February 10, 2008
Word no candidate wants to see in headline: "panic"
Although it's not an American paper, The Telegraph is widely read in the U.K. -- and online -- making this headline: "Hillary Clinton's advisers 'in a state of panic' " and its accompanying article cringe-inducing for the Clinton machine.
Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions.
The Clinton camp is braced for Mr Obama to win a series of primary elections over the next three weeks, which they fear could hand the Illinois senator unstoppable momentum in the race for the White House.
Mr Obama has begun calling those "super delegates" - 795 congressmen and senior party officials who could break a dead heat - who are committed to Mrs Clinton, asking them to change their minds and help him wrap up the nomination.
As of tonight, the two candidates were neck and neck but Mr Obama appeared to be gaining momentum.
"He's saying: 'Hey, I won your state and I won your congressional district, why are you supporting her?'" a Democrat strategist revealed.
The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.
[...]
A senior Democrat who has discussed Clinton campaign thinking with a member of her inner circle said: "The Clintons are in a state of panic. She has to win both Texas and Ohio."
But he added that this might prove impossible if Mr Obama maintains his momentum and wins most, or all, of the nine contests which come before that.
Mr Obama won yesterday's primary elections held in Washington state and Nebraska, and is expected to do well in Louisiana.
He is also favourite to sweep Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC, which all vote on Tuesday, as well as Wisconsin and Hawaii, where he once lived, on February 19.
Only in Maine is Mrs Clinton confident, though Virginia and Wisconsin may also go her way.
[...]
Clinton aides believe that if Mr Obama does not deliver a knock-out blow before March 4, the advantage will swing back to her and she will argue for a deal in which uncommitted super-delegates unite behind her, to preserve party unity.
But the prospect of a deal behind closed doors, that could brush aside the views of voters in the primaries, is already creating fury in the party.
Donna Brazile, an African American strategist, said last week: "If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party."
But the Clinton camp fears that a failure to engineer a deal could lead to bitter battles at the Democrat convention in Denver in late August, which could even end with Al Gore, the former vice president, emerging as a compromise candidate.
"There's a five per cent chance of that happening, but that's five percent too high," the Clinton source said.
Mrs Clinton is also under financial pressure.
She claimed that she received $7.5m in donations after admitting lending her campaign $5m last week.
But the source claimed that her campaign is actually in far worse financial trouble than they are letting on.
My head wants Clinton to win the nomination (for reasons stated below) but my heart sings at the thought of the purple-faced rage that must be the emotion of the day in the Clinton house, with both past and would-be presidents aghast at their inevitable return to the White House looking suddenly rather less likely.
Heh.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 10, 2008 11:09 AM
| TrackBack
Comments
The Democratic party has been telling utterly loyal black members for years that it alone represents their interests. When they finally have a charismatic and inspiring black candidate who is better positioned to take on the Republicans than the white insider (Clinton), oh how painful and shocking it will be for African American Democrats when the party machine brokers a backroom deal that denies Obama his rightful day in the sun.
Posted by: Bill H at February 10, 2008 01:02 PM