Debate Continues on Clinton’s Remaining in Democratic Presidential Primary Race
As Hillary Clinton takes a day off from campaigning on Sunday, the big question surrounding the Democratic presidential candidate is whether she should stay in the race against Barack Obama. The answer depends on which Democratic official is asked.
Some Democratic Party loyalists have suggested that a long drawn-out nominating race will hurt Democrats as they try to take on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. To put an end to the in-fighting, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is calling for a superdelegate primary in June in which 795 superdelegates would effectively decide the nomination.
“I think it’s hurting us, hurting us tremendously,” Bredesen told “FOX News Sunday” about the prolonged primary race. “You know, at the end of August, come Labor Day, we’re going to have a nominee, but if it’s the nominee of a divided party and an emotionally exhausted party, there’s just not time to conduct the kind of campaign we need to have.”
But Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said he thinks the internal debate helps the party.
“This campaign to date has helped us energize not just the democratic base but many independents who are flocking to vote in democratic primaries, that’s helpful. So, altogether at this juncture, I think we’re moving forward as we should be,” he said.
Clinton told The Washington Post that she is ready to take the fight all the way to the convention in August, especially since the issue of Florida and Michigan’s delegates remains unresolved. Both states were penalized by the Democratic National Committee for holding early primaries this year. Both states gave Clinton the win, although Obama’s name was not on the ballot in Michigan and neither candidate campaigned in Florida.
Reed told FOX News that he would not presume to tell Clinton what to do with her campaign at this point.
Individual candidates have to make the judgment about whether they’ll stay in a race or leave a race, and it’s a very difficult decision because it represents years of their lives focusing every particle of their being in the campaign,” he said. “They also carry the hopes and dreams of thousands and thousands of people who support them passionately, so that’s not an easy choice, but it’s a choice only a candidate can make.”
Obama supporters Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a 2008 candidate, also said they wouldn’t tell Clinton to drop out, but once the primaries are done, the leading candidate should be viewed as the nominee.
“I think the race should continue. She has every right to stay in the race. She’s run a very good campaign. There’s 10 primaries to go. They end June 3,” Richardson told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But I think it’s important that, at the end of the June 3 date, we look at who has the most delegates, who has the most popular vote, who has the most states. And I personally believe that Senator Obama is reaching a stage where his lead is insurmountable.”
“Clinton has every right in the world to continue to fight,” but superdelegates should make up their minds sooner than later, Kerry said.
“As a former nominee, I will tell you, this time right now is critical to us. We began four years behind George Bush, and I think every day does give John McCain an ability to organize nationally. So the sooner we resolve it, the better, but it has to be resolved, obviously, by letting voters have their say,” Kerry told ABC’s “This Week.
Kerry added with 10 states and 550 delegates still at stake, Clinton has to stop shifting the bar. “You know, after Iowa, the Clinton campaign said, well, what’s really important are delegates. After Barack began winning the delegates, they say what’s really important are the primaries,” he said.
Speaking Saturday on the campaign trail, Obama agreed that it’s not his business to tell Clinton to get out of the race. He said he thinks Clinton should stay in the race as long as she is able.
As it stands now, Obama is beating Clinton in the race for the 2,024 delegates needed to secure the nomination, 1,623 to 1,499. With 328 superdelegates yet to decide, Bill Clinton was out in California on Sunday drumming up support among the one-third of superdelegates from that state who have yet to decide
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, one of the youngest Democratic elected officials and a Clinton supporter, suggested that superdelegates may want to see where the remaining states fall on primary days. Pennsylvania polls put Clinton more than 10 points ahead of Obama.
“We’ve seen over the course of the past couple of primaries that momentum is clearly behind Senator Clinton,” Ravenstahl said. “I think it’s healthy that this debate is playing out. … I think that’s good for the Democratic Party at this point.”
If Obama was truthful, he would tell the public that he does not have the number of delegates either- and will not get them either! What we have is an almost even popular vote with Florida and Michigan and any American who says a vote should not count is not American. As professionals are now saying Senator Obama has won states that are red states and have tiny miniority sections of democrats and this is not electibility. There is no way this liberal Senator will win them in the general election which is why the republicans would love Obama to run against McCain. What also is not being said truthfully by Obama spinners, is that the polls which show the Rev Wright-Obama issue as harming him, do in fact show serious harm with independants and republicans- the polls they are spinning are just of democrats! If Hillary Clinton is forced out of this race when the majority of Americans- not just Democrats- see it as an even, neck and neck race - then you will see many of the Clinton supporters either vote Nader not vote at all or, maybe even vote McCain in a rebellion against being run over by Obama tactics . With a 27% loss in democratic votes, Obama will loose in a general election
They should both go away. Neither are good for the country but isn’t it obvious that neither of them care about the country–interest in only their own egos.
The Presidency of this country should not be filled by on-the-job training. This is based on the fact that neither have the experience needed for the job.
Clinton just stands on a stage and yells but doesn’tsay anything.
Obama wants change but never says what that change will be–from what to what!
rrc
clinton should GO!
A long drawn out nominating race would not be an issue if Hillary and her supporters would have kept to the issues and not dragged this race into the gutter. Obviously, she felt that the only way she could win this race was after Borack Obama ran off like 15 contest in a row was to take it to the gutter where she has the experience and that’s when she changed campaign managers to start her kitchen sink strategy.
Hillary’s continued threats of causing a division within the party come August must really endear her to those she wants support from, duh! She keeps saying how she will continue to fight for the people but its clear that she’s only fighting for herself. She obvioulsy has not learned that you can’t accomplish anything when you are divisive although she said she learned her lesson when she failed to get the support she needed to pass universal healthcare…. obviously she can’t change her true colors.
Good! The longer she stays in the race the more damage is done to the Democratic Message of Doom and Gloom. People are focusing on “Bullet Dodging Hillary” and allowing the real issues to rest on the back burner. If I did not know better, I would bet the Republicans are urging Hillary to stay in the race.
She should remain until November, but as an Independent. She has been pushed around so much that she needs to fight back. Go INDEPENDENT Hillary!
If she stays in and it is close. Obama will never know what happened.
He will just go back to the senate.