October 11, 2007 2:21 PM
Blog cites Obama-drama over Michigan
Liberal blogger Lynda Waddington reports today on some alleged, behind-the-scenes drama behind the decision by several Democratic presidential contenders to pull their names off the ballot for the upcoming Michigan primary.
See her FULL STORY HERE or HERE.
Or keep reading for a summary.
Waddington, who writes for www.essentialestrogen.com and the Iowa Independent, quotes anonymous sources in five Democratic campaigns saying that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pushed them to pull out of Michigan's primary in an attempt to weaken national front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with Iowa voters.
The election calendar has been thrown up-in-the-air as states like Michigan have moved up their nominating contests, threatening the first-in-the-nation status of Iowa and New Hampshire. To endear themselves to voters in those early states, the Democratic candidates have pledged not to campaign in states that have moved up their contests.
Michigan has threatened to leapfrog ahead of several states, moving its primary to Jan. 15, 2008 -- the day after the original date of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. Iowa is expected to move its caucuses to the first week of January in response, but not without much hand-wringing in the Hawkeye State.
Most candidates pulled out of the Michigan contest, citing their pledges not to campaign in states that jumped the gun and threatened the status of the traditional early states.
But Clinton has stayed on the ballot, saying she could not affort to sacrifice her chances in a potential general election contest against Republicans.
According to the Associated Press, Clinton said in a radio call-in show today:
"I did not believe it was fair to just say, 'Goodbye Michigan' and not take into account the fact we're going to have to win Michigan if we're going to be in the White House in January 2009."
What Waddington is reporting is that Obama's campaign collaborated with some of Clinton's other rivals, urging them to leave her alone to take flak for the decision. (If true, it wasn't a complete success, as Sen. Chris Dodd and former Sen. Mike Gravel remained on the ballot. Rep. Dennis Kucinich has been attempting to get off the ballot, although he reportedly remains on the list due to technicalities with his withdrawal paperwork.)
As Waddington writes:
"Five individuals connected to five different campaigns have confirmed -- but only under condition of anonymity -- that the situation that developed in connection with the Michigan ballot is not at all as it appears on the surface. The campaign for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, arguably fearing a poor showing in Michigan, reached out to the others with a desire of leaving New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as the the only candidate on the ballot. The hope was that such a move would provide one more political obstacle for the Clinton campaign to overcome in Iowa."
"Despite speaking in confidence, sources were quick to point out that the discussions were not the final deciding factor when candidates' names were removed from the ballot.""'Yes, such discussion did take place,' said one national staffer, 'but that doesn't mean we were influenced by it. The decision to pull from the Michigan ballot -- or other renegade states' ballots for that matter -- was made the day we signed the pledge with the four early states.'"
The Obama campaign had no immediate comment, but watch this space and we hope to have a response later today.
See Waddington's FULL STORY HERE or HERE.
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