BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

The RBC (Rules and By-Laws Committee) of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) voted on Saturday.  Puerto Rico voted on Sunday.  That’s leaves only South Dakota and Montana to hold primaries on Tuesday.  Will that end the race for Democrats?  Nope.  It will take those stand-offish superdelegates in a position to come forward and end the race, if they will.  All that said and done, I believe that whatever the tally of the numbers, the race won’t be over.

On Saturday the RBC met to “bring the party together” and to settle questions concerning the Florida and Michigan delegates.  By now we all know that the RBC came to a compromise settlement that satisfied some and whizzed in the Wheaties of others.  Admittedly, it remains a complicated situation.  As far as bringing the party together, well… that burden now rests solidly on the shoulders of Hillary Clinton.  If the Sunday talk shows were any indications, it won’t be pretty.

After her overwhelming win in Puerto Rico, Senator Clinton said

“People have been trying to get me out of this race since Iowa and my political obituary has yet to be written and we’re going forward.”

That was in Puerto Rico.  Later aboard her flight back to the mainland, Clinton continued.

But Clinton pointed out superdelegates are free to “change their minds” and she hopes they will evaluate her wins since February and the coalition of voters she’s pulled together.

“This has been such an intense process, I don’t think there has been a lot of time for reflection of the sort that I’m advocating, which is OK,” she said aboard her campaign plane after leaving Puerto Rico.

“We’ve had an extraordinary series of contests. I’m ahead in the popular vote; Senator Obama is ahead in the delegates. They’ve never been separated before.”

It must be pointed out that the popular vote Clinton speaks of includes Florida, where Obama did not campaign, and Michigan, where Obama’s name was not on the ballot.  So, how do you count “the popular vote” in those states?  Needless to say, that depends on whom you ask.

As an indication that it won’t be over on Tuesday:

“I think it’s only now that we’re finishing these contests that people are going to actually reflect. Who’s our stronger candidate? And I believe I am and I’m going to make that case. And at some point it will either be accepted or it won’t be, but I feel strongly about making it.”

On the other hand, it seems that some of those uncommitted superdelegates are just waiting for the Tuesday primaries to be over before they commit.  In the meantime, as indicated by Clinton’s comments, she is going to be putting as much pressure on these delegates as possible to move into her camp.

Will that work for her?  Probably not. 

Moreover, a number of Clinton backers signaled Sunday that they were wary of the kind of protracted fight that some of her aides said they might wage in the coming months.

“It would be most beneficial if we resolved this nomination sooner rather than later,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a high-profile superdelegate who backs Clinton. “The more time we have to get through a general-election period and the more time we have to prepare in advance of the convention, the better.”

While all the wrangling has been going on, Barack Obama has continued his campaign, giving it a more national election appearance than the primary struggles.  He has focused on McCain for the most part and as posted earlier attempted to eliminate the “reverend” issues by resigning from the church he attended for twenty years.