The Back Story: Clinton in the Bay Area

By Mark Matthews

The Clinton campaign says it has nothing to do with the Nevada lawsuit filed by allies of Hillary Clinton.

The lawsuit seeks to shut down the so called “at large” caucus sites that were approved for a number of casinos.

Yesterday a campaign spokeswoman in Nevada said “it’s in the hands of the court we have nothing to do with it.”

But it’s clear the campaign isn’t completely neutral on the subject.

Today Bill Clinton came to Oakland and I had the opportunity to ask him a question about the lawsuits and he was good enough to answer.

In fact he stood and answered my questions for several minutes even as Oakland’s mayor tried to pull him away.

So I’m grateful for the face time with the former President. But a couple of the things he asserted aren’t exactly accurate.

He told me the casino caucus goers would have a five to one advantage over Nevadans who were voting in other communities.

Technically that is possible but highly unlikely. The state democratic party decided that delegates to the state convention would be apportioned out according to a number of factors. For example rural areas of Nevada will have more weight than cities. The state party does that on purposes so that candidates will be encouraged not to ignore sparsely populated areas of the state.

Most precincts are set up according to population size. But with the casino “at large” precincts…it was decided they would be weighted according to turn out. So for example if a lot of people turn out at the casino sites…each vote will be worth a little less than other precincts with a smaller population.

The only way the casino caucus goers could have five times the voting power would be if very few people go to the casino sites and a lot of people turn out in the less populated areas. Now if very few show up at the casinos they won’t get as many delegates..and if a lot of them show up they won’t have the extra “more powerful” vote that Clinton is talking about.…

In any event the casino caucuses won’t account for more than six percent of the total number of delegates. That’s the way the rules were written.

And the state party approved those rules as did the national democratic party.

It wasn’t until after Barack Obama got the endorsement of the culinary workers union that anyone objected to the casino locations.

A lot is being made of the tone of the conversation between Clinton and myself and for that I would encourage anyone to watch the entire exchange for themselves. We are posting it on this website.

Comments

[Andy Woerner]

Bill Clinton's (superdelegate)vote worth 21,000 votes!!! So much for this being a "one man, one vote country"

Mark, I've been working hard to get this information to the front lines... but to no avail. Bill Clinton's comment to you today is begging for a response from an average voter like me.

Most Americans don't realize that political insiders (like Bill Clinton) control a whopping 40% of the delegates that are needed to win the democratic nomination.

Please follow this story on our behalf.

Although Obama and Edwards have made a great step by refusing lobbyist money in the election, none of them have addressed this issue.

Please help put a spot light on this.

Thanks,
Andy Woerner

[Phoebe]

I think you mean WON'T "be encouraged to ignore sparsely populated areas of the state."

Lovely article, apart from that.

[Dan]

Thanks for chasing this story up. Politics is a hardball game, but if the Clintons seek to win the nomination in the courts, than at the very least Americans ought to know about it. At the moment, this plausible deniability line is wearing thin.

[kimbers]

Thank you Mark. You're hard work is appreciated!

[Linda]

Hillary plays flight attendant and Bill dresses down Mark with the usual Clinton arrogance. The Clintons have always avoided questions unless they are scripted by them before any event.

Thanks Mark for having the fortitude to break from the usual election questions!

Who is really running for President?

[BQS]

Must have been a heck of a newspaper article since Mr. Clinton didn't know a thing about the casino caucus voting details until he "just read it in the newspaper". Heard that one a time or two haven't we?

[Beige]

In 'The Audacity of Hope', Barack Obama quotes, George w. Bush as saying, "they'll be gunning for you, not my side but your own side." What a true statement, the Clintons are showing themselves to be petty, mean spirited and selfish bigots. Bill Clinton is is becoming an embarassment to the office of president, almost seems like the Lewinsky affair again. Please no more Clintons!

[kravitz]

The New York Times
January 17, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/opinion/17thu3.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

"After watching the subject of race intrude on the primaries last week, and become even more prominent this week, we were relieved that Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama called a truce Tuesday night.

It was clearly her side that first stoked the race and gender issue."

Hillary is betting on the fact that white women can be made to fear black men in softer tones than yelling for help from the sisterhood. And Hillary is also hoping Latino voters won't understand what her campaign is trying to pull in Nevada by Saturday.

A favorite quote of this morning so far...

"You know, if someone was married to a surgeon for years, would you consider them qualified to cut you open? Then why does she think being married to a president makes her presidential material?"

[annevilla]

"OBAMA PORTRAIT MUSIC VIDEO" on Youtube - Don't Miss It!

For those of you who still have not heard:

There is a WONDERFUL and INSPIRING music video on Youtube.com entitled "Obama Portrait Music Video by Bjarne O."
You can use the free downloaded high-quality stereo version from the composer's website in DVD form to show at house parties and fundraisers. Even people who knew nothing at all about Obama have been moved: either a thrilling introduction, or further inspiration for those of us who already know and fight for Obama.
The music soundtrack, which incorporates excerpts from the famous 2004 speech, can also be downloaded separately in high-quality.

It is an uplifting and informative campaign tool - so please, SPREAD THE WORD!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mCPwbozpIzM

YES WE CAN

Anne

[Barbara]

All the recent appearances by Bill Clinton confirm what we have been thinking all along, and that is that the Clintons are vying for what the 22nd Amendment prohibits: a third term in the White House.

[Greg]

The arrogance that Bill Clinton has displayed recently in his public appearances astounds me. Bill's recent conduct betrays his belief that Hillary is entitled to the White House, and there is no legitimate reason for any other candidate to get a single vote. Her loss in Iowa clearly rattled the Clintons, and it seems apparent that they will now do whatever it takes to destroy their perceived enemies.

[annevilla]

FROM 'HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT WEBSITE' - PRESS RELEASE 12/12/07

"...She must break recent tradition, cast cronyism aside and fill her cabinet with the best people, not only the best Democrats, but the best Republicans as well.. We’re confident she will do that. Her list of favorite presidents - Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, George H.W. Bush and Reagan - demonstrates how she thinks..."

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4674

GO OBAMA!

YES WE CAN

Anne

[Toutlecut]

Very few things actually get manufactured these days, because in an
infinitely large Universe, such as the one in which we live, most things one
could possibly imagine, and a lot of things one would rather not, grow
somewhere. A forest was discovered recently in which most of the trees grew
ratchet screwdrivers as fruit. The life cycle of the ratchet screwdriver is
quite interesting. Once picked it needs a dark dusty drawer in which it can
lie undisturbed for years. Then one night it suddenly hatches, discards its
outer skin that crumbles into dust, and emerges as a totally unidentifiable
little metal object with flanges at both ends and a sort of ridge and a hole
for a screw. This, when found, will get thrown away. No one knows what the
screwdriver is supposed to gain from this. Nature, in her infinite wisdom,
is presumably working on it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://xanga.com/arrongrossqw