AUDIO of today’s conference call [3 CRITICAL Updates]
By SusanUnPC on May 22, 2008 at 1:42 PM in Barack Obama, DNC, Delegates, Democrats, Florida, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Michigan
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UPDATE: A directly-relevant must-read is Anglachel’s “Legitimacy, Not Unity.”
UPDATE #2: BELOW THE FOLD IS Fox News’s “Clinton Camp Says 2026 Number No Longer Relevant For Nomination.” (A GREAT SUMMARY OF THE CALL, per usual — these days — thanks to Fox News’s fair and balanced reporting!)
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| Here is THE FULL AUDIO (MP3) for today’s conference call.
(Intro section coming soon on YouTube. UPDATE #3: VIDEO NOW UP IN LEFT COLUMN.) |
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Via Halperin, Time’s The Page blog:
Senior advisor Harold Ickes and spokesstrategist Howard Wolfson hold morning media call. Ickes reiterates position that the Clinton camp wants all delegates from both states to be seated with a full vote. … Also defends voting for the Florida, Michigan sanctions as a DNC member in the first place, says punishment was imposed and it’s time to make sure the two states are included in general. … Wolfson points to Axelrod NPR interview, says both campaigns agree the status quo is unacceptable. … Plus: Clinton, Obama offer lengthy interviews to the St. Pete Times … mostly on seating Florida’s delegates. Read more. … More: NY Daily News says “busloads” of Clinton supporters plan to swarm the DNC’s May 31 meeting on seating the delegations.
NO QUARTER READERS: CLICK ON AD TO YOUR RIGHT — OR HERE — FOR MORE INFO ON HOW YOU CAN JOIN THE PROTESTS!
And: DNC members are getting packages containing oranges with the words “Count Florida’s Votes” on them from individual voters.
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UPDATE #2
Clinton Camp Says 2026 Number No Longer Relevant For Nomination
Clinton delegate master Harold Ickes says now that the Obama campaign has declared its willingness to seat delegations from Michigan and Florida at the Party Convention in August, the number of delegates once thought to be required to win the nomination is no longer operable.
“There’s an unwritten assumption that 2026 is the number to get the nomination. That could not at this point be further from the truth,” Ickes told reporters on a conference call. “Obama seems to have crossed the Rubicon, and is in favor of some resolution of Michigan and Florida. Until they are fully resolved, there is no fixed number for the nomination.”
“2210 is the high mark,” he said — referring to the number of delegates needed if the Michigan and Florida delegations are seated fully — “and it appears 2026 is the low mark. But that low mark is no longer in my view a reasonable number to even talk about.”
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee meets on May 31st to decide what to do about the two states. But Communications Director Howard Wolfson acknowledged that even if the Clinton campaign gets everything it wants from the committee, her path to the nomination still relies on convincing uncommitted superdelegates that she’s the stronger general election candidate.
“Senator Clinton is ahead in the popular vote. Senator Clinton has won the key swing states a Democrat has to win, she’s ahead in the key swing states in polling,” he said — pointing to new Quinnipiac polls showing her beating John McCain in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania while Obama wins only Pennsylvania and by a lesser margin. “She runs better against John McCain than Senator Obama in rural areas, and all of this adds up to the stronger candidate. And that’s a case we’re going to have to make.”
Wolfson also called Obama’s initial steps to being the Vice Presidential search “premature in the sense there’s no nominee yet,” and said he was unaware of any similar effort in the Clinton campaign.
Check out my notes on the rest of the conference call below.
-DNC vet Ickes says the campaign has been talking with the cochairs of the rules and bylaws cmte of the DNC that will decide whether and how to seat the delegates from MI and FL, but said he wouldn’t talk about the nature of those discussions. Called for all delegates from the states to be seated with a full vote, and for the “uncommitted” delegates from MI (where Obama was not on the ballot) to be seated as uncommitted, not as Obama delegates. “All delegates should be seated and all delegates should have a full vote each. With respect to Michigan, it is our view that the uncommitted delegates, of which there are 55, should be seated as uncommitted delegates.”
-asked later whether that was a change in position, Wolfson and Ickes stipulated that most uncommitted delegates would likely vote for Obama, as is their right — but Ickes said “It is however presumptuous to assume that each and every one of those delegates is an Obama supporters… It may well be for Senator Obama, but it should not be for the the campaigns or the rules and bylaws committee to force delegates to be in a category or supporting a candidate ,including uncommitted unless of their own free will.
-Wolfson brought up the new Quinnipiac polls in OH, FL and PA that show HRC beating McCain in all three while Obama wins only PA — and wins there by a smaller margin than HRC. “11:42:21 look at the map, Senator Clinton has the winning map against Senator McCain. We would win the states that John Kerry won in 2004. we would add AR and West Virginia and Florida and Ohio. And we would certainly be competitive in states like NM and NV, and Iowa that Senator kerry lost. if you look at Obama, he is hanging on narrowly in Pennsylvania, our margin of victory is umuch greater in Pennsylvania, and he’s losing Florida and Ohio.,” he said. “It becomes very difficult to get to 270. He is losing NH. He is losing West Virginia. So the combination of states one would need that doesn’t include Florida and Ohio becomes very very difficult.” Wolfson said that’s the case they’re making to superdelegates.
-Wolfson was careful not to suggest that Obama COULDN’T win, just that HRC had a better chance. “11:43:53 not to say that if Senator Obama is the nominee he couldn’t win these states. Not that he wouldn’t be our next president. But who’s won these states, won them in primarym, would be the strongest possible nominee against John McCain. “
- he also said Obama appeared to have written off WV. “11:41:52 An AP article said Senator Obama’s team has written West Virginia off. I remember the days of the 50 sate strategy. That strategy may not include West Virginia or Florida or Michigan, depending on their positiotn on seating them,” he said.
-said he had no reaction to the Obama VP search. “11:55:36 it is clearly premature in the sense that he is not the nominee. But far be it from us to tell him when to begin a process. He presumably could have begun the process last year for all we know.” denied there were any similar processes underway in the clinton camp. Also denied that there were any discussions underway with the Obama camp about HRC joining an Obama/Clinton ticket.
-Ickes defended voting for punishing FL and MI by pulling all their delegates while he’s now in favor of seating all of them by saying the DNC wanted to send a message to other states wanting to move up, and that that message was received. He also claimed the states have been punished even if their delegations are now seated, since they were deprived of the money and prestige that comes with candidates campaigning in the states, arguing that the party must now look ahead to the general election and decide what’s best if they want to win the WH.
-Wolfson wouldn’t clarify HRC’s statement to the AP that she might take things to the convention if MI and FL aren’t seated to her satisfaction, saying “we’ll have to wait and see what happens.” said Clinton would look to the voters and leaders of MI and FL after the rules cmte makes a decision and take her cues from them. Of a possible appeal to the credentials cmte at the convention, Ickes said “it is our expectation that the rules and bylaws committee will decide based on full vote. We’re not prepared to cross bridges we may not have to cross.”
-Wolfson says even the Obama campaign now agrees that the “status quo” must change and is in favor of seating MI and FL delegates in some fashion. “both sides have taken the position that the status quo was untenable, not tenable to ignore the votes and the states, he said. “so what we’re arguing about is ignore them halfways or fully honor them. But lets be clear, the rubicon has been crossed by the Obama campaign. They now believe the status quo is untenable
-Ickes followed up to say that that fact means the number 2026 is no longer operable. “There is an unwritten assumption in the fourth estate that 2026 is the number to get the nomination. That could not at this point be further from the truth. Obama seems to have crossed the rubicon, is in favor of some resolution of Michigan and Florida. Until they are fully resolved, there is no fixed number for the nomination,” he said. “2210 is the high mark , and it appears 2026 is the low mark. But that low mark is no longer in my view a reasonable number to even talk about.”
-Wolfson says one reason HRC didn’t speak out about the importance of voting rights in FL and MI until it actually mattered to her electoral hopes was bc no one expected people to come out for the penalized primary. , there was every expectation that these votes would not be consequential in terms of turnout, because of the DNC rules. And I think what we saw surprised everyone… we have a harder case to make if 5000 people came out.”
-he also outlined the path to the nomination – which is difficult since even if they get everythign they want out of FL and MI they’ll still trail by 60 delegates or so. It basically involves making the case to superdelegates that she’d be the best president and the best candidate against john mccain by looking at polling and primary results in swing states and districts. “Senator Clinton is ahead in the popular vote. Senator Clinton has won the key swing states a Democratic has to win, she’s ahead in the key swing states in polling. Shre runs better against John McCain than Senator Obama in rural areas, and all of this adds up to the stronger candidate.”
“We run stronger in swing districts. We run stronger in swing states. And swing districts and swing states elect presidents,” he said. …
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