February 18, 2008
Pol: NYC's Unofficial Count of Primary Votes Contributed to Clinton's "False Momentum"
Photograph of a Manhattan polling place by Daniella Zalcman on Flickr
After the NY Times story revealed how NYC votes for Barack Obama appear to have been undercounted for the unofficial (yet official enough to be sent to the AP and other news outlets) results on primary night, State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem spoke out. Perkins, who supports Obama, told the Post
: "Every election has problems, but in this case, all the problems seem to have been his," said state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem). "He got all the zeroes and undercounting.Perkins told the Daily News that superdelegates Yvette Clarke and Edolphus Towns, representatives from Brooklyn who support Clinton, are pressured to support Obama because Obama carried their districts. And ABC News' Jake Tapper is likening the NYC voting discrepancies to "the Florida recount, but in Harlem." The official results will be available on Feburary 26."Some gross mistakes have been made. Very often, there are clerical errors. In this case, it was strictly with regards to Obama." Perkins told The Post the issue is more than the "one or two delegates" that could be added to Obama's tally, noting that if the results were accurately represented, there would not have been a "false momentum" for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"It reflects the popularity and the weakness to her in her home state. It contributes to a false momentum," he said.
Yesterday's Meet the Press had Obama-supporting Senator Dick Durbin and friend of Clinton Senator Chuck Schumer discussing the the heated issue of whether to seat the delegates from the Michigan and Florida contests, which the Democratic National Party said would not count. Schumer suggested he supported the Clinton camp's desire for those delegates to be counted (since she won them) but added, "We are on the edge of victory here because Americans want change, and both Hillary and Barack represent change. To have these fights right now destroy the party, greatly weaken the party, makes no sense." Durbin was more decisive, saying, "to count them is fundamentally unfair and doesn't play by the rules that Senator Clinton and Senator Obama agreed to."
Well, the Clinton and Obama campaigns are certainly fighting for superdelegates, as the Clinton campaign wants the superdelegates to vote their conscience and the Obama campaign wants their votes to represents the will of the people they represent.
Tomorrow are primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii, but the elections people are looking forward to are the primaries in Ohio and Texas on March 4.
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Hillary and her supporters are so sleazy. How can they even begin to suggest the Michigan and Florida delegates be seated? Personally, I think it is incredibly unfair for the Democratic party to punish the states that way, BUT, both candidates agreed to the rules so Hillary should not be whining about it now. It's even more perverse because Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, how can Hillary and her mindless, establishment supporters possibly argue it represents a real vote?
Agree 100% on Michigan & Florida. The rules were agreed to by everyone beforehand. I'm pretty sure Clinton wouldn't be making the argument if Florida and Michigan went to Obama. As rodney states, Clinton was the only choice in Michigan. The right thing to do is just not count Florida and Michigan, as agreed, but I expect that some kind of compromise will be tried, with another vote held or something. If Hillary some how wins this thing, she is further tarnished. If she loses, as is likely, she just looks more and more like a sore loser.
Democracy is in a very sorry state in our country. A vote isn't a democratic vote unless it's made in private, without knowledge of what everyone else is doing. Oh yeah, and then you *count* them.
These staggered primaries, "unofficial" exit polls and the mind-boggling problems they have in just counting the votes puts the whole system into question. It's going to be 8 years since the Bush/Gore fiasco and we're still arguing about computer voting machines with no paper trail and reading about more and more counting irregularities.
Holy sh*t! We're supposed to be good at this stuff, not endlessly incompetent. What happened?
Democracy is in a very sorry state in our country. A vote isn't a democratic vote unless it's made in private, without knowledge of what everyone else is doing. Oh yeah, and then you *count* them.
These staggered primaries, "unofficial" exit polls and the mind-boggling problems they have in just counting the votes puts the whole system into question. It's going to be 8 years since the Bush/Gore fiasco and we're still arguing about computer voting machines with no paper trail and reading about more and more counting irregularities.
Holy sh*t! We're supposed to be good at this stuff, not endlessly incompetent. What happened?
Nancy Pilosi has already made it clear that MI and FL will not count. However, the superdelegate issue is a real problem for obama as he may not get the superdelegate vote. What happens then? Well it goes to caucus and nobody wants to overturn the people's will should Obama win the popular vote however, if the superdelegates vote for clinton, a final decision is going to have to be made at the convention.
Hilary Clinton meet the vast left wing conspiracy that is white guilt. Now everything that falls out of favor with Obama that is out of Hilary's control will be blamed on Hilary. if the machines indeed were broken it will be blamed on Hilary and everyone will sympathize with Obama and thus he would get momentum. Politics is crazy. The democratic party is tearing itself apart and the republicans is laughing.
This is total BS. HRC won New York no matter how you count the votes. It's also BS that Michigan and Florida won't count. Those people deserve delegates for their votes!
It's Daniella, not Danielle... cough.
It's also BS that Michigan and Florida won't count. Those people deserve delegates for their votes!
Strangely, before February, Hillary would have disagreed with you.
Here is a very interesting story explaining why McCain is bashing Obama: he believes he can beat Clinton, but not Obama, so he is trying to help Clinton win the democratic nod, so he can then beat her in the general. Very clever tactic, if true.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathaniel-bach/john-mccains-strategy-to_b_87133.html
Nice picture. Looks like the Wien Hall lobby on Columbia's campus.