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Fresh Squeezed Politics - March On Politics Blog

Clinton Gets Around Boycott With Publicity On Endorsement

Posted Jan 28, 2008 by William March

Updated Jan 28, 2008 at 09:18 PM

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.

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