04.21.08
Bill Clinton: Hillary would be winning with GOP rules
Bill Clinton is back in the news again, somewhat. In the continuing quest for some way to spin the current Democratic campaign results in the Clinton camp’s favor, Bill is now trying to argue that, had the Democrats been using rules like the Republican party to select a nominee, Hilly would have already secured the nomination.
As a previous article I wrote suggests, I think that is an overly optimistic estimation. I assume Bill’s counting Nevada and Texas for Hillary, which I think is slightly misleading. While true that Hillary won those states’ in the popular vote, I think it can be argued that the those states were close enough that had the rules been different, the campaigning strategies may have changed enough to alter those results. Also, in at least some of the states, the Republican system is not as clear cut “winner-take-all” as the Clintons may lead you to believe. “Winner-take-all” may be at a Congressional district level, rather than the state level, for instance.
If we were under the Republican system, which is more like the Electoral College, she’d have a 300 delegate lead here,” Clinton told the Washington Post. “I mean, Senator McCain is already the nominee because they chose a system to produce that result, and we don’t have a nominee here, because the Democrats chose a system that prevents that result.
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So… the Democrats should adopt a system like the Republicans because its more like the Electoral College (you know, that system that brought us G-Dub in the first place). I wonder what Hillary might have to say about her husband’s argument…
We are a very different country than we were 200 years ago. I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president.
Hillary Clinton, 2000
Oopsie!
