16,639,064 citizens already voted for Hillary Clinton. Let's not throw them under the bus.

This number is the latest total I found on Real Clear Politics*. It includes all the people who voted for Hillary Clinton in Florida and Michigan.

It seems to me that we will need the support of all these folks in the fall if we are going to defeat John McCain and win back the Whitehouse (plus increasing our strength in Congress).

We need to think about how we can ensure that all of them will vote for the Democratic ticket, assuming (as now seems most likely) that Barack Obama is our nominee.

I have noticed that Barack Obama is focusing more on the economy. This is a smart move.

Maybe he could consider picking a prominent Clinton supporter as VP. Maybe someone like Wes Clark or Evan Bayh? That would help to unify the Party.


* See: www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html

but it is time to line up behind the nominee and I am sure most of those people will do that in November

Your other choice is... McCain

I hope she will not hurt the party any more. Frankly I feel she is more for Hillary than the Party but to also be frank I think Party membership is not like the old days. Maybe in the GOP they go the Party but Dem. are some what off the wall in how they vote. I was a little shocked at a few things she or her people have said. One is some thing about Obama paying off her debts? What is that about? And I really can not keep-up with the way she seems to re-do the rules. In fact I am sure I heard some one for her say that they have to count Fl. after all Obama ran in that state and it was against the rules. I must have heard that wrong. It is to crazy to be right.

We know her own supporters won't fund her campaign, and that she runs up huge campaign debt. Why continue wasting resources if her own supporters won't pay for Hillary's continuation?

--

the whole thing?

bringing the engagement of politics to places and states that have rarely, if ever, played a significant role before. In other words - deeply democratic. Not time to worry yet.
Don't worry about resources. The fund managers of both campaigns will take care of that. they are both billionaires and friends.

Bayh, eh.

Barbara Boxer is a Clinton supporter. We could put her on the ticket. :thumbsup:

If it's done in a positive way...she can drive more people to the Democratic party, which will help us win in Nov.

and shes ruined any chance of being on his team as his second in command.

but then again I have no problem with Clark or Bayh being chosen for VP. If Clinton and her supporters want this, I think the rhetoric needs to start getting softer, we need to focus more on issues instead of attacks.

Clark has a better background in terms of his military service, but then again he wouldn't be able to run 8 years later. Bayh is still fairly young, has executive experience, but not as much in terms of a military background. The question with regard to Bayh is, do we really want two senators on the same ticket? I think there is a disadvantage to that even despite the fact Bayh was a governor. Also remember we'd end up having to defend two senate seats if an Obama/Bayh ticket won in November.

He's from Indiana. Dems have no chance to carry Indiana in the GE.

He is probably too centrist for me personally - but that's politics.

But I don't really know him or the State of Indiana.

by pulling someone from a state that we have zero chance of carrying in the GE.
In addition, he is a senator. It may be unwise to pull a Dem from the senate especially if the governor selects the replacement. Indiana has a R governor.

in 2016?

Way too far to the right for me, personally.

But it's a good point, overall.

help him run the country instead of undermine him. He won and he deserves to choose his own running mate. I hope he picks the exact opposite of Hillary, someone like Boxer.

We have a republican governor who will choose her replacement. She's a 68 year old jewish liberal from Marin - that adds NOTHING to ticket, electorally. It won't gain him a single state.

considering your sides attempts to paint Obama as a Muslim. And you all wanted a woman didn't you?

We should all be spending some thought about how to bring in as many people as we can.

nt

We don't need anyone on the ticket who supported IWR or Kyl-Lieberman. We don't need anyone on the ticket that supports marrying church and state. There is already another party who does that shit. Clinton and Bayh and the majority of her "prominent supporters" have contributed enough to that agenda already.

Clark may be the exception to that rule. He has voiced his opposition to the war and is highly respected among democrats of all flavors. He can bring back the voters that Clinton has turned against Obama.

sounds like somebody needs some tough love

there is virtually no difference between Obama and Clinton on the major issues. If they vote on the issues then they vote for Obama. if they dont vote on the issues but vote on their hurt feelings and bitterness then there's nothing we can do about that. Give Obama the time he needs to bring them around.

Calling folks "bitter" is probably not the best way to bring them around.

Do some homework on the issues. There's a big difference, esp regarding health care reform.

Actually, I try to cut them some slack. Many are new to politics and don't seem to understand GE maths.

The people who voted for the losing candidate are not 'thrown under the bus'. Nor does the winner owe any particular obligation to any of the losers.

That said I don't really care much who the VP is. Other than Cheney, the position has been routinely one of total irrelevance.

Very few people here and in the real world from the Obama Campaign have encouraged me to let bygones be bygones, unless of course I Surrender Unconditionally and grease up, that is.

Because a handful of people have made such an accusation at a particular message board, you jump to lumping all Obama supporters in?

This is the problem here right now.

Pro-Clinton, yet endorses and supports Obama's platform.

:hi:

:hide:

;-)

I think Richardson's a great pick. I like Jim Webb, too—though Kos makes a perhaps valid point in suggesting that Webb's too alpha male. But that might be a reasonable counter-balance to Obama's slightly too cool for school factor.

If we're going to pick someone from the Clinton camp, I'd rather pick Clark than Bayh (never have liked him.

It isn't so much Obama supporters throwing them under the bus, its the Clintonites threatening to jump in front of the bus unless everybody makes nice to them.

She just lost. That's how contested primaries end: with only one winner. The losers and the losers' supporters are not under any proverbial bus, they are just not the nominee or the nominee's supporters. It happened, but it was bound to happen to either her or Obama and one side's supporters because that's why we have primaries.

It's the top of the ninth and the team up to bat is winning. The losing team is yelling and chanting that they can still win.

Most sane people are looking at the losing team with a perplexed expression.

Give me whats I need!

Both sides need each other if we are to move this country in a positive direction and start climbing out of the hole Bush has been digging for the past 7 years. There is bad blood on both sides, so both camps have to be motivated to meet each other halfway.

As I expect Obama to make a strong effort to appeal to Hillary supporters and Hillary herself to send more messages of reconciliation and Party unity, all reasonable Democratic supporters on both sides should make an effort to reach out to convince the other side and our own fellows that we need to put the Primary race behind us and present a united front to challenge McCain.

It will be a painful process for many, but with time and understanding, I think that most of us can come together and shift our focus forward to November rather than backwards.

It is up to Hillary supporters to get behind the nominee with out reservation or demand if they want a Democratic White House. Clinton/Obama goals are pretty much parallel so Clinonites have no reason to sqwauk and make demands that Obama kiss thier butts. Either Clinton supporters get on board with the nominee to make him win or they can sit at the station and do nothing.

Both sides have gone through a lot and have a lot of emotional investment in their candidates. If you have been on DU, you know that mud was thrown from both sides. It's reasonable to assume that many people will need a period of adjustment and reconciliation after what we've all been through.

I'm sure Obama knows that, Hillary has recently started saying the same thing, Dean came out and specifically talked out this within the past few weeks and many supporters on both sides have come to the same conclusion on their own.

If you don't agree and don't want to engage in the process, that's fine. Actively working against it only hurts your candidate and his supporters that are reaching out.

Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your Country

the next person who uses the idiotic phrase "under the bus."

Possibly the most overused and stupid phrase of the 21st Century.

For every one of those 16,639,064 that he loses, he'll pick up 12 more. Or so I've been told.

a doozy.