Hillary Clinton was overjoyed last night about the Florida results:
"Thank you, thank you for this tremendous victory tonight," Clinton shouted.
But as Dana Milbank points out there was something important (besides Bill) missing from the victory celebration:
Cheering supporters? Check. Election returns on the projection screen? Check. Andrea Mitchell and Candy Crowley doing stand-ups? Check and check. In fact, the only piece missing from Hillary Clinton's Florida victory party here Tuesday night was a victory.
As we all know by now the Florida contest didn't elect any delegates because the Democratic Party stripped Florida of its delegates after they moved their primary up ahead of Super Tuesday. That didn't stop Hillary Clinton from staging a victory celebration for the cameras in an attempt to regain the momentum in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The media is reporting skeptically on the "victory" celebration. In the LA Times today a story entitled: "Clinton 'triumphs' in Florida, sort of" echoed the Obama line on Florida:
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has endorsed Obama, said: "I know what this race is about, and what it is ultimately about is delegates. Delegates are what Sen. Clinton and her campaign have described it as being about. . . . The bottom line is that Florida doesn't offer any delegates."
As Nico Pitney at the HuffPost points out, Obama had some good news in the exit polling:
Despite losing the state overall by 17 points, Obama actually won more support than Clinton from voters who made up their minds in the last three days (46 percent to 38 percent), in the last week (39-31) and in the last month (47-40).Clinton did defeat Obama among Floridians who decided on a candidate on the day of the primary. But overwhelmingly, Clinton's support came from those who made up their minds over a month ago (63 percent to 27 percent), and from early voters who used absentee ballots (50-31). Floridians began receiving absentee ballots in late December.
Here are the Florida results in case you are interested:
Clinton: 50%
Obama: 33%
Edwards: 14%
Kucinich: 1%
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race
Tags: Florida Democratic primary, Hillary victory celebration
Comments (6)
Everything hinges now on wh... (Below threshold)1. Posted by mantis | January 30, 2008 1:46 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Everything hinges now on whom Edwards' supporters will turn to. Being the shithead he is, though, Edwards will probably hold his endorsement until after Tuesday, and possibly longer.
1. Posted by mantis | January 30, 2008 1:46 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 13:46
2. Posted by COgirl | January 30, 2008 2:06 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Look to the Clintons to support admitting all those Florida delegates after. Sort of like Hillary was pressing for the elimination of the electoral college when Bush was elected/re-elected. Look for a push to change the rules after the fact like in New Jersey (Toricelli) and Minnesota (Wellstone). And the thing is, there are Dems dumb enough to fall for this.
2. Posted by COgirl | January 30, 2008 2:06 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 14:06
3. Posted by mantis | January 30, 2008 2:15 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It doesn't really matter, COgirl. She can only get the rules changed if she has a majority of delegates (and thus control of the various committees), and if she has that she's already won. She just wants to be able to campaign on the Florida "win," and the crap about making every vote matter (despite agreeing to the rules originally) is her way of doing that.
If Obama has the majority of delegates, and by a slim margin, FL and MI delegates won't be reinstated. If he has enough that it doesn't matter, they will.
So no matter what, and rhetoric notwithstanding, FL and MI will have zero impact on the nomination.
3. Posted by mantis | January 30, 2008 2:15 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 14:15
4. Posted by DoubleU | January 30, 2008 6:40 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Edwards is waiting to see which one will pay him for his endorsement.
4. Posted by DoubleU | January 30, 2008 6:40 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 18:40
5. Posted by Larkin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangpolitics.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 30, 2008 7:06 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Mantis is right. The Florida delegates are meaningless and won't impact the ultimate outcome.
In her drive to get the nomination Hillary doesn't seem to be considering the mayhem that will be let loose next time around if the Democrats back off the penalties they've applied to Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries.
5. Posted by Larkin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://wizbangpolitics.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 30, 2008 7:06 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 19:06
6. Posted by bryanD | January 30, 2008 11:51 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The prospect of a President Hillary sitting atop W's executive power precedents is pretty effing sobering.
I certainly hope Obama makes a comeback. While doctrinally identical, I see Obama as more amenable to extra-judicial stays of execution and conditional pardons, etc.
On the other hand, the thought of seeing K-Lo, Rick Lowry, Bill Kristol, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Barbara Comstock, Mary Matelin, Ari Fleischer, Tony Snow, The Anchoress, Tony Blankley, Instapundit, Lynn Cheney, Neal Boortz, Charles Krauthammer, and Michael Chertoff in a naked human pyramid is pretty funny!
6. Posted by bryanD | January 30, 2008 11:51 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 30, 2008 23:51