Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign

[Wretched Excess]

the Obama campaign flipped out over this story today, calling it a "hit job".  another insight
into baroque obama's background in chicago politics, including yet another definition of whatever
the hell "community organizer' turns out to be. 

this will interest maybe three people on the board, but we count too, dammit!

Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign

(CNN) -- When the Democratic National Committee meets Saturday on the thorny issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegations at its August convention, party officials will have to fashion a solution that satisfies supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton and presidential nominee front-runner Sen. Barack Obama.

It may take a Solomon-like decision to appease both candidates.

Clinton has argued that the primary results of two of the nation's largest states should count because, otherwise, millions of voters are being disenfranchised. Obama has said he is willing to work out some compromise.

But he is insistent that the primary results are invalid because the two states failed to follow party rules and that the rules are the rules.

The DNC has not seated the Florida and Michigan delegates because the two states violated party edicts in holding their primaries early.

Although neither candidate campaigned in the two states, Clinton won about 50 percent of the Florida vote, compared with 33 percent for Obama. She won 55 percent of the vote in Michigan, where Obama's name was not on the ballot.

In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago's gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition.

As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers.

The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.

"That was Chicago politics," said John Kass, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist. "Knock out your opposition, challenge their petitions, destroy your enemy, right? It is how Barack Obama destroyed his enemies back in 1996 that conflicts with his message today. He may have gotten his start registering thousands of voters. But in that first race, he made sure voters had just one choice."

Obama's challenge was perfectly legal, said Jay Stewart of the Chicago's Better Government Association. Although records of the challenges are no longer on file for review with the election board, Stewart said Obama is not the only politician to resort to petition challenges to eliminate the competition.

"He came from Chicago politics," Stewart said. "Politics ain't beanbag, as they say in Chicago. You play with your elbows up, and you're pretty tough and ruthless when you have to be. Sen. Obama felt that's what was necessary at the time, that's what he did. Does it fit in with the rhetoric now? Perhaps not."

The Obama campaign called this report "a hit job." It insisted that CNN talk to a state representative who supports Obama, because, according to an Obama spokesman, she would be objective. But when we called her, she said she can't recall details of petition challenges, who engineered them for the Obama campaign or why all the candidates were challenged.

Much More

[Miss Mia]

Silly.  People turning in bogus signatures on petitions and they get challenged and thrown out.  Much ado about nothing. 


Palmer failed in an attempt in a special election for a congressional seat, that's why she was running again for State senate.  She had endorsed Obama as her successor until her race failed. 

[Wretched Excess]

Silly.  People turning in bogus signatures on petitions and they get challenged and thrown out.  Much ado about nothing. 


Palmer failed in an attempt in a special election for a congressional seat, that's why she was running again for State senate.  She had endorsed Obama as her successor until her race failed. 

I didn't think it was much of a story until the obama people flipped out.  I have seen "hit jobs", and this ain't one.

so the guy can throw elbows under the basket.  okay.  I really didn't expect him to get where he is unless he could.

next?

[Miss Mia]

Silly.  People turning in bogus signatures on petitions and they get challenged and thrown out.  Much ado about nothing. 


Palmer failed in an attempt in a special election for a congressional seat, that's why she was running again for State senate.  She had endorsed Obama as her successor until her race failed. 

I didn't think it was much of a story until the obama people flipped out.  I have seen "hit jobs", and this ain't one.

so the guy can throw elbows under the basket.  okay.  I really didn't expect him to get where he is unless he could.

next?

Maybe they were calling it a "hit job" because this story has been out for quite a while now. 

Chicago Tribune did a story on this back in April

[Wretched Excess]

Silly.  People turning in bogus signatures on petitions and they get challenged and thrown out.  Much ado about nothing. 


Palmer failed in an attempt in a special election for a congressional seat, that's why she was running again for State senate.  She had endorsed Obama as her successor until her race failed. 

I didn't think it was much of a story until the obama people flipped out.  I have seen "hit jobs", and this ain't one.

so the guy can throw elbows under the basket.  okay.  I really didn't expect him to get where he is unless he could.

next?

Maybe they were calling it a "hit job" because this story has been out for quite a while now. 

Chicago Tribune did a story on this back in April

I am sure I posted exactly that story either here or in political ammunition.   nobody read that one, either.

they were calling it a hit job because that sort of bare knuckled politics is the antithesis of the rhetoric that he is running on now.  unity, healing, uniting, & etc.   either that or they just overreacted.

it's gonna get worse now that he is the nominee.  there are stories brewing out there talking about his student loans, since he and michelle made an issue of it on the campaign trail.  I am reading the beginnings of stories that a lot of his debt was because he financed his own unsuccessful run for congress in 96.  people are wondering how he could put $110K down on their first house, and if you put 40% down on a house, that would explain why your student loan payments are higher than their mortgage was.  that was another staple on the campaign trail.

a lot of it isn't particularly fair, but this is one reason why it may be smarter to run a candidate that has been nationally vetted.  every minor little detail that may find national attention, regardless of whether it was a local news item before, is going to cause ripples.

[Miss Mia]

I am sure I posted exactly that story either here or in political ammunition.   nobody read that one, either.

they were calling it a hit job because that sort of bare knuckled politics is the antithesis of the rhetoric that he is running on now.  unity, healing, uniting, & etc.   either that or they just overreacted.

it's gonna get worse now that he is the nominee.  there are stories brewing out there talking about his student loans, since he and michelle made an issue of it on the campaign trail.  I am reading the beginnings of stories that a lot of his debt was because he financed his own unsuccessful run for congress in 96.  people are wondering how he could put $110K down on their first house, and if you put 40% down on a house, that would explain why your student loan payments are higher than their mortgage was.  that was another staple on the campaign trail.

a lot of it isn't particularly fair, but this is one reason why it may be smarter to run a candidate that has been nationally vetted.  every minor little detail that may find national attention, regardless of whether it was a local news item before, is going to cause ripples.

Interesting.  I'll be keeping my eye out for those student loan stories. 

Yeah, vetting, blah. 

People will bring up anything to attack, regardless of how much "vetting" has happened.  I expect we'll hear more about Keating Five in relation to McCain as well.  And when it comes down to Obama vs Hillary, while Obama hasn't been under scrutiny as much as Hillary, she's got plenty of stories that can still come to light or just be rehashed.

[Wretched Excess]

I am sure I posted exactly that story either here or in political ammunition.   nobody read that one, either.

they were calling it a hit job because that sort of bare knuckled politics is the antithesis of the rhetoric that he is running on now.  unity, healing, uniting, & etc.   either that or they just overreacted.

it's gonna get worse now that he is the nominee.  there are stories brewing out there talking about his student loans, since he and michelle made an issue of it on the campaign trail.  I am reading the beginnings of stories that a lot of his debt was because he financed his own unsuccessful run for congress in 96.  people are wondering how he could put $110K down on their first house, and if you put 40% down on a house, that would explain why your student loan payments are higher than their mortgage was.  that was another staple on the campaign trail.

a lot of it isn't particularly fair, but this is one reason why it may be smarter to run a candidate that has been nationally vetted.  every minor little detail that may find national attention, regardless of whether it was a local news item before, is going to cause ripples.

Interesting.  I'll be keeping my eye out for those student loan stories. 

Yeah, vetting, blah. 

People will bring up anything to attack, regardless of how much "vetting" has happened.  I expect we'll hear more about Keating Five in relation to McCain as well.  And when it comes down to Obama vs Hillary, while Obama hasn't been under scrutiny as much as Hillary, she's got plenty of stories that can still come to light or just be rehashed.

well, the theory is that all of hillary's dirty laundry has been aired, but you have a good point.  the entire country got a bad case of "clinton fatigue" somewhere during his second term, and I think a lot of stuff just got dropped.  people were just glad to get him out of office so they could replace the carpet in the ovular office.

but every insignificant TV and newspaper reporter dreams of breaking "The Big Story".  they are out there beating the bushes on both candidates right this second, and they will be at it until election day.  I am sure that we haven't even seen the edges of "crazy" yet.

[Miss Mia]

well, the theory is that all of hillary's dirty laundry has been aired, but you have a good point.  the entire country got a bad case of "clinton fatigue" somewhere during his second term, and I think a lot of stuff just got dropped.  people were just glad to get him out of office so they could replace the carpet in the ovular office.

but every insignificant TV and newspaper reporter dreams of breaking "The Big Story".  they are out there beating the bushes on both candidates right this second, and they will be at it until election day.  I am sure that we haven't even seen the edges of "crazy" yet.

Oh, it's going to be a roller coaster of a General.