OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Scorched Earth: Clinton Campaign Morphs Into a 'Stop Obama' Movement

Obama refused to acknowledge Johnson's role when the AP asked the Illinois senator about it on Captiol Hill.

"I haven't hired him. He's not on retainer. I'm not paying him any money. He is a friend of mine. I know him," Obama said. "I am not commenting on vice presidential matters because I have not [yet] won this nomination."

The party officials spoke on a condition of anonymity about a process that the campaign wants to keep quiet.

Clinton Hints Darkly of Repeat of Florida Election Debacle in 2000

Clinton invoked Democratic nightmares of the 2000 Florida presidential recount to demand the revival of two voided primaries vital to her fast-fading White House hopes. But Obama declared he was already on the cusp of the nomination, as he traded blows in the latest foreign policy flare-up of an evolving general election battle with Republican John McCain.

Clinton and Obama both targeted Florida on Wednesday, a day after their split of the latest primaries in Kentucky and Oregon left the Illinois senator just 67 delegates shy of clinching the party's standard for November's election.

The former first lady was in a defiant mood at a rally in Boca Raton, warning her party had deprived voters of basic rights by stripping Florida and Michigan of national convention delegates over a scheduling dispute.

"You learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren't counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner," Clinton said. "The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal-clear: if any votes aren't counted, the will of the people is not realized and our democracy is diminished."

Clinton's comments placed her in the role of ex-vice president Al Gore, who many Democrats believe was deprived of the White House in 2000, when the Supreme Court stopped a Florida recount, handing the presidency to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush.

It's the Delegate Count and Party Rules, Stupid!

But Democratic Party rules clearly state that the total of elected delegates in each state is the measure of victory -- not how many total votes were cast. And even if Michigan and Florida delegates were reinstated at a party meeting in Washington on May 31, Clinton would still trail Obama in that decisive count.

With Obama leading Clinton among the all-important superdelegates -- and with no sign whatsoever that the remaining undecided superdelegates will break Clinton's way -- Clinton's scorched-earth "Stop Obama" drive is doomed to fail and is sure to inflict serious, perhaps irreparable, damage to her future standing in the party.

Obama already is within 100 delegates of reaching the magic number of 2.026 delegates to clinch the nomination. According to the independent Web site RealClearPolitics.com, Obama led by 1,959 total delegates to Clinton's 1,778. Barring a shift among the remaining uncommitted superdelegates to the former first lady, she would end up with no more than 1,900 delegates at best, if Florida and Michigan were included.

Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod said their campaign was "open to compromise" on the Florida-Michigan question. "We are willing to go more than half way," he told National Public Radio. "We're willing to work to make sure that we can achieve a compromise. And I guess the question is: Is Senator Clinton's campaign willing to do the same?"

Apparently, she's not. Not only is the former first lady determined to have it her way on the Florida/Michigan issue, Clinton is also setting a dangerous precedent for future Democratic Party presidential nominating contests whereby states that violate party rules can do so with impunity.

Sorry, Senator Clinton, but you agreed to abide by the party rules when Florida and Michigan decided to hold their primaries in violation of them. You, therefore, have to abide by them. You cannot have the rules changed at this late stage of the game for your own benefit.

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