One of the less enjoyable things to look forward to in the extended nomination campaign will be the inevitable threats about leaving and / or ceasing to provide any support for the Democratic Party from various quarters if Clinton or Obama does not win the nomination. Here is just one of those threats:
A member of Hillary Clinton's national finance team has started to circulate an online petititon that urges the Democratic National Committee to recognize the delegations from Michigan and Florida or else promise to hold new elections.
The petition, entitled "A Declaration of Fairness," was written by Michael Kempner, a PR exec in New Jersey and a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
Kempner said that the genesis for the idea came out of a meeting of the campaign's finance committee a few weeks ago but said that the effort is being run independently from the Clinton campaign.(...)
"For whatever reason, the DNC seems to be captive of the Obama campaign," he said in an interview. "The fact is that many, many long-time supporters both financially and non-financially, that have a very different point of view. We very much want to put them on notice."
Kempner said that the petititon's language should not be interpreted by DNC chairman Howard Dean as a threat to withhold donations. But, he said, "We want the chairman to exercise some leadership."
Now, there are threats, and then there are threats that don't make any sense. First, if the idea for this "came out of a meeting of the campaign's finance committee," how exactly is it "is being run independently from the Clinton campaign." Second, if you are going to threaten someone, don't immediately say that it should not be interpreted as a threat. Third, it just is never very attractive for some of the nation's largest fundraisers to stamp their feet and demand to get their way, since these are the sort of people who get their way at just about everything in life.
Even beyond all of that, the reason this really bothers me is just how misdirected it is. In particular, the petition is addressed to Howard Dean, and the guy running it wants "the chairman to exercise come leadership." That's all well and good, but did it ever occur to these geniuses to actually send the letter to the people with actual purview over the matter? This is just a suggestion, but maybe, just maybe, instead of sending the letter to Howard Dean, they should send it to the rules committee which stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates, to the members of the credentials committee who will hold jurisdiction over the matter, or to Nancy Pelosi, who will chair the convention itself. You know, the people with actual power over the matter.
Oh wait--doing that would require sending the letter to people like Harold Ickes, a member of Clinton's campaign and the DNC rules committee who voted to strip Michigan and Florida of their delegates. I guess it would look kind of strange for the Clinton campaign to be sending petitions to members of its own campaign. So, instead of sending the petition to people who actually hold purview over the matter, they have decided instead to scapegoat Howard Dean.
Stay classy, Clinton fundraising team.
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