TBO.com > News > News blog Reports
- Florida Forever Funding On Chopping Block
- Accident At I-75 North Exit To I-4 East
- Crash At I-275 Entrance On Ashley Drive
- This Is First Of Series Of Cool Fronts
- Move Over, Roller Derby! It’s the Florida Inaugural Ball!
- Move Over Roller Derby! It’s the Florida Inaugural Ball!
- Brown-Waite Snags Sought-After House Committee Post
- Scarborough: GOP Should ‘Tell The Truth’ About Sansom
- Florida GOP’s Greer Won’t Vie For RNC Chairmanship
- Rain Line Heading Toward Eastern Hillsborough
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning For East Pasco, West Polk
- Wind, Showers Heading Toward Shore
- Thunderstorms Unlikely With Front Today
- Hit-And-Run On I-275 In St. Pete
- Crash Slows I-275 South Of Waters Avenue
Despite her pledge to boycott the Florida primary campaign, which included not seeking and publicizing endorsements, Hillary Clinton has now received nearly four full days of publicity about her endorsement by Sen. Bill Nelson—an endorsement that hasn’t even occurred yet.
How and why this happened is a lesson in the intricate and arcane politics engendered by the boycott.
Nelson has agreed to endorse Clinton, but not until after the polls close Tuesday. That’s because of the pledge—Clinton believes the boycott ends then, because it’s no longer possible to influence Florida votes.
But the endorsement was leaked to the Associated Press Friday night, so news agencies throughout the state reported that it was coming, and Nelson didn’t deny it.
Yesterday, there was another news break, this one from the campaign—Clinton will come to Florida Tuesday, after the polls close. That way, in her view, she’s not violating the boycott—it’s too late to influence Florida.
Today, to keep the story alive another day, there was another leak—quotes from Nelson’s endorsement speech. That meant another round of stories.
So despite Clinton’s pledge to avoid seeking publicity in Florida, the entire narrative has been published over several days: Clinton is coming to “thank her supporters,” and be endorsed by Nelson, as soon as the polls close, and we’ve even read the applause lines from the speech.
Meanwhile, Nelson has refused to confirm the reports that he’ll endorse Clinton, but he’s not denying them either, which he obviously would if he weren’t endorsing her. He’s refusing, in fact to answer any questions at all about the endorsement, including why it was set for Tuesday. Did he he refuse to endorse her while she was still boycotting?
Oh, and no one will say who leaked the endorsement and speech text. Was it Clinton seeking publicity, and thereby violating the pledge under the table? Or was it Nelson, seeking to help Clinton while appearing to refuse to deal with a boycotting candidate? We don’t know. But of course, Clinton wouldn’t have leaked it without Nelson’s approval—that would risk angering him and killing the deal.
One thing we know for sure: Clinton is getting credit for telling people in other states who wanted the pledge that she’s honoring it, while telling Floridians that she’s got their senior senator endorsing her.
I used to be a Republican but changed my mind during GW Bush’s presidency. Believe me, Republicans want Clinton or Obama to win in the Primaries. They would both be easy to beat in all or most red states in a general election. Bush won his reelection in spite of Iraq was a mistake and his low approval ratings. Can we realistically expect Clinton or Obama to win against McCain in southern states, for example?
John Feeherty, a REPUBLICAN strategist made the following statement on MSNBC:
“I think we would be delighted with either Hillary or Obama. EDWARDS is the one who scares me the most because he’s a southern democrat. Southern democrats are the ones that usually win!”
Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir5Ee2CE-8Q
Oh, there is a reporter that knows exactly who leaked the information.
Advertisement
Posted by Bill Martin, Oklahoma on 01/29 at 09:55 AM
Obama is nothing but a strawman being set up to be knocked down in November by the disciples of Carl Rove.
This strategy was perfected in Texas by Carl Rove between the defeat of Ann Richards in 1994 and the total destruction of the Texas Democratic Party in 2002. The basic formula: (1) during the primary support some pathetic loser with either an ethnic name or an other ethnic identity, (2) claim that anyone who runs against him is a racist, (3) get the strawman nominated, (4) all his “individual” campaign contributions dry up after the primary, and then (5) roll over him like a pie crust in November.