Clinton Insists Democratic Race Is ‘Long Way’ From Over, Looks Toward Convention
Hillary Clinton, shown here campaigning Monday at a community college in Blue Bell, Pa., tells FOX News the race is a "long way from being over." (AP Photo)
The Democratic race is a “long way from being over,” Hillary Clinton told FOX News on Wednesday, and she has no qualms about taking the primary fight all the way to the convention floor.
In a sit-down interview with FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren, which aired Wednesday night, Clinton said not to write her candidacy’s obituary yet, even though she’s trailing Barack Obama by 157 pledged delegates with opportunities dwindling to make up that gap.
“Sixty-two percent said let it go on,” Clinton said, referring to a new Rasmussen survey that found that portion of Democrats aren’t ready for either candidate to leave the race. “That is what people are telling me. That is what we have to do. Let the voters have a chance to be heard. Nobody should be writing obituaries on this race, because it is a long way from being over.”
The Democratic race has taken unexpected twists and turns in the last two weeks, from the controversy over Obama’s long-time pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to criticism of Clinton’s claims that she landed in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire.
But neither candidate is expected to lock down the pledged delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the August convention. And although Democratic leaders are scrambling to avoid a prolonged fight that could give GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain a decided advantage, Clinton said Wednesday there are too many ifs for the matter to be settled yet.
“Well this is a really close election. Despite what some might say, it is a very close election in the popular vote and in the delegates,” she said. “We have 10 contests ahead of us, plus, don’t forget, Florida and Michigan. You know, I keep beating this drum … millions of people are going to be voting in the next three months, and I hope that will include Florida and Michigan.”
Clinton’s campaign has argued for seating the Michigan and Florida delegations, which were stripped after those states held early primaries in violation of party rules. Recent efforts to hold re-votes in those states have fallen through.
Clinton won both of those states’ primaries in January, though none of the candidates campaigned. Obama was not even on the ballot in Michigan.
Clinton said, barring a resolution on Florida and Michigan, the fight goes to convention.
“You know, you can always go to the convention. That’s what credential fights are for,” she said. “Let’s have the Democratic party go on record against seating the Michigan and Florida delegations three months before the general election? I don’t think that will happen. I think they will be seated. So that’s where we’re headed if we don’t get this worked out.”
Clinton also has weighed in this week on the controversy over Wright, whose anti-U.S. sermons have raised questions about Obama’s judgment in choosing his associates. Clinton said she would have left Wright’s church.
“I was asked point blank yesterday what I would have done had I been in a position where someone was making those kinds of comments, and I said I would have left,” she told FOX News on Wednesday. “I’ve spoken out against all kinds of words that I thought were inappropriate. … You know, you don’t get to pick your family, but you do get to pick the church or synagogue you attend.”
Obama’s campaign on Tuesday blasted Clinton for trying wedge her way out of the fallout over her Bosnia claims by breaking her silence on Wright. Obama said Wednesday that he already has condemned Wright’s most offensive statements, and “we can’t afford to be distracted” from the real issues in the election.
Likewise, when Clinton was asked Wednesday about the Bosnia flap, she said that’s not what voters care about.
“I’m a human being. I made a mistake and owned up to it,” she said. “But that’s not what people talk to me about. When I’m out campaigning … people want to talk about the economy and health care, and they want to know what are you going to do to get fix our country and get it back on track, and help my family and me.
“And that what I’m really engaged in. Because, you know, when you’ve been on a campaign for 14 months there’s all kinds of other distractions, but at the end of the day this is a hiring decision,” she said.
Hillary is right. This nomination process is a long way from over. If Hillary withdrew, the delegates from Florida and Michigan would be seated because there would be no pledged delegate issue and the democratic party would be forgiving because they want the party united. It is the supporters of Obama, and in particular black leaders like Al Sharpton, who do not want those delegates seated. Black leaders are trying to steal the the nomination by not allowing the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan and pressuring superdelegates to vote for Obama regardless of what the delegates percieve is best for the party. The basis for the super delegates is to resolve issues like this where one candidate does not win a majority of delegates and the difference of just a few votes needs to take into context what is good for the party. If all they should do, as Al Sharpton would like, is always follow the primary voters, then why even have super delegates? Would Al Sharpton want to always follow the primary voters if the situation were reversed? No he would not. The Democrats have made their own problem. They want to have a hedge against anyone who doesn’t fit the mold of the current crop of office holders that is why the super delegates exist. If that is not true then why have super delegates to start with? If the nominating process was to always be accomplished by democratic vote then you have to do away with super delegates. Party bosses wanting to have control over tight situations is what has caused this problem to begin with. If not for the existence of super delegates this issue may have already been decided or would be soon. Hillary is right. Take it to the convention floor.
Remember Hillary Clinton’s needs come first! The Party’s health comes in a distant second. I hope some of the blue collar workers in Penn. are taking this into account. Where are her tax records anyway?
It’s over. Hillary is only hurting the process by refusing to quit. She will be soundly defeated before long and what will she pull out of her bag of tricks next? Bill needs to fade away as well. “There ain’t no future in the past..” (Vince Gill)
Sadly, Hillary Clinton is not only a liar, but also a pathologically power-hungry individual. The Clintons are destroying their legacies while tearing apart the Democratic party. Hillary will lose … it is only a matter of time.
Clinton said - “You know, you don’t get to pick your family, but you do get to pick the church or synagogue you attend… I would have left” Oh really? You don’t get to pick your family? Well, you do get to pick your spouse! And - she didn’t leave!!! Then she said “I’m a human being. I made a mistake”. No, she lied – repeatedly. She said she was exhausted and misspoke for the first time in 12 years. She told the same story several times. She said she vividly remembered it. This was not a factoid in a teleprompted speech. This was a well planed out and rehearsed talking point. Embellished? Nope, LIED!
The only thing exhausted about Hillary is her credibility. Who do you want to answer the phone? Who will be ready day-1? Not Clinton…
I’m not suprised that Hillary Clinton would veil her unbridled political ambition by paying lip service to the will of the voters. She cares only about capturing the prize; the U.S. Presidency. She wants to create a place for herself in history as the first woman president and the only spouse of a former president to win the Presidency. Her political ambition is her driving focus, and service to the country is a distant second priority. This makes her superlatively dangerous if she were to become the chief executive of the world’s only superpower. She needs a resounding defeat to throttle her flawed sense of why a person should seek the Presidency.
Her flawed recollection of her 1996 Bosnia trip is only a small indicator of how she will transform and adapt her history and/or persona to tailor her appearance and maximize her appeal to fit her perception of her audience’s needs. She is the ultimate chameleon and will change not only her appearance but her history to pander to whatever group she’s in front of. It’s all about capturing support to her. Whatever she thinks you want her to be, she’ll be. She’s a consummate saleswoman. She’s from Chicago, she’s from Arkansas, she’s from New York. She’ll base herself from whatever platform she thinks will best springboard herself into the next achievement.
Her argument that she’s most qualifed on “day one” to govern effectively and competently is based on what? She’s never governed in an executive role. She’s governed as a junior senator; one of 100 in the Senate. She has no more experienced to be the chief executive of this country than Barack Obama or me, for that matter. She is networked, though. Networked up the ying-yang. A network of political allies, and Washington is all about alliances.
Don’t kid yourselves for a single minute. Hillary Clinton cares first and foremost about acquiring a place for herself in chapters of textbooks, encyclopedias, and any other written record to memorialize whatever “firsts” she can sink her claws into. She wants the prize. Her opinion of the voters, the taxpayers, the governed, is that we are the means to her end. We are her vehicle to deliver her prize to her. Nothing more.
She’s much like her husband who relentlessly negotiated the definition of the term sexual relations such that it excluded the acts he and Monica Lewinsky committed. He wanted to engineer the definition of the words so that he could, technically, not perjure himself.
Rather than be forthright about what he did, he engineered the conditions to achieve an end. An end that may have saved his skin.
Hillary Clinton is no different. She’s a lawyer, too, and knows how to parse her words and define them. I don’t believe, though, that she’s nearly as intelligent as her husband. William Jefferson Clinton is a brilliant man with a very flawed character. Her character is equally flawed, but in some different ways. Her flaws make her dangerous.
I have to think that those people who drove Bill Clinton’s impeachment forward knew how important his place in history is to him. Knowing that about him, it has to kill him that he may be most remembered by history for a cigar, a soiled dress and questionable pardons.
I believe Hillary Clinton cares even more than her husband did about making a place for herself in history. That fatal flaw makes her unfit to serve as U.S. President.
Yeah, go ahead and seat ‘em!! Do it!! Does anyone think this will resolve the problems in the Democrat Party? Not a chance!! This will only exacerbate what is already a disaster. The so-called “leader” of the Party, Dean, by any simple analysis is a moron. Yet, he IS their leader. To reverse the Party’s rules and its leadership will only seal the fate of this presidential contest (although its result is very close to not being in doubt at this point).
The Democrats are literally eating their own; the idea of a Clinton/Obama - Obama/Clinton ticket, NOW, is laughable. Even if it is attempted, those in their Party will see it for what it is - a sham. Those of us outside their Party will also see it for what it is - a “Hail Mary” pass with no one on their team down-field.
It’s over, folks! And they’ve done it to themselves - every, single bit is their own fault. Ooooh, this is so good!!!
I like her spunk!
Obama kept attacking so Clinton countered with a Wright to the head.
TOO RIGHT this is a hiring decision. Would I hire somebody who LIED on their resume? NO WAY.
She can call it a mistake, misspeak, or whatever, A LIE IS A LIE.
I agree….why should Sen. Clinton quit….let this go on… my vote goes for hillary or mccain…OBAMA is an unknown quantity and SCARES ME!!!!!!!!!!!!