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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC Political Researcher



Hillary eyeing Florida?

Posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:46 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: , , ,

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
Despite Clinton's comment yesterday that she would abide by party rules and NOT campaign in Florida, aides still say the campaign is considering "all options" regarding Florida -- based on their claim that Obama's national cable TV advertising buy constitutes "campaigning" in Florida markets.

Whether or not that is just a "pretext," as critics say, Clinton is seriously considering expanding a private fundraiser into a public event.

Florida is generally considered to be better turf for Clinton than Obama, and some people believe Clinton campaign is looking for an excuse to campaign there (even though the Obama campaign says it consulted the South Carolina Democratic Party before running the cable ad).

The leading Democratic candidates had pledged to bypass Florida -- except for private fundraising -- because the state jumped the party's official primary calendar rules.

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WHY BOYCOTT WALMART?

. SLAVERY
. WAR
. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
. HIRING OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
. PRICEGOUGING
. DRIVING SUPPLIERS TO OUTSOURCE TO CHINA
. DESTRUCTION OF WETLANDS
. DRIVING SMALL BUSINESSES OUT OF BUSINESS
. UNION BUSTING http://www.ufcw.org/issues_and_actions/wal..._info/index.cfm
. THEFT ON THE BACKS OF THE POOR
. ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION WITH PACKAGING
. ABUSE OF ANIMALS
. TRADE DEFICIT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLAVERY: Walmart has been sued for locking employees into warehouses on third
shift
ILLEGALS: Walmart has been indicted for hiring illegal aliens through 3rd parties
WOMEN: Walmart has denied women executive training and pay raises.. 1.6 million
women are suing Walmart. "Tort reform" means the Republican attempt to
destroy class actions.

ABUSE OF ANIMALS:
1. aggressive marketing of animal flesh and animal products with front of store
placement and network ads
2. plan to market live turtle flesh in China in order to increase market share

THEFT ON THE BACKS OF THE POOR
The 5 Walton heirs received 17 billion a piece. Their money is being used
to destroy American workers' living standard. Their company has destroyed
Rubbermaid in Wooster Ohio, Thomson in Circleville Ohio, and countless other
industries.
ENVIRONMENT
Walmart destroys wetlands with its unattractive buildings. Walmart destroys forests
with its packaging policies.
WAR
Like its fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton who said on a tv network he was doing many secret missions for Bush to attempt to

rope other countries into the violent war, Walmart has driven the BuSharon war.

FORCING SUPPLIERS TO OUTSOURCE TO CHINA
Walmart makes a lot higher profit margin .. 80% or more.. on Chinese goods
It has told suppliers to produce in China or get out.
Walmart imports over 30-40 billion dollars a year in goods from

China

TRADE DEFICIT
Walmart is the number 1 corporate cause of our trade deficit

with China. Long Beach imports 36 billion a year in Chinese

goods, exports 3 billion.
American's trade deficit is a deliberate policy of Henry Kissinger, the Likud party,
the Republican party, Neocons, Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Inst.
and other architects of the plan to reduce the USA to a third world nation. Bankers
make hundreds of billions in interest.


UNIONS

Along with McDonald's, Walmart is one of the 5 biggest unionbusters

in the world.

http://www.mcspotlight.org

Found this on another site.. How strange???

This week we should celebrate the anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal.. It's been 10 years since Drudge broke the scandal...
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117_175502_ml.ht
I think this is a sign of more to come...
I would say it is a safe bet that Hillary's tactics of 'say one thing, do another' and 'get off on a technicality' are a precurser of things to come should her race take her to the White House. That should scare us all to death, especially those who think that the past 7+ years have been nothing but deceit!
jeez! you can't even wait til she actually DOES something before you jump on her.  my god, the bias on here is going beyond obvious.  Hillary gets an endorsement...she get's 2 lines.  O'bama gets loads of flowery add ons.  O'bama signed not to compaign there, but just oooof HAS to break his word because that cable network couldn't take florida out.  well, duh, of course they couldn't.  So, maybe instead of honoring a signed agreement, you could've what...not bought that package?  well, wow, that would be a solution.  That's the one the other candidates came up with.  Not too much brain power there.  If Hillary actually does campaign there, I would come down on her too, but get real...at least wait til she does!!!
Who could not see this coming, seriously?  I presume, that Hillary will buy national ads.  But there is a difference between things a campaign cannot help and actively campaigning.  I hope the Clinton campaign can follow the rules or at least some small glimmer of ethics.
A Clinton keep their word? LOL.
Andrea. So when is a campaign ad, not part of a campaign? If Obama campaigns in Florida. Clinton would be foolish not to follow suit.
The Clintons LIE, LIE, and LIE some more!! Nothing EVER changes with those two!!

They wake up every day and say to themselves "What LIES can we tell that will benefit us for today?"!!
Just more doubletalk from Obama - when are people going to start seeing him for the opportunist that he really is? Uniter? Give me a freakin' break!

He knows what it's like to be middle class? Oh really, since when does a $1.65 million dollar house classify as middle class? Thankfully, more and more people are seeing through his very thin veneer before MSNBC had actually filmed his coronation! Phew!
I think she should, any ad that runs in Florida is against the deal they all made.  It does not matter if one person at the DNC says it was OK, for all we know she is an Obama supporter.  Obama is no different than any other politician, he just tries to talk differently.  Obama is all talk with no way to back it up.  He will be out of the race come Feb. 5th.  Go Hillary, Obama bloggers just complain, and accuse, If you could just stand up and say why your candidate would be able to govern please do so.
Obama breaks the rules first, then complains when Clinton does the same.


Geez, he's a professional crybaby
If Clinton cares more about American voters than she does about the Democratic National Committee, she will campaign in Florida.

The Democrats deserve to lose for disenfranchising entire states from the primary process.
Hillary's whining about the national TV ads that Obama started running is simply a red herring.  It's another distraction so that they can do what they intended to do anyway -- campaign in Florida and then turn around and blame Obama for it.  I have grudgingly come to the conclusion that the Clintons have no moral component to them whatsoever.  There is no sense of right and wrong.  They'd smack their grandmothers for a quarter and disenfranchise African-Americans and Latinos for 1 vote.
Of course HRC will campaign in Florida. She is such a phony!
If she does, she will simply be bolstering everybody's perception that she will do anything-- even break pledges-- to win. It would terribly damage her reputation to the electorate, especially Democrats eager for a fair fight for the nomination and who want a good reason to vote for someone in November.

Since Clintons don't play fair, it ONLY would be a surprise if she didn't break the pledge of not campaigning in Florida.

Clinton supporters should note that Obama's ads are national, and the networks on which he is airing his ads apparently have no ability to carve out individual states.
HUH? Obama asked SC about commercials that will be seen in Florida, a pretext is a pretext is a pretext, but only for Clinton. He is looking like any other politician everyday. No messiah here folks just a chicago  wheeler dealer.
Being diengenuous gets you nothing but suspect looks from the electorate.
Hillary , please spend your time in other important key states. Because "Florida is Hillary Country". She will carry Florida with "no" problem. And I mean "no" problem, "big time". For FLORIDIANS know allready know, that Hillary will be our next President. And remember "Z" told you so !
You just knew the sleazy Clinton campaign would feast on Obama's "break" of the pledge and go full-throttle in Florida. I called this just seconds after the news came out that Obama's attempts to stop the national cable ads in Florida were not successful. I called it, saying that the sleazy Clinton campaign would pounce on this with righteous indignation and then declare that, well, if Obama's is campaigning then we can too. Unbelievable. The American people can see their slime trail from miles away yet there's still people who will vote for her...I think I'm living in Rome, circa the fifth century.
What would you get if you took the Clinton lies out of the campaign?   IOWA
That is why they are trying so hard to pull one over on us now.
This is disgusting.  Can the Clintons not even follow the rules they helped set up?  As a lifelong Democrat, I am ashamed.

Obama should be forced to remove the ads and reprimanded if he continues to run them.  Clinton should be likewise reprimanded if she campaigns there.
"The Democrats deserve to lose for disenfranchising entire states from the primary process.
Rachel Farer, Newark, DE (Sent Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:35 PM)"

Florida knew what would happen if they moved up their primary.  These are the consequences.
I am amazed at all the people attacking Clinton over something that may or may not happen and is pure speculation at this point.  However, these same people are not jumping on Obama for what he has actually done!  You would have to be a complete moron not to know that something that is national would run across the whole nation, including Florida.  Why do you think he bought the ad time?  Then he can claim he had no idea it would air in Florida and make a so-called attempt to have them not air it in Florida, knowing full well it would be impossible.  Totally crooked and underhanded tactics to break a pledge he apparently didn't like.  

I'd be shocked if I saw just one Obama supported denounce what he has done and not try to make excuses to defend him on it or attack Hillary for something she hasn't done.  

Meanwhile, the excuses don't help him anyway.  Either he's crooked for knowingly buying the add time, or he's an idiot for not knowing national meant the whole nation!  I don't know about you, but I don't want anymore idiots in charge of the country.
I am a Floridian, and received a telephone call in December from the Clinton campaign asking for a donation.
I am a Floridian, and received a telephone call in December from the Clinton campaign asking for a donation.
I am a Floridian, and received a telephone call in December from the Clinton campaign asking for a donation.
I live in Shawnee KS a suburb of Kansas City.  I saw TV ads for Senator Hillary Clinton on HGTV (Home and Garden TV) on my cable TV.  The station caters largely to a woman's audience.  So she is still working on the woman's votes.  This is cable coverage also.  So that means Florida!  Sounds like double talk.  Go figure?  How can anyone ignore her polarizing actions.  As far as the 2 for 1 Clinton package of past elections, I have had enough!  Let's give Sen. Obama a chance to take things onto another level of optimism and reach across the divide of the party lines and solve issues like health care amoung others, instead of the polarizing way of Sen Hillary's approach of my way or the highway.  We are tired of political parties butting heads!  Let's clean house!   Been there with the Clintons'.  By the way why are women in general attracted to men that in my mind are just "a ladies man"?  I personally am attracted to a man that is faithful, not just charismatic!  I have never heard of one person in the age of drugs to smoke marijuana and "not inhale" as Pres Clinton said he did. Did anyone happen to think that marijuana is laced in drugs like cocaine and other heavier hallucinogens so who knows.  The Clintons' shouldn't throw stones at others when we have decided as a nation that we can't judge our candidates by past youth behavior that is beyond practical expectations due to our culture of the times.  We wouldn't have anyone to elect, we decided.  Why the warpath from Clintons'?  It is true, they will win at all costs.  Why would they care if they are hurting their own party.  Look at the lies and blame they have left behind.  Believe it or not Monica was a victim of abuse and President Clinton's daughter Chelsea is too close to her age to not look at it in a perverted way. I know that my respect was lost totally lost when President Clinton asked his close colleagues to believe him and stand behind him when he lied about the Lewinsky scandal.  That man will do anything at any cost!  Let alone his partner in a questionable marriage of convenience! They are stuck together for the wrong reasons!  We don't need to be stuck to them for the wrong reasons! Lets look at the ever changing world we live in and make an important decision as Pres Clinton puts it on the campaign trail while he pushes his negative agenda against Sen Obama. Who is ready to lead the country through the changes we will be facing?  I hope they are optimistic and reaching across the party lines! Let's leave the past in the past and move forward!
Jeanie and all you Obama lovers, I actually live in Florida and there are NO Clinton ads...only Obamas.  They started the night of the SC Debates and are on CNN.  I haven't seen any on MSNBC but will let you know if there is.  He broke the pledge that they all signed and agreed to, not Hillary.  Oh, and by the way, you CAN run National Ads in particular states...so he could have said all states except Florida...none went to Michigan...so I guess people in Michigan don't have cable or satellite.  Right?  Right.  Wake up and smell the coffee!  He CHEATS!  Just like he did in Chicago if you read the papers re: Alice Palmer and others.
What strikes me as interesting is that you can always tell who supports Hillary by the quickness he/she has to make Obama "just like them."  If Hillary believed that Obama's running national ads were a "foul" then she could simply run national ads too and leave it at that.  However, she wants to break the rules set by the Nat'l Democratic Committee and reinstate delegates from MI and FL because it would benefit her.  Obama and Edwards weren't even on the ballots in MI and save what some people see as "campaigning" by running national ads, Obama and Edwards have stayed away from FL as pledged.  Hillary supports can choose to see the truth however they see fit, but it does appear the Clintons will do or say anything in order to win.  Politicians like that need to be put out to pasture and let the future begin.
Hillary & Bill Clinton use the scorched- earth policy as their mantra. If votes are just hanging in Florida you better believe that Hillary will pluck them. They follow no rules of common decency win at all cost. Ihey're replaying the 2 for 1 show and as part of the agreement it's Hillary turn now. Bill owes her and now he has to pay and pay again.
Hillary Clinton DID campaign in FL. on Sunday at the Lucky Strike Lanes, a bowling alley on South Beach.  She spoke for 30 minutes at the Lucky Strike and stood outside the bowling alley holding a homemade sign that read in part "We want a president that can keep a promise."  She then headed to a developer's house for a second fundraiser.  So much for Democrats not campaigning in FL.  So it must depend on what the "Definition of IS (Campaigning) IS.
The Clinton's make up their own rules and definitions.  Hillary pretends to abide by the DNC's decision but changes the rules to suit herself in the middle of the game.
The events were reported in the Sun Sentinel.

Did this escape MSNBC or did they just choose not to report it?

If the other Democratic candidates abided by the DNC rules and Hillary did not. Was it an honest win?  The apparent ends justify the means.


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