The delegate race- who matters?

Talk of the superdelegates is all the rage, and I just don’t want to be left out of the frenzy! Actually, that’s not true. I hadn’t planned to write about the superdelegates or any kind of delegates, actually, because it’s everywhere right now- blogs and mainstream news outlets alike. Most of you have already heard the controversy by now and you may even have an opinion on it, so I’m just going to leave all of that alone. Instead of rehashing that crap, I want to point out a couple of things that you may have missed. I would have missed them myself if I hadn’t been watching Olbermann last night, and browsing the ‘net this morning, I couldn’t find these quote anywhere else and had to go back to Olbermann to get them down.

Anywho- here’s my favorite. From Mark Penn (Clinton’s chief strategist): “Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn’t won any of the significant states- outside of Illinois? That raises some serious questions about Senator Obama.”

Um? Call me crazy, but is he actually saying that the twenty-one other states Obama won aren’t significant? Is he actually stupid enough to dismiss that many voters simply because they don’t live in big states? For a chief strategist, that seems like really dumb strategy. Saying these votes (and voters) don’t matter is a great way to send them to the GOP in November and sure fire way to incense people to really turn away from the Clinton camp. Add to that their big push (and behind the scenes wooing) of the superdelegates, and the message seems to be that only important people, only people with power or in big states matter. Is that why she’s not bothering to really campaign personally here in Wisconsin? Are we insignificant, too?

My next favorite quote is from Bill. Let me preface this, by saying I like Bill Clinton. I cast my first vote for him when he ran for his second term. But, I don’t like the way he’s being used to campaign for his wife. Dismissing the caucuses, he says, “The caucuses aren’t good for her. They disproportionately favor upper-income voters who, who, don’t really need a president but feel like they need a change.” So, um, caucus voters are...insignificant? I’m catching a theme here: if the votes don’t go Hillary’s way, then they don’t matter. That sounds really mature. Just like the leader of our country should sound, definitely.

And then, let’s throw in Michigan and Florida. Clinton’s camp is really pushing for the delegates in those states to count (they’re significant, after all); never mind the DNC’s warnings and rules, and certainly never mind the fact that Obama wasn’t even on the Michigan ballot. The delegates in those significant states should be counted, damn it, right now. Not at convention where they could be divvied up, not after a revote following DNC rules. Right now! Again, very mature.

I have alot of respect for the Clintons. I admire what Hillary has managed to do, particularly in the Senate when she was able to step out of Bill’s shadow a little and be her own person. But I don’t respect the campaign she’s running; I don’t respect the nonsense that’s being spewed by her people (including her husband). And I have to wonder if her decline in the polls these last weeks is because people are seeing her the way I am: too desperate to win to run the race with integrity and dignity. But, what do I know, I’m probably insignificant, too.

Michelle Tucker is a political junkie, in a world full of them. She moved to Milwaukee from the south, and is still often surprised that it's OK to be a Democrat here; she's also quite in love with Russ Feingold (and Al Harris). Besides her political addiction, Michelle is a full-time student pursuing her Masters in Political Science, and is currently researching the influence of religion on American politics.