War Room

Clinton's primary night gambit

Tonight's primary in Florida won't be your usual election, especially since, at least on the Democratic side, none of the votes will actually count. (Hmm. Actually, let's take back what we said about this not being usual in Florida ...)

Since the Florida Legislature moved the state's primary ahead of the date the two parties wanted it held, each party penalized the state's voters. The Republicans cut in half the number of delegates Florida normally carries to that party's nominating convention, while the Democrats decided not to count Florida's delegates at all, and the candidates signed a pledge not to campaign there.

All that has made life a little complicated for Hillary Clinton, who badly needs a victory in order to reestablish momentum after the beating she took at the hands of chief rival Barack Obama in South Carolina this past weekend. She'd made it clear when she spoke after South Carolina's results were in Saturday night, and before, that her campaign would treat her anticipated victory in Florida (she currently leads by more than 18 points in the Real Clear Politics average of state polls) as a real win. An e-mail we got yesterday evening made that even more evident, as the Clinton campaign announced that she'd be in Florida tonight to thank supporters after the polls close. The e-mail came with this caveat: "She will visit the state after all polls are closed in the Florida primary, in accordance with her pledge not to campaign in the state before its primary."

Sarah Palin's pastor problem
Move over Jeremiah Wright
McCain knocks Obama as "celebrity" again
But Paris Hilton doesn't make an appearance in this new ad.
More dirt on Palin on the way?
The National Enquirer is reporting that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner, who reportedly just tried to have his divorce records sealed.
Woodward: Don't credit surge for Iraq turnaround
In his new book, the investigative journalist credits covert ops with reducing violence in Iraq.

Current Salon Politics Stories

Salon Politics Blogs

Recent Posts

McCain knocks Obama as "celebrity" again
But Paris Hilton doesn't make an appearance in this new ad.
More dirt on Palin on the way?
The National Enquirer is reporting that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner, who reportedly just tried to have his divorce records sealed.
Woodward: Don't credit surge for Iraq turnaround
In his new book, the investigative journalist credits covert ops with reducing violence in Iraq.
Previous Posts…

War Room RSS Feed

Posts by date

September 2008
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930

About War Room

War Room is written and edited by Alex Koppelman, with contributions from Salon reporters around the country.

Daily Newsletter

Get Salon in your mailbox!