Hillary Wallops Bam-Bam No Matter How Much He Spends!
By SusanUnPC on May 21, 2008 at 9:46 AM in Current Affairs
HOWARD WOLFSON on CNN last night: “He outspent us in West Virginia. We beat him by 40 points last week. He has outspent us in Kentucky 2-1. We beat him by 35 points this week. So Senator Obama can continue to outspend us. We’re going to be able to have the resources we need to get our message out like we did this week in Kentucky. …”
BELOW, the transcript:
BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN ELECTION CENTER. I’m Wolf Blitzer reporting.
Joining us now is Howard Wolfson. He’s the communications director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He’s here at the CNN ELECTION CENTER with us tonight.
Howard, thanks very much for coming in.
HOWARD WOLFSON, CLINTON CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Thank you.
BLITZER: You heard these amazing fundraising numbers from the Obama campaign. It’s really been a record-shattering opportunity for him. He’s really done well. What about the Clinton campaign fundraising in April?
WOLFSON: We had a great month in April. We raised $22 million in April. We actually raised more in April than we did in March. We had a great month online. Our fundraising is strong.
Senator Obama is going to continue to outraise us. I expect he’s going to continue to outspend us. He has outspent us in state after state, Wolf. We’ve beaten him in state after state.
He outspent us in West Virginia. We beat him by 40 points last week. He has outspent us in Kentucky 2-1. We beat him by 35 points this week. So Senator Obama can continue to outspend us. We’re going to be able to have the resources we need to get our message out like we did this week in Kentucky.
BLITZER: How do you explain though his amazing success in fundraising compared to the Clinton campaign? You guys have some pretty good fund-raisers out there as well. Terry McAuliffe is one of the best in the business.
WOLFSON: The best in the business. Look, we have a great fundraising operation. Both candidates have broken all previous fundraising records. Both candidates are going to have the resources they need to get their message out.
We’ve proven that we can be outspent two to one, three to one, four to one, as we were in Pennsylvania, and still win. That’s the amazing thing.
You have voters in West Virginia and Kentucky told that the race was over. Their votes didn’t matter. They didn’t need to come out.
All they saw were Barack Obama ads. And yet 40 points in West Virginia, 35 points in Kentucky. These are huge wins, Wolf.
BLITZER: Now, let’s talk a little bit about your strategy for winning the Democratic presidential nomination. We heard Senator Clinton speak a little bit about it in her remarks to her supporters in Kentucky.
When all is said and done, it’s basically based on the assumption that Michigan and Florida, the Democratic Party will rule on May 31st that those delegates there will in fact be seated.
WOLFSON: Well, we do believe that Michigan and Florida will be seated exactly as the good people of those states voted.
BLITZER: Is that your only hope though right now?
WOLFSON: It’s a key part of the process, but it’s not about us. It’s about whether or not the Democratic Party is going to exclude two states from its nominating convention. And it’s about whether the Democratic Party is going to be true to its principles of making sure that every vote is counted.
We believe that the Democratic Party is going to — it will seat those delegations exactly as the votes were cast in those primaries. Record turnouts in Florida and in Michigan, we think that they’re going to be seated. We will obviously get those delegates. It’s important.
But there’s other things that matter. We’re going to continue to do well in the upcoming states. Puerto Rico is ahead of us, South Dakota, Montana. We need to do well.
We did well tonight. We are ahead in the popular vote. More people have voted for Hillary Clinton. BLITZER: A lot of people, Howard, just think it’s going to be over with the results shortly after June 3rd, when Montana and South Dakota have their contest. Are you leaving open the possibility right now that this will go on all the way to the end of August to the Democratic convention?
WOLFSON: We don’t have a nominee until we have a nominee. Neither candidate has gotten to the requisite number of delegates needed to secure the nomination. If Senator Obama gets to that number, we’ll salute him. We’re going to work hard to get him elected.
But until that happens, and we don’t believe that it will, we don’t have a nominee. Will that happen in June? That would be great. Could it happen later? It could.
I don’t think we know right now. And Senator Clinton is going to continue to make her case to the superdelegates that she has won in the swing states of Michigan and Florida and Ohio and Pennsylvania, West Virginia.
BLITZER: So you’re leaving open the possibility of a floor fight in Denver.
WOLFSON: My expectation, Wolf, is that we are going to have this resolved well before the convention. That we will have a nominee. I believe that nominee will be Senator Clinton.
But unless and until one of these two candidates gets to the requisite number, we don’t have a nominee, which is why I think it’s clearly premature of Senator Obama to be declaring victory tonight.
BLITZER: Howard Wolfson, thanks very much.
WOLFSON: Thank you.
BLITZER: We’re going to be speaking shortly with a major Obama supporter, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, himself a former Democratic presidential candidate. We’ll get his perspective. We’ll hear what he has to say about what we just heard from Howard Wolfson, among other things.
Remember, CNNpolitics.com is where you can follow the results coming in all the time, county by county in Kentucky. We’re standing by to get some results in the not too distant future, a little bit more than two hours from now in Oregon where the polls will be closing there.
Stay with us. Much more of our coverage from the CNN ELECTION CENTER right after this.
READ ALL of the transcript.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
