This is sort of a recap diary. I tuned in late, but, the last segment of This Week with George Stephanopoulos featured George Will, Donna Brazile, Paul Krugman and Robert Reich. During the roundtable discussion this morning, Donna Brazile seemed pretty clear that the party did not want and would not permit a convention fight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with DNC chair Howard Dean seemed to be sending a message loud and clear.
Let's start with Hillary Clinton's comments about her campaign's plans in an interview on the WashingtonPost.com, dateline March 29, 2008:
"I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.
Given the history of the success of the candidate who emerged from a bitter, protracted convention floor selection (they lose), one can no longer doubt Clinton's willingness to blow up the party in order to try to secure the nomination. Keep in mind, she made these remarks knowing that Howard Dean had already said this:
Howard Dean talking with George Stephanopoulos, dateline 03/28/08
"We don't want this to degenerate to a big fight at the convention," Dean said, "This is an evenly divided party with two great potential nominees. I need to make sure that we all play by the rules that we all agreed to a year ago that the person who loses will be just as strong a supporter of the person who wins."
Earlier in the week, Clinton 'superdonors' wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, taking aim at her remarks that superdelegates voting to overrule the will of the voters by overturning the pledged delegate leader would be "harmful to the party". Their letter was seen as a none-too-subtle threat from millionaire donors. Her response?
Speaker Pelosi is confident that superdelegates will choose between Senators Clinton or Obama — our two strong candidates — before the convention in August. That choice will be based on many considerations, including respecting the decisions of millions of Americans who have voted in primaries and participated in caucuses. The Speaker believes it would do great harm to the Democratic Party if superdelegates are perceived to overturn the will of the voters. This has been her position throughout this primary season, regardless of who was ahead at any particular point in delegates or votes.
I don't have quotes or video, as ABC has not posted anything from this morning's episode yet. I'll do my best to paraphrase what Ms. Brazile had to say.
She first underscored Dean's remarks saying that there was no way the party wanted to see this go to the convention and that soon after the June 10th deadline, they would be looking for resolution. Stephanopoulos questioned the date and Brazile explained that, according to DNC rules, the primary season officially ends on June 10th, the last day a primary could be held. She also stressed that rules are rules.
Ms. Brazile also talked about how the credentials committee is chosen, saying, if I recall correctly, that Dean had appointed many of the people on it. She also said that states get to send three people and that since Obama had won far more states, "Do the math." Stephanopoulos followed up on this and the message seemed to be that if Clinton takes the MI/FL fight to the committee, and Obama won more states and states send reps to the credentials committee, it was highly unlikely that those states would vote to seat the MI/FL delegations, especially since the other 48 states had followed the DNC rules.
I will keep looking for video and/or transcripts for today.
Many have called for party elders/bigwigs/leaders to put a stop to the primary contest. I'm not sure that is an appropriate move for them to make. But, they seem to be sending a message to the Clinton campaign that her options remain very limited and that a convention fight is not going to be one of them.
Your thoughts?
UPDATE: Last night, Nancy Pelosi offered this little nugget. According to ABCNEWS:
"While signing autographs, she answered two reporters' questions, including if she thought the uncommitted Democratic superdelegates, who will likely be the deciding factor in the nomination fight, should make their preference known by July. "It will be much sooner, right after the public has voted," Pelosi said."