Clinton camp plays up Florida
Posted: Saturday, January 26, 2008 4:02 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
2008, Clinton, Obama, Primaries
From NBC's Mark Murray
Earlier today in previewing the South Carolina contest, we asked if the Clinton campaign would once again win the expectations game -- after surprising everyone (including themselves) by winning New Hampshire and casting themselves as the underdogs in Nevada, despite leading in every poll there but one.
Well, they're giving it their best shot. "The Obama campaign has been so confident of winning South Carolina that six months ago they flatly predicted victory in the Palmetto State," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson writes in a memo. "Cornell Belcher, Senator Obama’s pollster, stated explicitly to the Politico on July 25, 2007, 'We are going to outright win South Carolina.' And today, Senator Obama leads by 12, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls taken in South Carolina over the last 10 days."
Then Wolfson says this: "Regardless of today’s outcome, the race quickly shifts to Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Democrats will turn out to vote on Tuesday. Despite efforts by the Obama campaign to ignore Floridians, their voices will be heard loud and clear across the country, as the last state to vote before Super Tuesday on February 5th. This remains a delegate fight, with 1,681 delegates at stake on February 5th, and 2,025 needed to secure the nomination -- and we are ahead in that fight."
In fact, Obama actually leads the delegate race so far. Also, the Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of ALL of its delegates to the Democratic convention after it moved up its contest before February 5. So the Florida Democratic contest -- no matter how many people turn out to vote there -- will not award a single delegate.
“It should not be surprising given recent events that the Clinton campaign would in one breath say the election is about winning delegates and then tout their success in states that don’t award any delegates in the next breath," Obama spokesman Bill Burton says in a statement. "The DNC has made clear that the winner of the contest in Florida will not receive any delegates, so the next step in this nominating process is February 5th. If the Clinton campaign's southern strength rests on the outcome in a state where they're the only ones competing, that should give Democrats deep pause."
Burton added, “Again, no one is more disappointed that Florida and Michigan Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party’s standard bearer than Senator Obama, but he looks forward to vigorously competing for their votes in the general election.”
