the critical difference in the nomination process for the Democratic Party this year.
Iowa’s viability rules probably gave Obama and Edwards as many as 10,000 extra supporters each. Had votes here on the Democratic side counted as they did on the Republican side (where there are no viability rules) the outcome might have looked like this:
Obama 32%
Clinton 30%
Edwards 25%
Richardson 7%
Biden 4%
Dodd 2%
As many as a third of Iowa Democratic caucus attendees this year were either re-registered Republicans or Independents. If fifty percent of them—or 37,500 voters– supported Obama (a low estimate, in my opinion), over forty percent of his total support came from nominal Democratic Party members.
Hillary could have attracted few of these supporters to her primary campaign in Iowa and she undoubtedly had many women who crossed party lines to support her here. But due to the focus of his advertising campaign and of his grassroots operations, Obama won the lion’s share of former Republican and Independent voters. If Richardson-Biden-Dodd supporters and Republican-Independent voters were taken out of the equation, I believe Hillary beat Obama by roughly 58,000 to 45,000 votes.
One has to give credit to the Obama campaign for seeing the path to victory that they followed. But the way the media played up the nature of that victory was beyond the pale and is what really gave Obama the nomination. How in the world can anyone claim that a 15,000 vote victory in a caucus state like Iowa is more important than a ten percent win in the California primary? But the effect of Obama’s win in Iowa was that it was infinitely more important that anything he or Hillary achieved thereafter. Something has to change about that particular equation in the future.
(small, medium and large sizes; for both dogs and cats)
+ 
I have a problem with caucuses anyway. I don’t understand how they can be representative of the people.
They are supposed to be direct democracy.
CHICAGO SUN TIMES DID THERE JOB TODAY REPORTING HOW OBAMA REALLY OPERATES!
HE GIVES AWAY 100K FOR A GARDEN THAT NEVER GREW
OBAMA TRIES TO WEASLE HIS WAY OUT WITH BLAMING THE GOVERNOR FOR THE PROJECT NOT COMMING TO PASS……
HUMMMM…… ARE WE GOING TO START PLAYING THE BLAME GAME NOW? TWO PEAS IN A POD STEALING TAX PAYERS DOLLARS FOR REWARDS TO CAMPAIGN STAFFERS….
As a state senator, Barack Obama gave $100,000 in state money to a campaign volunteer who failed to deliver on a plan to create a botanic garden in one of Chicago’s most blighted neighborhoods.
READ THE WHOLE STORY, BECOME EDUCATED, KNOWLEDGE MEANS POWER, POWER MEANS KNOWLEDGE WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP AND SEE EXCULSIVE PHOTOS OF HOUSES LOCATED IN THIS PART OF CHICAGO AT:
http://hillaryloyalistnowformccain.com/freestatemoneyforstaffersfromobama.aspx
He’d better be careful blaming Blago, when Blago gets indicted he might tell all he knows about Bother Oblamer.
Direct democracy is everyone voting a secret ballot. Caucuses are endurance contests and Obama jackbooted his self into all of them. The horror stories of his vote and run “supporters” are now well-documented.
If you call these caucuses democracy then democracy under caucuses is an obamination.
I live in New England- we have secret ballots for elections, referendums, ballot questions.
But we also have this “quaint” tradition of Town Meeting where budgets and zoning etc… get passed by a show of hands. (Like the caucuses.) What a bunch of crap! It is not democracy. Voters are so under represented, and because of the small percentage participating - it is so easy to “stack” the meeting/ caucus. As little as 50 people can change a vote outcome. There is intimidation- real and perceived to vote the “right” way. Often the side with the best “speakers” control the room. It is not democracy in action. It is manufactured political spin.
OT… but I need to say for whatever it is worth:
I always get a good chuckle and feel a little lifted when I come across Obama’s gums look sick.
I noticed recently that his pretty smile is being whitened on a daily basis and it leaves me to wonder if he reads these blogs.
I am L M A O - so silly, but true.
Best Screen Name Ever!!!
Mob rule.
Larry - where is the communications between the DNC, Dean and the Obama camp. I believe we have a right to see the details of the fix.
Iowa was inundated with G.O.P. activists from other states, as well Republicans there to vote against Clinton. (They will not be voting for Obama in November.) For a look at the G.O.P. - i.e. Karl Rove - strategy to keep Clinton out of the general election, see the following article.
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html
Call Pelosi demand she take up offshore drilling! 202-225-0100
http://www.house.gov/pelosi/
russia is going to drill off the artic and china is going to take our oil off fla…
why, put the pieces together..could it be they are in it together?
This is an ace in the hole for the Republicans. It’s unlikely Pelosi will do anything about this, because Obama already ran an ad slamming McCain’s proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling.
Who cares what Obama thinks or says about anything. He has no credibility with anyone - including more and more of his original supporters who are now getting thrown under the bus.
The guy peaked early in the primaries and has not had a winning position or new demographic base since.
China and Russia are going to “drink your MILKSHAKE.”
They are NOT representative of the people — especially not the rank and file Democrats. I live in Texas, and our Primary followed by a Caucus was a DISASTER. Obamabots forced their way through it all. When that didn’t work, they cheated and brawled their way. It is a DISGRACE that working people, the elderly, and those without childcare or transportation are forced out of the process. Once again, the Elitist Obama wins because his people have the time, energy, effort, transportation and the unmitigated audacity to CHEAT.
Obama supporters have been bamboozled, hoodwinked, duped, taken-in; hopefully, Americans in general will not be so easily deceived in November, if the Democratic Party foolishly gives Obama the nomination.
Obama voted with Bush and continues to vote with Bush.
http://obamawtf.blogspot.com/
http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/
http://www.obama-wire.com/
http://obambi.wordpress.com/
Do normal, everyday people show up for caucuses or just activists?
Bus loads of thugs from Chicago.
I went to the MN caucus for the first time ever because I have never really understood the caucus concept. I certainly hope the crap I witnessed here this year is not reflective of how it has always been. I was in a room full of Hillary supporters. It was clear by the talk, the buttons, the tshirts. I thought wow! Great turn out for hillary! Awesome. well, the rules kept changing and no one seemed to really know what they were doing, no one was watching the ballots. They were laying on a table and people could take as many as they wanted! No IDs were checked to see if we belonged there, nothing. In the end the count came out heavily Obama! It made no sense based on the buzz for Hillary! The vote in the room was like 67 Obama 23 Hillary. And I’ll tell you that didn’t even seem like enough votes total. My guess is that Hillary ballots went in the trash!
If we have learned nothing else in this election, it is that people need to be able to verify that they can vote in the primary, ie: are old enough, in the right place, legal citizen, etc. Also that we need a national Primary. No more caucuses. The next job for PUMA and just say no deal after the election and we have kept Obama out of the White House!
If an opposition campaign knows they will be pressed out by the locals, and they can guess how a district will vote, they will wear decoy buttons and so forth so no one will factor in their opposition. Everyone was reading Ron Paul forums about gaming caucuses. I know it did him no good; this strategy was discussed there, though. I would recommend people look at that site, if it’s still archived.
I really think that Doyle was a mole for Obama.
One thing is very clear for the future.
The demoKrat party will no longer have Caucuses,proportional representation and super delegates deciding the nomination.
Marxism is Marxism and the American people know now what they are all about.
Good luck getting any state with caucuses to change over to primaries. The party leaders in those states like welding power. It isn’t just the presidential or congressional nominees you know it is the county commissioner, judges, the school board, to name a few.
The Democratic Party in those states just want the people to donate money and then butt out. I guess it’s not much different then the DNC in that sense.
Betty,
You are probably correct..
Having said that if the democrat party doesn’t change their Marxist machinations in the nomination process then they have lost me and my family forever.
MN did come close a few years ago. There was actually a bill for a Primary.
Frankly I am tired of election fraud. I don’t trust any party anymore. I just feel violated!
Yeah, I know what you mean. When I became an election judge in my county boy did I get an eyeful!
I felt like I was in shock the entire day after my first election. Thankfully, I live in a county with an ethical clerk who crosses every “t” and dots every “i”, but even still I saw how easy it would be to pull a wide variety of antics and it made my stomach flip.
Get involved people. I know you are busy-we all are but you know what they say when the cat is away.
PUMA!
http://donedems.com/2008/06/17/patti-solis-doyle-obama-mole/
Some thoughts and links here why she might have been a mole or agent provocateur.
Doyle comes from the Chicago political machine. You might be right.
It’s good that this information is finally being put forward. Many of us feel that the Democratic party hijacking started in Iowa - this verifies our instinct.
The question we must answer now is: how do we repair the damage? Is it possible to prevent BHO’s coronation? If not, do we have the guts to refuse to vote for the Democratic “nominee”? Do we increase the pressure by not voting the Democratic down ticket? Do we make the gut-wrenching choice to vote, in extremis, for McCain?
Troubled waters ahead…
After what the dem party did in MI. they will not get one vote from me…no dems will get the mark on my ticket…they took those votes from Hillary, I will take my vote and give it to the republicans.
I’m with you, 30-year dem. I did not think there would “ever” come a day when I would vote Republican. But then, I could not have predicted that the party that I and generations of my family had supported would turn into something I barely recognize.
I detest what the DNC and the senior leadership did during this primary season. I cannot and will not support them or their actions. Pelosi, Reid, Dean and Brazile have completely turned me off. And Obama? I wouldn’t trust him or his campaign for dog catcher.
Guess that makes me a Dem for McCain. I do not say that with any glee. But I do say it with conviction. You and I and I suspect millions of others will pull that lever against what we perceive as undemocratic procedures that occurred on May 31, when Hillary Clinton was kicked unceremoniously to the curb, when Florida and Michigan voters were discounted and when the Party made it very clear that they didn’t want or need you or me or the 18 million voters who cast a vote in good faith.
The only poll that counts is the one in November. I’m waiting for McCain to kick Obama’s butt around the bloody block. And then the senior leadership will need to own that loss. And our outrage!
PUMApac.org.
On May 31, my husband and I changed our status to unaffiliated. We will be voting for McCain in protest. There is no way we are going to reward the party and install this guy selected by republicans and the party elders. Rest of them who voted for him are just fools.
I was outraged today to understand that my Congressional Representative for my NYS District is now a Super for Obama, even though both Clintons campaigned for the her! I wrote a scathing letter to let her know that I will absolutely campaign against her should she not change her vote.
Obama fading in Newsweek poll —
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145737
A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama’s glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month’s NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.
We vote for the good of the country–and that means not voting for the monumentallu unqualified Oblahblah.
I will vote for McCain and I hope all Hillary supporters do, too. To make changes, Obama has to win in a landslide. Also sheating is easier in a close race, not so much in a slaughterfest!
Oops didn’t get this corrected quick enough. See corrected post below!
I will vote for McCain and I hope all Hillary supporters do, too. To make changes, McCain has to win in a landslide. Also sheating is easier in a close race, not so much in a slaughterfest!
I will vote for McCain and I hope all Hillary supporters do, too. To make changes, McCain has to win in a landslide. Also cheating is easier in a close race, not so much in a slaughterfest!
Well, I already changed my affiliation. I am no longer affiliated with the Marxist party of the Democrats. I will vote for McCain, and I will never change my mind, conform to shut up.
Iowa, always the boss of us!
Corn lobby! Fake ethanol that will help nobody! Cha Ching! Starvation! Doubled price of other grains! Cha ching!
It’s getting very crowded under this bus.
Brazille changed all the delegate allotments in the summer of 2007 to give the few counties that would go for Obama more delegates. She needs to go to jail.
yes she does
I totally agree and I hope there’s room in the cell for Howie, too. They deserve to be locked up together for a long time.
aw, hell- why not find a little room in that cozy cell for their little pal, Nobama, too?
Excellent post! A “hijacking” seems to have occurred…and then, later at the RBC.
So frustrating…
We should be able to do something about this!
Solis Doyle was a traitor and was employed by Axlerod Hitler to take Hillary down. She’d been on the payroll since January.
Do you know this to be a fact, and can you back up? I would love to sic the Chicago media on this one.
Solis Doyle: The Katherine Harris of the Democratic Party. Or would it be Brazile? Maybe they can share the title as agents for the flip floppin flim flam man.
So, she is undoubtedly the one chosen by the majority of the Democrats. What an enormous injustice?
I think things will HAVE to change with those lousy caucus now, the messiah exposed their weakness. They’re so woefully under representative of how voters will really vote, yet can be easily commandeered by flooding a few sites with bully supporters to turn the weaker voters to your side, that any and all future candidates will now use those tactics to rack up delegates in elections to come.
No one took them seriously before, which is how the messiah got a choke-hold on the process.
Truly Obama’s campaign has been one of coming together….and then scaring the shit out of people to get their support!
Simple man’s answer to Obama!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4lVC6PdPc
Doyle used to work for Axelrod if I’m not mistaken. Don’t remember where I heard/read this…though.
no I think it was her brother, Daniel Sollis was part of the Daley machine in Chicago.
But as long-standing as Solis Doyle’s ties to Clinton may be, her Chicago roots run even deeper. Her first job in politics was on the campaign staff on Mayor Richard M. Daley, a leading Obama patron, and she has a long friendship with the Illinois senator’s chief political adviser, David Axelrod. She also is close to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, another Chicagoan and Obama confidant.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/16/solis_doyle_joins_obama_campai.html
I can Never forget what I have seen this spring!
In November I get even!
Hillary or McCain!
Thank you for explaining this so clearly … well written and informative!
Well I don’t know about you all but I think McCain has served this country well and it is time that we Americans show him our gratitude. I am going to do what ever I can to get him in the White House…
Hillary or McCain ‘08
McCain is going to hailed as the one that saved Iraq for America.
Without McCain holding steadfast in light of universal opposition advocating the surge America today would be a beaten defeated country.
Obama wished for retreat and defeat which would have left America humiliated to the world and the Iraqi’s doing genocide.
Iran would control the area and would gain their nukes.
The terrorists would have won and would be attacking the Western worlds interests.
Obama why did you wish America to fail?
Thank you John McCain
We came close to defeat but you saved America!
Patti Doyle and her brother are thick with Obama and always have been. Doyle undermined Hillary all the way until she was fired. She lavishly spent campaign money. Doyle is a bitch. I don’t believe in caucuses, they are illegitimate as is Donna donkey. Pelosi, Dodd, Kennedy, Leahy, Reid, Kerry et al and Dean, Braziere et al are going to lose this year but in a bigger way than they know. I will never vote democratic again unless its for Hillary or those who stayed true to her and there aren’t that many.
A new video from the Origional Americans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIxK9HWideQ
That is a sad but wonderful video.
This is nothing new to me! I have family that live on the REZ and I see this every-time I go “Back Home”!
Funny thing though, you do not hear us screaming for reparations. you do not hear us crying about what was done to us and still is being done.
can you say that about “SOME” of our fellow citizens? Nope!
The video is sad. Sad but true! Maybe someone will finally see what has been happening to our people, ( AMERICANS ) and do something about it. It is a sad reflection on all of us that we allow the GREATEST country that has graced Mother Earth, to treat her citizens in this manner!
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145737/output/comments
Great news from Newsweek! Remember when Barky was up by 15, according to the magazine? Well, now the difference is 3%. Hillary, are you listening?
That is good news Joe! The Glow is Fading!! Down, down, down.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign manager just told reporters that the campaign raised $22 million in June, its best month so far.
USA TODAY’s Fredreka Schouten says that Rick Davis also reported that together the campaign and the Republican National Committee have $95 million in cash on hand.
Davis said he expects there will be $400 million available for McCain’s effort when the money he’s raised, that the party has raised and that the federal government will kick in are all added together.
$400mil sounds good to me…
here I am cheering on a republican….never thought I would do that..
I think that Obama may have blown in on this public financing thing. What I’m not clear about though is how McCain can spend the money raised. Isn’t he limited to what he can use? If anyone knows how this whole thing works, I’d really like to know. Very confusing.
I’m also shocked that I will be voting for a Republican this time — always assumed that I’d vote for whichever Dem won. Always did that in the past even though I wasn’t crazy for Kerry (was for Dean) and was originally for Tsongas, although I got to like Clinton a lot during the campaign. Life is certainly full of surprises!
McCain is committed to campaign financing, but for the RNC and the 527’s, the sky’s the limit. That’s what I’ve heard.
They have plenty of money. They are playing Rope A Dope with obama even as we speak.
Nancy Pelosi’s # 202-225-0100
Give her a call.I called her today to bitch about the Democrats Killing the Bill To Allow Off-Shore Drilling For Oil In Committee.
Joseph Stalin
Awesome quote Obama!
Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt why we need to defeat you.
Let Freedom Reign!!!
just ask the thieving mayor of Gary Indiana, who, if other mayors had not called bullshit on National TV, when he was still “counting” at 11 PM, would have changed the outcome of that state’s primary and never batted a thieving eye.
Great piece…..thanks for giving us your perspective. I do think Hillary had trouble initially trying to find the best approach. As the frontrunner, she had the tough spotlight on mistakes.
The media and her “comrades” were just itching for her first mistake and when she spoke about the NY Governor’s support of Licenses for Illegals because of security issues, they pounced on her like a pack of jackals. It was really outrageous and after that things only got worse!
She most likely thought Obama was a joke, just like the rest of us did!
So much emphasis has been placed on the results of the Iowa caucus this year. However, I haven’t yet seen an article as to what the people of Iowa thought about those results. Is Iowa truly so pro-Obama? Anyone know what real Iowans think about what happenened there?
How can we find this out..I went and looked at some online news really no help.
It is vitally important for people to hound Pelosi and Congress to death about drilling NOW. Nancy and her puppets are drawing up articles of impeachment again to stall this .She will bring up bills of any sort just to stall the drill for oil now vote. Its election time,she knows damn well the AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT OFF SHORE DRILLING and the left are under the control of the envioromentalist and NOT FOR THE PEOPLE . She does not want this to come to a vote because THE PEOPLE will see it IS the democrats who are making it impossible and make them accountable. It MUST be brought to the floor of the HOUSE NOW and on to the Senate for a vote. This cannot wait. I highly doubt an Obama win but WHAT IF PEOPLE ? This bill will never be, it will be trashed forever. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS and PELOSI’S OFFICE by PHONE,EMAIL AND SNAIL MAIL ASAP. 202-225-0100 Call Nancy Pelosi and demand she take up off shore drilling.
She is stalling and bouncing on every other issue to stall a vote for off shore drilling.
http://www.house.gov/pelosi/
District Office - 450 Golden Gate Ave. - 14th Floor - San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 556-4862
Washington, D.C. Office - 235 Cannon HOB - Washington, DC 20515 - (202) 225-4965
I am wondering if the dems are just making Bush look bad to get the WH back…they have been hurting the people a lot the last two years blocking votes…blaming republicans for things when really it is the dems(Pelosi)…blocking things like this…Oh yes I have been reading to much I know…it is something to look at and think about…
No, you’re right 30yrdem. I told Nancy in my message that she was being selfish and I don’t believe for one minute their excuses for not wanting oil company’s to drill. I also told her that if they continue sitting on their hands I will never vote for another democrat again.
I remember when they blocked the FISA vote awhile back…now when BO is the selected nominee they have the vote…all planed?
well look at how quickly they moved to chicago. that was certianly planned.
Of course Pelosi doesn’t want oil companies to drill. Everyone knows that oil won’t be immediately available for refiners to process but announcing opening up coastal waters and/or a tiny spot in all of ANWAR for immediate drilling would drive the price down on oils futures contracts. The lower cost of futures contracts won’t show up immediately at the pump but would show up in time for the November election. Pelosi must do all she can between now and November to keep any positive influences on the pocketbook issues of voters from happening.
In the meantime, Jackie Spier, the representative from my district next door to Pelosi’s, announced her bold legislation she introduced to lower the amount Americans spend on gasoline. Get ready for it, lower urban freeway speed limits to 60 mph and allow a maximum of 65 on rural sections. These dems in Congress are absolutely whacked out.
How I wish Tom Lantos could be resurrected from the dead to lead our district again. At least he was a dem with a brain that put country before party.
You know they must think we are really stupid. I wrote Bill Nelson about drilling off shore in in Florida. I told him it just seemed stupid not to when China is drilling for Cuba. He wrote me back and quoted the same old talking points that the rest of our party is using. I mean it, if they don’t stop treating us like we’re stupid I’m voting a straight Republican ticket.
It is such a tiny part of ANWR, and it would only yield so much oil. The North Shore supply has already been exhausted. If the government opened a little bit of ANWR, the whole thing would be overrun. Just don’t go there. It is too important to the survival of the species and the welfare of the world to have protected habitats where biodiversity of plant and animal species are safe. The little bit of oil in ANWR is not worth the possible extinction of a few species.
OT
Has anyone seen this bit of arrogance.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign is in talks to become the lead sponsor for a race car in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Sports Illustrated reports.
At least he is considering considering a team that rarely qualifies just like him.
Yeah I hope she shows up looking as stupid as he looked at the bowling alley. The guy is a turd in the punchbowl around regular people. As if all the rednecks are going to vote for him and his pansy ass.
Uppity 45% of Nascar fans are women, they wont be for sure.
How odd that he would ignore/diss the NASCAR folks in the primaries, but now he wants to join ranks to muster GE support. Flip flop. Two faces.
To any Republican who is considering staying home on November 4th we have one message,”Shame on You.” Don’t stay home. Let’s Get This Right. Your local representative deserves better. Your Congressman deserves better. Your Senator deserves better and your country deserves better. As Ronald Reagan said “Sailing off a cliff with all flags flying is still sailing off a cliff.” Let’s not sail off that cliff. Let’s Get This Right.
Join the Republican Party now and help elect John McCain and GOP candidates nationwide who support our principles of lower taxes, victory in the war against radical Islamic extremism, smaller government and individual freedom.
VOTE REPUBLICAN
John McCain for President 2008
Black Americans for John McCain
http://www.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/000143/NBRA%20Newsletter.pdf
http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/
http://www.theblackgop.com/
WOW!!!
I refreshed and saw this and wondered if I was still at NQ…
McCain ‘08
“individual freedom”, except for those damned gays!
(If that’s not snarky, I don’t know what is.)
You conveniently forget that it was the conservative Republican chief justice of the California Supreme Court that wrote the opinion striking down the California law banning same sex marriage as unconstitutional because it denied equal protection.
You conveniently forget that it was the Ronald Reagan appointed conservative Justice John Roberts who wrote the opinions for the US Supreme Court striking down laws as unconstitutional that prohibited gays from filing discrimination suits and that criminalized gay sexual conduct.
Word press shutting down Larry Sinclairs blog. Now they are in with Obama, too!!!
http://obambi.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/wordpresslarry/
Sinclair has asked WP to refund the money for the extra storage space.
It’s because of the harassment by the idiot Mitch and Nan gang that has spilled over to WP administration is why he is moving to another domain.
Jesus, I don’t even feel like I live in America anymore! Makes me just want to work harder against Obama!
Here is Larry’s new site. Mark it in your favorites.
He will be up and running in full force by Monday if not sooner. He has some stuff up but not all of it.
Please try to donate so he can continue to fight the Obama thugs and get the truth out about Obama. Thank you.
http://www.larrysinclair0926.com/
Someone from Obama’s campaign in Indiana called me tonight to invite me to the Grand Opening of his office in town here tomorrow. I said well I am not voting for Barack Obama. She said can I ask why. I said well lots of reasons but the main one is I am not voting for someone who sat in a racist, American hating church for 20 years!! She said well he denounced the church and doesn’t go there anymore. I said well he should have done that 20 years ago but thank you for calling.
Good answer wodiej.
I’m very proud of you for standing up for your convictions.
Everyone keep up the good fight against Obama. He is a liar, a thug and a scam bag bum.
OH I forgot, he’s a thief. He’s trying to steal the Presidency.
^ By getting the most votes? The perfect crime!
Ah, but who voted?
And that “most votes” thing is highly debatable.
Robbery by B Hussein O and complicity by the DNC.
He may have been wearing ear plugs in the church for 20 years. Technicality. His favorite modus.
I can say with about 99% certainty that Obama will not win Indiana.
As for McCain, he gets my vote. I was thinking tonight although I don’t agree w him on everything he sure as hell isn’t far right like Bush. And then I thought it would have been much easier for Obama to leave that nasty church he went to then it was for John McCain to refuse to trash the USA and got tortured for it. Who do you think loves their country more? No brainer. I am extremely patriotic and John McCain loves this country and I trust him.
You know I think that is something I’m realizing too. It’s not just that Obaba is unqualified and inexperienced, that’s true, I really don’t trust him. I don’t feel that he loves this country. I think if you want to be president of the US then you should love this country and the principles it was founded on.
The worst obamabot of all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3s6Uh8oFw&eurl=http://taylormarsh.com/
What’s with the white piping Number 6?
What’s up with him wiping his nose repeatedly and scratching his face? He acts like an impolite 9 year old that doesn’t know how to behave in public. At least he didn’t scratch his butt.
After I read this piece, I asked myself, what on earth is this person trying to say about Solis Doyle?
I was a veteran political and successful strategist who happened to travel to Iowa just to volunteer at the Iowa caucuses for Clinton and I can tell you that the Clinton campaign was beaten on the ground and in the end run if the ground people had realized what was going on at each of the caucus sites and had reacted on their feet as they saw what was happening, they could have won that state even as the caucuses were preparing to happen.
As I was trying to communicate this to the on site campaign staffers they did not listen and did not understand.
I was not in a position at that point to tell them exactly what to do.
I can tell you, if they had done what I told them to do and communicated my strategy to all the other caucus sites via blackberry/email, and if at least 2-3 voters were pulled in for Clinton from each caucus site, she would have won Iowa.
I am talking about thinking on your feet at the caucus site and keeping your head on straight so you can see what is happening and react.
I feel the caucus manner of voting is a violation of the civil rights of voters. It is an exclusionary manner of voting and it is not a true representation of the electorate.
Patty Solis Doyle did not lose Iowa.
The end game could have been won on the ground by the soldiers.
I do not know why the young Clinton soldiers did not have leadership or where it went wrong. But, what I do know is, the Clinton soldiers, by no fault of Hillary, had no discipline, whereas, the Obama soldiers were very disciplined.
The bottom line is the strategist she had working for her, failed her and sucked money from her.
From the strategy comes the framing of the army and the army was not big enough or trained enough to handle the entire war. This was not Hillary’s fault.
There is no sense going backwards.
The candidate Obama was selected before the primaries even began.
Our focus needs to be on getting him and his king-makers ousted from the Democratic party.
We must move forward.
Hillary’s debt is about to be squared without Obama. She needs to be pushed to a floor fight against Obama.
When anyone speaks of party unity, we speak of what is best for our country and country comes before party and Hillary is what is best for our country so we want Hillary Clinton for President NOW!
You raised several good points.
1. I don’t think PSD could have sabotaged the campaign, but I think she was talking to the enemy and slacking on the job.
2. Hillary ran a poor campaign and could have been better organized on the ground. Ickes warned her about the proportional delegate system, but Penn insisted on disregarding this advice.
3. Obama did not just come out of nowhere and figure out how to game the system. He had Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Tom Daschle helping and advising him in different areas. Obama’s primary success was based on defeating Hillary and keeping the Clintons out of power. The Republicans were in on this.
4. It ain’t over. The media is being influenced to promote Obama. He has star quality, anyway, and he’s helping push copy. But Hillary has a right to go to the convention and challenge him. The late August date and calendar along with the consistent theme of WWTBGO and “Get Over It; It’s Done” will make it very hard for her.
I understand the people of Washington voted to have a primary. Their democratic party did not care and had a caucus before the primary. Caucus results were used for delegate allocation instead of primary results. Based on this alone, the democratic party is corrupt.
This:
“The bottom line is the strategist she had working for her, failed her and sucked money from her.”
Is the opposite of this:
“The candidate Obama was selected before the primaries even began.”
Either she lost or there was a giant super double secret conspiracy to select Obama. You are arguing both at the same time.
You spit in Hillarys face when you use her name to placate your paranoia, hysteria, and spite. Your goals are not her goals anymore. She’s working her ass off to get Obama elected because she believes he is what’s best for this country.
You just wanted a woman elected. Any woman.
Repeat 10,000 times “Hillary lost” and move the hell on already. You “nation of whiners” thrive of victimhood, don’t you?
ummmmm: Stop the hate! Stop the hate will you! You’re about to make me cry.
That’s the least of your problems b*tch!
You don’t know what you’re talking about. It is not mutually exclusive. Pelosi et al can annoint Obama AND her ground strategy can fail as well.
Opposite? You are clearly deluded, Goober. Keep repeating “change” over and over again until your pockets are empty like your skull.
You’ve obviously never seen Hillary work her ass off to get someone elected before. Many Democrats have and can tell you this is just a token appearance out of party loyalty. That’s not gonna cut it with the PUMA voters. Obama has not upheld one single Democratic principle in the entirety of his US Senate time and his campaign for US President. Not one. He has lied and lied repeatedly. As for women’s issues, his awful record stands for itself. John McCain has promised to appoint more women to high level cabinet positions in his administration, and he’s a man of his word. He has already had a lot of women active in his campaign from the beginning, more women and with a higher average salary than Obama. Hillary has devoted her life to the Democratic party, but “unity” is not how people vote the President into office. Give it up.
I agree it was not HRC’s fault.
However, there is no way she could have been prepared in advance.
Obama gamed the system.
He didn’t cheat, but he didn’t play the game the way it has traditionally been played.
Just because the rules don’t prohibit something doesn’t mean exploiting loopholes is in keeping with the spirit of the game.
There was no rule in MLB against bringing in little people to bat, guarateeing a walk, until Veeck did it.
The Chicago Cubs against the Tigers, I believe.
Were the Tigers to blame for being unprepared?
Neither was HRC.
The game was rigged from Florida to Michigan and beyond. Oblahablah should never have reached first base–he is unqualified to be even a Senator. Words are not deeds and platitudes are not positions.
Michigan and Florida were cheating. Texas was possibly cheating; the caucuses are being examined there, and TexasDarlin has some accounts collected that are being reviewed by legal teams.
Here is a blog entry from Townhall elaborating on how Arlen Specter is looking into holding Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Florida and Michigan.
Conservative/ACLU Arguments Beg the Question on Florida/Michigan Primaries
Townhall.com ^ | Monday, June 02, 2008 | Peter J. Wirs
Posted on Mon Jun 2 01:52:08 2008 by Grammar Nazi
This past Saturday, the Democratic National Committee Rules Committee voted, as many anticipated, on seating the Florida and Michigan Democratic delegates with only half of vote. Moreover, 59 Michigan delegates were awarded to Barak Obama, notwithstanding he was not on the January 15 Michigan primary ballot. As Clinton adviser and Rules committee member Harold Ickes asserted, the outcome for Michigan was a hijacking of voters’ intent because it assigned delegates to Mr. Obama even though he did not win them.
As we reported last week, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), the former chairman and now ranking minority member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is seriously evaluating whether he should call for Congressional hearings. We know that the Senator’s political brain trust was working around the clock to analyze a response to the DNC decision. Although having no direct confirmation, we would expect Florida Governor Charles Crist and Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox, among others, were waiting for the Democrats to cast their decision into stone before considering whether they should seek judicial intervention as per Specter’s brainstorming.
Specter, probably one of the most legally astute of GOP Senators, contends the DNC is violating one of the most fundamental of all constitutional rules, that once a vote is cast it must be counted. This constitutional principle, pronounced by the United States Supreme Court since Ex parte Yarborough (1884) and reiterated as recently as Gray v. Sanders (1963), is simply beyond reproach. This rock-bottom constitutional demand applies to primaries as well as general elections. United States v. Classic (1941). Reiterating black letter law stated in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966), the high court reasserted in Bush v. Gore (2000) that “once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”
Conservatives responded to our May 27 column that neither the Senate nor the courts have any business regarding the affairs of a political party on the First Amendment grounds of freedom of association. Their contention was viscerally shared by the ACLU, who graciously responded to us, but after our deadline. This Conservative/ACLU argument relies on major Supreme Court case, primarily Democratic Party of Wisconsin v. LaFollette (1981) which holds that First Amendment freedom to gather in association for purpose of advancing shared belief is protected by Fourteenth Amendment from infringement by any state, and moreover, that freedom to associate for common advancement of political beliefs necessarily presupposes freedom to identify people who comprise the association, and to limit the association to those people only. The High Court went on to hold that a political party’s choice among various ways of determining makeup of a state’s delegation to party’s national convention is constitutionally protected, thus prohibiting the state or courts from substituting its own judgment for that of the party.
But the joint conservative-ACLU logic falls under the petitio principii rule as their assertion is merely a strawman that begs the question, because obviously no one is disputing the Democrats have every right to set what its rules are and how its delegates are to be selected.
But once the Democrats evoke the state’s machinery in order to hold a public primary, a bright line is crossed. As the Supreme Court in Gray v. Saunders observed state regulated party primaries “show that the State . . . collaborates in the conduct of the primary, and puts its power behind the rules of the party. It adopts the primary as a part of the public election machinery. The exclusions of voters made by the party by the primary rules become exclusions enforced by the State.” Grey v. Saunders went on to assert that “state regulation of this preliminary phase of the election process makes it state action.”
The issue isn’t that the DNC is asserting some “for members only” admission to a clubhouse. The issue is that the Great States of Florida and Michigan held primaries, which although concerning one or another of our two major political parties, is part of the electoral process. These primaries weren’t private affairs. They weren’t even party affairs. They were official state actions. The DNC was acting by virtue of the power delegated to it by the legislatures of both Florida and Michigan. The taxpayers of both Florida and Michigan, not the DNC, paid for the primaries. If the DNC wants to exclude voters, or count only half of the votes cast, or award Obama delegates he did not win, then they should hold private affairs (like that San Francisco cocktail reception where Obama asserts most of us are bitter by virtue of believing in God). Let them sell tickets and pay for the events themselves.
Keep in mind that our major political parties are not the same as a local cub scout troop. The rule initially expressed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Bentman v. Seventh Ward Democratic Executive Committee (1966) which Senator Specter properly observed, is now the law of the land in both Federal and state courts, is that “the relationship between political parties, the government and the public has become such that, in many areas, the public interest is not only directly affected by political parties but such parties actually perform public functions imposed upon them by law. Insofar as a political party performs statutorily-imposed public functions and to the extent that its actions constitute state action, the internal organization of such political party is a matter of such concern to the public as to make it subject to constitutional limitations and judicial restraint. When the internal organization of a political party directly affects its performance of such public function then not only may the judiciary intervene but it must intervene.”
I don’t know about my fellow conservatives, but when I go to the polls to vote, I don’t want someone to cancel or dilute my vote. I expect my vote to be count as one vote, nothing more, nothing less.
Like the man said that is 89 years old, “They are living in a fairy tale just like Clinton said. Obama won’t make it to the white house. Not in America.
He doesn’t have the back bone of a piss ant.” I am still laughing at this World War II vet! Let’s pray he is right.
Obama’s true fear of a roll call vote is not the delegates who represents Hillary’s 18,000,000 supporters, rather, his own early supporters that have changed their mind about their candidate. He’s fully aware of their buyer’s remorse.
There is no defection from Clinton to Obama, it’s the other way around. Each change is a two vote swing for Hillary.
Force the roll call vote and Obama is defeated at the convention. Every ounce of energy and every dollar raised should be focused on making the open roll call vote happen.
That must be a non-negotiable term.
Didn’t Obama go out of his way earlier to replace his delegates in (I believe) CA?
I have to say this:
Even though Barky Obama was selected not elected even before the primary process started………..
Hillary still had to run the race, fight the battles, win the war, which by the way she did win by winning the popular vote.
Despite all the crys for her to quit before the race was over and before all states had the chance to vote…..talk about wanting to give Barky a lift up…ha
She wanted all votes to be counted.
Barky did not want all states included or all votes to be counted.
Hillary went the distance battle by battle, state by state.
She ended the war by handing some big blows to Barky, even with that shitty little start in Iowa that really counts for nothing in the grand scheme when you consider the big blows she gave Barky.
Now, Barky will make an ass out of himself in Germany by doing what the German government consider inappropriate…..Barky will declare himself the US messiah even before the Democratic nomination at a big rally in Germany at a monument that the German diplomats feel he will be disrespecting…but Barky does not care……then he will go to Iraq………that is the visit where he will go in to the war zone that he did not vote for.
Barky wants to play footsie with Iran……..and while Israel goes to war with Iran……who knows where Barky will be?
Hillary said she would wipe Iran off the map.
Our military will be in that middle east war. Barky loves Iran.
I ask………………
Who you gonna trust our men and women in uniform to?
Lets get serious here…….
This reaffirms my long held belief that Obama is not the Democratic people’s choice, rather, he is the Republicans’ who wanted to sway the election in the Republican favor. We’ve all been bamboozled by the grand plan of GOP - and were too stupid and distracted to notice it. Obama is a candidate who can not win given his laughable inexperience and lack of any major accomplishments for the people. Any other person would have been laughed off the stage.
Guys- did anyone watch the CNN report on HRC tonight? It was on Anderson Cooper.
I only caught the first, it seemed quite positive - but you never know what direction it may have taken.
I’m hoping they’ll show it again tomorrow night.
The only way Hillary Clinton could lose this primary was for Democratic Party insiders to plot against her and screw her, and they did just that. It looks as though some of them were part of her own campaign, acting as moles for Obama in the same way that Donna Brazile was working as a stealth Obama mole propagating garbage on CNN.
This is why I am no longer a Democrat. I sure “hope” that Dean, Pelosi, Reid and Brazile each enjoy the piece of my Democratic voter registration card which I mailed to the DNC with instructions to give them each a piece.
The construct of the Democratic Party has taken a dramatic turn in history………..unlike anything we have ever seen before………………
However,
We have yet to determine if it is for the worse or for the better………………………………
If the PUMA’s and others can bring Hillary back in the black and she really still wants to be President…
Then, they must bring her campaign off of suspension status, get her delegates in line and adopt a creed of
Party Unity My Ass……….Translated
Country before Party…………..
Hillary before the corrupt party leaders and Obama…
But, this has to be done very quickly!~
HILLARY HAS TO WANT THIS……
SHE HAS TO BE WILLING TO TAKE ON THIS CORRUPTION AND HAVE A FLOOR FIGHT AND PUMA MUST BE READY TO TAKE ON THE SUPERDELEGATES AND REMIND THEM THAT THEY ARE ELECTED OFFICIALS TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE SUPERDELEGATES ARE THE ONES WHO ARE DECIDING THIS ELECTION.
NANCY PELOSI HAS TO GO!
DEAN HAS TO GO!
REID HAS TO GO!
OBAMA HAS TO BE CHALLENGED ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR
THE SUPERDELEGATES HAVE TO BE GRABBED AND TOLD THAT THEIR ELECTABILITY IS HELD IN THE BALANCE AND PUMA HOLDS THEIR POLITICAL FATE IN THEIR HANDS!
JUST SAY NO DEAL HOLDS THE SUPER DELEGATES ACCOUNTABLE AND THEY MUST SAY NO TO PELOSI, DEAN, REID AND OBAMA NOW!
CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?
BUT…….NONE OF THIS IS ANY GOOD IF HILLARY WANTS TO BE VEEP.
ALL HE HAS TO DO IS ASK HER TO BE HIS VEEP AND IT IS ALL OVER…………………….
SOMEONE FROM THIS COALITION NEEDS TO SEE WHERE SHE IS.
The party is dysfunctional and holds primaries designed to pick losers. The national committee is corrupt.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/65/petition-for-howard-dean-to-resign-as-dnc-chair
It’s time to get rid of the caucus. One person, one vote.
It is entirely clear that Obama is the presumptive nominee solely due to the back-room help of the DNC leadership. Every super-delegate owes something to the DNC. And the DNC made clear who their preferred candidate was. Who can forget Donna Brazile’s little fable about what her mother said about “cheaters”. It was clear before that point that Hillary was not campaigning on a level playing-field, but that comment was revealing. Hillary was cheating because she had the votes of the people. Unbelievable. So, in the end, the nominee was selected based on the will of the super-delegates, who were like so many nickels in the pocket of the DNC. When Donna Brazile said she would reisgn if the nominee was selected based on a “some-filled back-room” deal with the party elite, that’s when I knew the candidate was going to be selected that way. I knew Hillary’s campaign was over in April. She could get the votes of the people, but she could not defeat the conspiracy within her own party. And now we see with Obama as the “nominee”, it is back to business as usual.