Clinton allies question her superdelegates’ strategy
New York, February 18.. Ahead of the February 19 primaries in Hawaii and Wisconsin, Clinton supporters seem to start questioning the first lady’s strategy to rely on superdelegates to clinch the Democratic party’s nomination if she loses the popular vote. “It’s the people [who are] going to govern who selects our next candidate and not superdelegates,” Charles Rangel said on February 17 at a dinner for the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators conference in Albany. “The people’s will is what is going to prevail at the convention and not people who decide what the people’s will is,” the key Hillary Clinton ally and surrogate added. Charles Schumer, the New York senator, predicted that the Clinton-Obama would come to an end after the last presidential primary on June 7. Schumer, another Clinton supporter, said that the two candidates will negotiate with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and other party leaders if neither of them wins the 2,025 delegates needed for the nomination by the end of the primary season. “Each candidate will have to have buy into that strategy to determine who wins,” Schumer said. In Wisconsin, White House Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton (photo Daniella Zalcman) is trying to stem Obama’s momentum after eight straight defeats at the hands of the Illinois senator. She campaigned there in the last three days before the vote to convince the State’s large working class base to support her efforts. According to a new survey by Research 2000, the former first lady is trailing her rival by five points with 11 percent of voters still undecided. In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination, one man has still an important role to play: John Edwards. On Sunday, Barack Obama visited the former presidential hopeful at his home in North Carolina. Mrs Clinton had already met with John Edwards after he had dropped out of the race on January 30 2008 in New Orleans. Both the former first lady and the Illinois senator are trying to win Mr Edwards’ endorsement. Hillary Clinton needs to avoid big losses in Hawaii and Wisconsin if she wants to stem Barack Obama’s momentum. These primaries come at a time when some of her allies and superdelegates seem to be tilting to the Illinois senator. Georgia Representative John Lewis, one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said last week that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in order to prevent divisions at the Democratic convention. On Monday, Barack Obama had to answer questions about alleged plagiarism in his speeches as he was stumping in Ohio. The Illinois senator said, he should have given Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts governor, credit for the lines he delivered on February 16 at the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s dinner in Milwaukee. “I’ve written two books, wrote most of my speeches, so I think putting aside the question that you just raised in terms of whether my words are my own, I think that would be carrying it too far,” Obama told a reporter at press conference. He also mentioned Hillary Clinton’s use of his own campaign language. “When Senator Clinton says its time to turn the page in one of her stump speeches or says she’s fired up and ready to go, I don’t think that anybody suggests that somehow she’s not focused on the issues that she’s focused on.” Jean-Cosme Delaloye / New York CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
||
 |
 |
 |
