Philly Mayor suggests Plouffe should be fired for suggesting other states are "important"

Obama strategist David Plouffe dares to suggest that all states matter--to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, an offense worthy of termination.

[Cross-posted from Cameron's Blog.]

According to USA-Today, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter suggested that David Plouffe should be fired for writing this memo.  What makes it such a firing offense?  It downplays the importance of Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.  Here's the obscenity from the memo:

Now that Mississippi is behind us, we move on to the next ten contests. The Clinton campaign would like to focus your attention only on Pennsylvania -- a state in which they have already declared that they are "unbeatable."

But Pennsylvania is only one of those 10 remaining contests, each important in terms of allocating delegates and ultimately deciding who our nominee will be.

How dare David Plouffe suggest that states like Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia are, to use his vile language, "important."  I mean, is David Plouffe seriously suggesting that we should care about the people of Kentucky?  Or Montana?  I mean, seriously people, Montana?  For shame.

For those unfamiliar with Mayor Nutter, he's the ivy-league-educated black politician with a reputation for uniting and inspiring people who used to endorse Obama, but now endorses Hillary Clinton.  I'm sure that's a testament to his independent judgment and has nothing to do with Obama's support for Chaka Fattah, Nutter's political rival, for mayor of Philadelphia.

Update 1: As Hope08 pointed out in the comments, FirstRead and USA Today do not seem to agree on which memo Nutter was referring to.

•  There are going to be more debates

  one in Philly and NC. It seems it is Obama wanting these debates.

  by PROfess PROgress on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:43:08 PM PDT

  •  I don't think NC one has been agreed to yet

    As far as I know, Obama just "challenged" Hillary to that this afternoon.

    And if there is an NC debate, it'll be moderated by Katie "Some People Say" Couric.

    by Trix on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:44:42 PM PDT

    •  Oh, as if she would turn it down.

      That would make her look like a hypocrite..

      by Grass on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:48:36 PM PDT

      •  I don't see her turning it down...

        She believes (and with good reason, IMO) that debates are one of her strong suits.

        by Trix on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:49:23 PM PDT

        •  True.

          Plus it's free air time for both.

          I do feel that Barack has managed to turn the debates around recently - I think it debates mainly hinge on confidence, and Hillary has lost some of that.

          by Grass on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:59:00 PM PDT

          •  I shudder to think of...

            some of the nasty innuendo Couric will pull out if the NC debate takes place.

            :-p

            by Trix on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:00:51 PM PDT

    •  Yeah, I think Obama has accepted invitations

      to both debates though.

      by jj32 on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:48:37 PM PDT

  •  man I hate when the game goes into overtime

    I wish this would end.

    by MadAsHellMaddie on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:37:30 PM PDT

•  what a nutcase

  by TreeFrog on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:43:28 PM PDT

  •  it's too easy----Nutter is Nutty----

    a Nutty Nutter.

    by dotster on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:46:42 PM PDT

•  They don't call him Nutter for nothing ;) n/t

  by Trix on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:43:29 PM PDT

•  Is this snark?

  by Oothoon on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:44:46 PM PDT

  •  Sadly no.

    Nutter is pissed that Obama supports his rival, Fattah.

    by Eidolon on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:47:59 PM PDT

    •  Its hard to tell thesedays.

      Damn, thats the second timeI wrote that today.

      by Nailbanger on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:06:11 PM PDT

•  This is part of that sick Obama campaign

  You know, with their disgusting fifty-state strategy. How dare people think that all states are important!?

  SNARK

  by NMLib on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:45:56 PM PDT

  •  Shame on you Barack Obama!!

    How dare you say that all of the 10 remaining states matter!!

    So knock it off already with your big speeches and your big pledged delegate lead!

    by kdee on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:20:09 PM PDT

•  I know, let's fire everyone!

  Yay! We can get new candidates and all and spend two years agonising over who is going to crush the decrepit old white guy the GOP picks.

  by Grass on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:46:50 PM PDT

•  The people of Philly don't think the rest of PA

  counts. This, therefore, comes as no suprise that the mayor is willing to discount other states.

  Obama's endorsement of Fattah, nope, that has nothing to do with the Nutter flip. Nothing whatsoever. Heh.

  by alasmoses on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:46:52 PM PDT

  •  It doesn't

    Nutter was JUST elected. He's not going anywhere for a few years.

    Now, if a PRESIDENT Obama endorses a rival Dem when the next mayoral primary comes up, that's another thing entirely.

    by mmacdDE on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:49:33 PM PDT

    •  I agree

      Nutter ran a great campaign; Fattah was lame,lame, lame.  Seemed to think the nomination was his for the asking (more like Clinton than Obama).  Absolutely not a threat to Nutter; and he needs the support of all the dems in Philadelphia.  Believe me, he will be solidly behind Obama once he wins the nomination.

      by janmtairy on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:06:47 PM PDT

•  Outraged!

  Yes I am outraged!  At SOMETHING or other that Obama's campaign said!  How DARE they?!?  or something.  SHAME ON YOU BARACK OBAMA!

  Thank god Hillary and her surrogates can protect us from Obama's imaginary corruption.  

  Nutter indeed.  

  by Sun dog on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:47:48 PM PDT

•  Wrong Memo

  It was this memo that he objected to according to Firstread

  From: Bill Burton
  Sent: Wed 3/12/2008 6:36 PM
  To: Bill Burton
  Subject: FW: The Clinton Memo... as annotated by the Obama communications department
  To: Interested Parties
  From: Clinton Campaign
  Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

  Re: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground [Get ready for a good one.]

  The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can't win there, how will he win the general election?

  [Answer: I suppose by holding obviously Democratic states like California and New York, and beating McCain in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin where Clinton lost to Obama by mostly crushing margins. But good question.]

  After setbacks in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama needs to demonstrate that he can win the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the last state with more than 15 electoral votes on the primary calendar and Barack Obama has lost six of the seven other largest states so far - every state except his home state of Illinois.

  [If you define "setback" as netting enough delegates out of our 20-plus-point wins in Mississippi and Wyoming to completely erase any delegate advantage the Clinton campaign earned out of March 4th, then yeah, we feel pretty setback.]

  Pennsylvania is of particular importance, along with Ohio, Florida and Michigan, because it is dominated by the swing voters who are critical to a Democratic victory in November. No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.

  [What the Clinton campaign secretly means: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT WE'VE LOST 14 OF THE LAST 17 CONTESTS AND SAID THAT MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA WOULDN'T COUNT FOR ANYTHING. Also, we're still trying to wrap our minds around the amazing coincidence that the only "important" states in the nominating process are the ones that Clinton won.]

  But the Obama campaign has just announced that it is turning its attention away from Pennsylvania.

  [Huh?]

  This is not a strategy that can beat John McCain in November.

  [I don't think Clinton's strategy of losing in state after state after promising more of the same politics is working all that well either.]

  In the last two weeks, Barack Obama has lost ground among men, women, Democrats, independents and Republicans - all of which point to a candidacy past its prime.

  ["A candidacy past its prime." These guys kill me.]

  For example, just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama won 68% of men in Virginia, 67% in Wisconsin and 62% in Maryland. He won 60% of Virginia women and 55% of Maryland women. He won 62% of independents in Maryland, 64% in Wisconsin and 69% in Virginia. Obama won 59% of Democrats in Maryland, 53% in Wisconsin and 62% in Virginia. And among Republicans, Obama won 72% in both Virginia and Wisconsin.

  But now Obama's support has dropped among all these groups.

  [That's true, if you don't count all the winning we've been up to. As it turns out, it's difficult to maintain 40-point demographic advantages, even over Clinton]

  In Mississippi, he won only 25% of Republicans and barely half of independents. In Ohio, he won only 48% of men, 41% of women and 42% of Democrats. In Texas, he won only 49% of independents and 46% of Democrats. And in Rhode Island, Obama won just 33% of women and 37% of Democrats.

  [I'm sympathetic to their attempt to parse crushing defeats. And I'm sure Rush Limbaugh's full-throated endorsement of Clinton didn't make any difference. Right]

  Why are so many voters turning away from Barack Obama in state after state?

  [You mean besides the fact that we're ahead in votes, states won and delegates?]

  In the last few weeks, questions have arisen about Obama's readiness to be president. In Virginia, 56% of Democratic primary voters said Obama was most qualified to be commander-in-chief. That number fell to 37% in Ohio, 35% in Rhode Island and 39% in Texas.

  [Only the Clinton campaign could cherry pick states like this. But in contrast to their logic, in the most recent contest of Mississippi, voters said that Obama was more qualified to be commander in chief than Clinton by a margin of 55-42.]

  So the late deciders - those making up their minds in the last days before the election - have been shifting to Hillary Clinton. Among those who made their decision in the last three days, Obama won 55% in Virginia and 53% in Wisconsin, but only 43% in Mississippi, 40% in Ohio, 39% in Texas and 37% in Rhode Island.

  [If only there were enough late deciders for the Clinton campaign to actually be ahead, they would really be on to something.]

  If Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral with a big win in Pennsylvania, he cannot possibly be competitive against John McCain in November.

  [If they are defining downward spiral as a series of events in which the Clinton campaign has lost more votes, lost more contests and lost more delegates to us - I guess we will have to suffer this horribly painful slide all the way to the nomination and then on to the White House.]

  [Thanks for the laughs guys. This was great.]

  by Hope08 on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:48:51 PM PDT

  •  That is even dumber

    Is it insensitive to laugh at a the team that claims to have their opponents where they want them in the 7th inning stretch when they are down by 15 runs?

    by Libesatva on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:53:48 PM PDT

    •  I think they are quoting...

      General George Armstrong Custer.

      by Tonedevil on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:00:10 PM PDT

  •  That's real?

    Hahahaha, I'm glad the Obama campaign can pull of snark. It feels like left wing bloggers are running for the White House - which is totally awesome.

    by Grass on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:55:16 PM PDT

  •  This is the same genious plan that

    didn't work in Wisconsin.  Anyone remember the Hillary attack ads that said, "Obama is turning its back on Wisconsin, because Obama refuses to have a debate".

    They like to continue this divisiveness, by over stating a state's importance.

    by kanuk on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:41:17 PM PDT

•  Holy fucking shit

  He's not just a mayor, he's a rapping mayor!

  by Hannibal on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:49:48 PM PDT

  •  Don't do that

    Ever again!

    by Bipolar Disorder Democrat on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:59:29 PM PDT

  •  He should step down for that video

    Yes.....it was that bad.

    by kdee on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:23:20 PM PDT

•  Mayor Nutter's city will be revealed to be

  solidly in the ranks of the unimportant the night of April 22

  by DemocraticLuntz on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:49:56 PM PDT

•  I'm not surprised

  I call politicians like these "Warlords" because their little piece of turf is all that matters to them. I saw this for years in Detroit when Mayor Coleman Young did not even care whether presidents and governors were Democrats or Republicans. All that mattered was his littl patch of dirt.

  by RandySF on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:50:05 PM PDT

•  In fairness, though, if I were a Clinton

  surrogate, I would be calling for Obama's campaign mananger to be fired as well. Everyday. Whether a reason existed or not. :)

  by jj32 on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:50:43 PM PDT

•  Correct me if I am wrong

  but did Plouffe say that all 10 remaining states are important?  Where's the outrage???

  by johnny rotten on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:52:42 PM PDT

•  Sauce for the goose

  Or do I need to parrot back the "states that don't matter" jokes?

  by andgarden on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:53:14 PM PDT

  •  Show us where he said that

    'kay?

    by sheddhead on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:56:43 PM PDT

    •  pffft

      as if that were ever the standard before.

      by andgarden on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:57:47 PM PDT

      •  ahhhh, only for me.

        True, I've never seen a Clinton supporter back up their spin.

        by sheddhead on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:03:09 PM PDT

  •  goose? parrot? uh...grebe!

    by memofromturner on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:58:29 PM PDT

•  nutter is great

  but he's way out of bounds here.

  by dday on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:53:31 PM PDT

  •  I thought he would be more quiet

    given his contuency is not in the Clinton corner.  

    He has really dug himself in with Clinton.  Pride is a terrible thing sometimes.  

    by Must Have Been The Roses on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 06:19:39 PM PDT

•  Luv NutterButters, hate Nutter...catchy, huh.

  I always wonder how so many useless people manage to win elections to help govern our country.  I just sit shaking my head sometimes...it's actually rather depressing. Guess it's not really that hard to figure out, as most have completely sold their souls to corporate lobbyists well before they win an elevated spot in government.  

  Jeez, wonder if we have a stray bottle of merlot laying around...

  by Public Servant on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:54:06 PM PDT

  •  Nutter is a good progressive mayor

    He's on the wrong side on this, but he is making great changes here.  You are way off here; and I hope you are basing your opinion on something more than his opinion about the presidential primary.  

    by Must Have Been The Roses on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 06:21:35 PM PDT

    •  Links

      To read about our mayor

      by Must Have Been The Roses on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 06:28:42 PM PDT

    •  Backing Clinton and lying about BO is huge F'up

      He may be a nice progressive mayor, but a mistake this substantial is IMHO, unforgiveable.  We're talking about being decidedly and knowingly on the wrong side in regard to deciding the next Prez of the U.S., not a mayor of any single city in our country. From my vantage point in Ohio, I have an obviously limited data set...on the other hand, what he's said on this point is again, unforgiveable.  

      No offense, and I'll take you at your word that he's solid.  But he is WAAAAY out of bounds on this.

      Best wishes, bub.

      by Public Servant on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 06:38:13 PM PDT

•  Perhaps the Mayor could call for more and

  better programs for his city.  More and better affordable housing.  More and better after-school programs.  More and better dbe incentives.

  by St Louis Woman on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:54:36 PM PDT

  •  Doing something about

    the muder rate might be a good start:

    When Mr. Nutter takes office on Jan. 7, he will face a crime wave that has left at least 355 people dead so far this year and that gave Philadelphia the highest homicide rate of any big city in the country last year, with 406 killings — more per capita than even New York City, which has six times the population.

    by CabinGirl on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:59:58 PM PDT

•  I would like to remind the Clinton Campaign

  Of the 2004 election when Ohio was the only state that mattered. Look where that got us.

  by RandySF on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:55:56 PM PDT

•  Nutter just has sour grapes

  Obama prefers his rival, Fattah.  My sister lives in Philly, and she says that Nutter is against anyone or anything that Fattah supports as long as it doesn't hurt him.

  Though I think it was rather odd for him to throw such a public tantrum about this, and to suggest that this is somehow worthy of a firing.

  by Harkov311 on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 03:58:16 PM PDT

•  Do I hear shufflin?

  by LoLoLaLa on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:28:39 PM PDT

•  But Super Delegates are Independant thinkers!!!

  I'm telling you.  These people are leaders, who will do what is best.  They don't take this personal.  And they definitely don't allow personal politics to influence them.  Nope.  

  /snark

  by AntonBursch on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:33:04 PM PDT

•  Hillary doesn't want a debate in NC

  because then she would have to concede the state actually matters. Remember any state that she doesn't thyink she can win does not matter, it's called the Clinton rules.

  by nevadadem on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 04:36:31 PM PDT