It has become quite difficult to determine if Hillary Clinton wants to stake her electability claims upon the popular/primary vote -- as she claimed gave her the victory in Texas -- or go with the Electoral College votes argument in her appeals for super delegate endorsements. Well, now the two have come together, sort of like a crash, in the comments of Clinton supporter, Evan Bayh as reported at International Herald Tribune.
Clinton backer points to Electoral College votes as new measure
It's a bit of a maze to navigate, tormented logic and such. But hell, why not. Ready? Get set. Go.
Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, who backs Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, proposed another gauge Sunday by which superdelegates might judge whether to support Clinton or Senator Barack Obama.
Okay, I'm game. This should be good after last week's spectacles from the Clinton McCain campaign.
"So who carried the states with the most Electoral College votes is an important factor to consider because ultimately, that's how we choose the president of the United States," Bayh said on CNN's "Late Edition."
This new gauge Sen. Bayh proposes is the ugly sibling of the big states meme that we have already heard from Clinton.
Sen. Bayh then goes on to flush the significance of Sen. Obama's lead in primary votes nationwide down the rabbit hole with this comment:
"But ultimately, you know, if you look at the aggregate as popular vote, and as we all recall in 2000, to our, as Democrats, great sorrow, we do elect presidents based upon the Electoral College."
...and this one:
Asked how she could win the nomination, Bayh said: "Well, I do think the popular vote is important. But that's a circular argument. It brings us back to Florida and Michigan."
Bill Clinton's weekend electability arguments stood with one foot in the Florida/Michigan beauty pageants primaries and the other foot in Ohio, where many Republicans are under investigation for casting illegal votes in the Democratic primary.
So here's how I see the Clinton Electability Coin.
Heads: popular/primary votes only count in Texas, Ohio, Florida and Michigan.
Tails: Most delegates won in state primary contests is trumped by the potential Electoral College votes contained in big states even where the aggregate potential Electoral College votes from all other non-big states outnumber those won in the big states.
Flip the coin, super delegates. It's heads, Clinton wins, tails, Clinton wins. Or perhaps get a new coin.