Hillary's Quest for Overall Popular Vote: Why Her Math is Wrong
The Washington Post ran a story today, Sunday May 25th, 2008, which discusses Hillary Clinton's campaign plan to claim the popular vote among Democrats against Barack Obama, going into the Denver convention:
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 25, 2008;
Page A08
Trailing in delegates while her debt continues to grow, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is aggressively campaigning in the final three contests of the primary season in the hope of seizing a victory in the overall popular vote from Sen. Barack Obama.
Problem: She is using improper math.
She wants to include, in this count, the Michigan primary, where Senator Obama's name was not on the ballot.
Now let's discuss Florida:
She is including Florida, like Michigan, went against the Democratic Party rules and held an early election.
There are two problems here: She is supporting breaking the rules AND Barack Obama, who was hardly known to the electorate, and never had a chance to draw thousands to a rally, for example, in Florida.
You may say, "But Hillary didn't campaign in Florida, either."
The answer: The former First Lady, has been on the "front pages" of the media for the last 16 years, and is well known in Florida.
This put Senator Obama in a very unfair position.
Not only that, he had to face a set-up, where the Clinton influence pushed the big states like California to hold an early election.
The leadership in California, followed her lead, and spent over $60 Million dollars to hold this early election, where Senator Obama, did not have a real chance to build, over time, a stronger vote in the Golden State.
Now, let's discuss Senator Clinton's angst about Florida, and how every vote should count, because of what happened in 2000 to Al Gore:
Like her "Bosnia" experience...it is pure fantasy.
Florida, like the rest of the country, was supposed to have a general election in November for President of the United States in 2000.
They did not break the rules...and they were not warned not to hold an election by the Democratic Nation Committee, at an earlier date, because their vote wouldn't count.
Senator Clinton has a right to finish this primary season, but claiming victory, and "destroying" this party to save it....is just a bad attitude and bad math.
Thanks for reading:
Bob Kholos
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