This one from Lee Hamilton:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has won the endorsement of one of his party’s top foreign policy figures, Lee Hamilton, who hails from Indiana, home to one of the next crucial primary votes.
Hamilton, a former U.S. House member who co-chaired the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and headed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he was impressed by Obama’s approach to national security and foreign policy.
“I read his national security and foreign policy speeches, and he comes across to me as pragmatic, visionary and tough,” Hamilton said in an interview. “He impresses me as a person who wants to use all the tools of presidential power.”
Nice, but will have little to no practical effect on this never-ending primary.
jake
This is great news for Lady McHillary.
Incertus
Every endorsement is one more superdelegate closer to the total number he needs. But I think the statements over the last week from not only Howard Dean but from Obama mean that this thing isn’t ending any time soon. I don’t really care, as long as the rhetoric cools down a bit, and this might have done it.
Look, Clinton isn’t going to get out just because people tell her to. In fact, the pressure is going to force her to stay in. So if people just back off and let it play out, she’ll drop sooner. Besides, it’s April. We’re not going to either win or lose this thing right now. It’s October we need to worry about.
zzyzx
Unfortunately, it looks like the Clinton death spiral was an illusion. She’s back in the lead in Rassmussen today. I really thought we were seeing separation.
Jen
I’m hoping for death by a thousand cuts.
zzyzx
Incertus – Hamilton isn’t a SD.
Wilfred
Is Hamilton a super D?
The Other Steve
This is clearly bad for Democrats.
Jen
Did you see the 21 y.o. superdelegate, of whom btw I have never seen an explanation of how he became a superdelegate, on TDS, with his Celine Dion and his ALF? I’m gonna have to go with Hillary voter.
cleek
MUP +2 in PA
zzyzx
I don’t buy that PPP poll for a second, but it sure is fun to look at ;)
John Cole
When all is said and done, will this website get the credit we deserve for branding Obama the magical unity pony?
zzyzx
That’ll happen as soon as USS Mariner gets credit for King Felix.
cleek
i have no doubt
Wilfred
Would that make it a ‘bloggolade’?
ntr Fausto Carmona
Wasn’t PPP up there with SurveyUSA as one of the better pollsters, or am I getting my three-letter acronyms wrong?
Zifnab
Hey, its one more domino on the way to the magic number. And when you’ve got guys like Hamilton backing you, it takes another big chip out of the “he’s not experienced enough” meme.
Jen
Wasn’t PPP up there with SurveyUSA as one of the better pollsters,
I think you’re right, but a 26 point swing in 2 weeks in their own polling sounds a mite fishy.
Dreggas
I didn’t get credit for dubbing Hillary’s campaign strategy the “Tanya Harding” strategy long before it became part of the lexicon, why the heck would you get credit for the MUP?
John Cole
Lame, although I said I don’t think I should get credit for MUP, I think the website should. My titles were in response to the joking back and forth in the comments.
Much of this blog is a group effort, whether people realize it or not.
The Commander Guy
I think Obama and the Pelosi crowd are going with a slow march strategy.
Obama gets an endorsement a day or every other day. Delegate totals slowly add to his lead and by the June primaries in MT and SD, Obama will have enough of a lead in delegates for the nomination.
This way, so I’m thinking, no one has to push Hills out the door all at once. She just loses slowly over time and THE MATH clinches things. MI and FL can get seated because it will be over.
My hunch. And it requires Dean to pull off. So it probably won’t work or is BS.
zzyzx
Been a Democrat for a couple months and already claiming that we’re all winners. Been a sad descent for you Cole…
Bedlam
Hi all, Question from a Brit who is totally intrigued by this long running debate, but new to the details of US politics.
Simple question with a probably complicated answer…
how comes your voting system to decide the head of each party takes so long? one ‘voting week’ to choose the head of each party, then mad campaigning for the white house sounds simplistically easy.
But this kneecapping is looooong, and getting longer.
thanks for info, I’m really getting interested in all this.
Liberal Masochist
jan 10th is about when I started reading this blog (shortly after I started reading SN! – a commenter there referred to the fun over here). It is fun to go back through that post and search for “magic” and read what was said…
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
We need a logo or something visual to draw attention.
John,
Why don’t you apply to go to the convention in Denver as a WVA state blogger (I think April 15th is the deadline to apply for credentials), and you could wear one of those big floppy hats with a My-Pretty-Pony (glitter & all) glued on top. That would be sure to draw the TV cameras.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Here’s a new meme to try out:
Florida is the Bear Stearns of the Democratic party.
They thought they were too big to fail, and now they’re looking for a free handout.
Martin
Not at first, but PPP has gotten progressively better as they’ve improved their polling model. Take the +2 with a huge grain of salt, but Ras showed him down only 5 yesterday. SUSA has him -12 with big pressure on the leaners (the other polls have sizable undecided groups), so I’d say 15-20% of likely primary voters are flipping coins and they will vote Clinton if pressed right now.
That bodes well for Obama. Clinton has to work harder than Obama to hold the undecideds and Obama has her on money and ground support by a huge margin. Given this poll, expect the goalposts to shift slightly – Obama *should* be able to win PA with these numbers. Let’s see if he can pull it off.
Pb
Bedlam,
Usually it doesn’t take this long (and note that the Republican party has already settled on its nominee), but to answer your question, the United States is composed of 50 different state governments, who all have their own laws about primaries, and two major political parties who also have their own rules about primaries and caucuses. The ‘process’ we have now has evolved over the past century. And as they mention, “There is no provision for the role of political parties in the United States Constitution”. So if it seems to you like there’s no real rhyme or reason to it all… that’s because there isn’t.
some guy
Via GOS, a report on Bill Clinton at the CA convention:
Why does anyone want that red-faced, finger-pointing jackass back in the White House (22d Amendment aside)?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Whoa there! One aspect of campaigning the Obama team has not been very good at is playing the expectations game leading into close contests.
Let’s not go there. We don’t want the idea that Obama has a small shot at closing the gap in PA to end up getting spun into “Hillary’s 6 point win in the PA primary was a crushing defeat for Obama who only a few days ago was leading according to some polls…”
Remember what happened in NH and TX.
Bedlam
@ Pb
thank you. I’ve bookmarked that wiki bit to read tonight. I guess trying to get 50 states to organise is kinda like organising 50 kids hyped up on E numbers into a straight line.
Either way, Its totally facinating and as someone who has no history and only knows what I’ve read over the last 6 weeks, I’m hoping that Obama wins and he is as honest about making change as he states. The world cant deal with another 4 years of Bushism I feel.
perhaps backed up by a BBC report showing opinion pole of peoples perception of countries influence. shows USA in the bottom 5
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7324337.stm
funny that it shows that this is actually better than previously… well done Bush.
HeartlandLiberal
Lee Hamilton is a beloved and respected former Rep from my district. He founded and works almost dailty at a worthy center here at Indiana University intended to support understanding how Congress works:
Center on Congress at Indiana University
zzyzx
Here’s another endorsement. Wyoming governor and superdelegate Dave Freudenthal.
mrmobi
Yeah, but he’s a Judas.
Oh Doctor Freudenthal,
Oh Doctor Freudenthal,
How we wish that you were differently employed-and-all
Besides, he’s from Wyoming, home of Darth Cheney, with a population of about 38 people.
Wyoming doesn’t count.
Signed, Mark Penn
tBone
I approve of this plan.
Or, as our friends in the South might say, “herding cats into a gunny sack.”
Phoebe
little effect news-cycle-wise, but at least he can trot it out when she trots out her row of generals.