A Valentine’s afternoon campaign roundup:
“I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability.” Former Republican (now Independent and Dubya critic) Senator Lincoln Chafee officially endorses Obama. The Senator from Illinois also picked up a Clinton superdelegate in Christine “Roz” Samuels (meaning, as MSNBC points out, a 2-point swing in the superdelegate column.) And Al Gore, meanwhile, has confirmed to TNR that he will not be endorsing anyone. “Basically, Gore appears to be preserving for himself the option of stepping in and declaring a winner in the event of a war over superdelegates, and thus being seen as a kind of mediating figure, rather than as someone trying to influence the outcome” Given yesterday’s threat of a party meltdown by the Clinton campaign, that’ll probably be more useful for Sen. Obama anyway.
Meanwhile, in an interview with WMAL, Bill Clinton just makes up random stuff as he goes along. (I was going to say he was commiting seppuku to his legacy, but, as Wikipedia just reminded me, seppuku involves dying with honor.) “Of his wife’s recent travails, he said, ‘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.’” (If you’re keeping score at home, be sure to add “upper-income voters” to the 20 states in the “not-significant” column.) “‘I think she has been the underdog ever since Iowa,’ Clinton said. “She’s had, you know, a lot of the politicians, like Senator Kennedy, opposed to her…He said they’d done well considering their slim budget. ‘We’ve gotten plenty of delegates on a shoestring,’ he said. He did not mention that his wife’s campaign has raised more than $140 million.“
The best news for the Clinton team today: As of this past weekend, Sen. Clinton still held a big lead in Ohio (between 14 and 21 points, depending on the poll.) Of course, these were taken before the Potomac results and before Sen. Obama has started campaigning on the ground, and they still don’t show the kind of massive spread Sen. Clinton needs to take back the pledged delegate lead. But I’m sure they’ll take solace where they can find it. Update: I’ve tried to swear off taking much out of polls of late, but there’s an interesting further discussion of the Wisconsin and Ohio poll numbers here.)
Update 2: “That’s the difference between me and my Democratic opponent. My opponent gives speeches, I offer solutions.” With really no other recourse at this point, Sen. Clinton (and her husband) try the blunderbuss of negativity approach. I’d point out the many flaws in Sen. Clinton’s screed today, but, as it turns out, the Obama team has already done it for me. I’ll just leave it at this: Can anyone point to a single “solution” Sen. Clinton has ever offered and carried through for the American people? And, no, running health care reform into the ground in 1994 doesn’t count. Well, to be fair, I guess she did once go out on a limb to put an end to the horrible scourge of flag-burning. Now, that takes leadership.
All Clinton does is “offer” solutions and promise to “fight”; she has no idea about how to build a majority or how to win. Instead, she is pleased to think of herself as endlessly confronting conservatives, while also endlessly losing to them.