Immediately following the Rev. Wright media frenzy, curiosity brewed over how the Clinton camp would respond. Clinton has avoided the issue for the most part. With a little prodding from the press, Clinton stated, "He would not have been my pastor."
While Clinton pledged to stay focused on the issues, pundits speculated that the Clinton camp would push the Rev. Wright issue behind closed doors with the superdelegates. Yesterday, Greg Sargent of Talking Points Memo was able to confirm those suspicions:
In an interview with me this morning, senior Hillary adviser Harold Ickes confirmed that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a key topic in discussions with uncommitted super-delegates over whether Obama is electable in a general election....
"Look what the Republicans did to a genuine war hero," Ickes said, in a reference to John Kerry.
"Super delegates have to take into account the strengths and weakness of both candidates and decide who would make the strongest candidate against what will undoubtedly be ferocious Republican attacks," Ickes continued. "I've had super delegates tell me that the Wright issue is a real issue for them."
Harold Ickes has taken the lead in courting the superdelegates for the Clinton camp. In early February, Ickes led a spin campaign in an effort to tone down the elitist connotation superdelegates. In a private conference call with Clinton supporters on Feb. 10, Ickes told the supporters use the term "automatic delegates" instead. To Ickes dismay, the term never caught on anywhere.
1 comment:
Let's hope that Rev. Wright is the worst that will be dug up about Sen. Obama.
On the one hand, it's terrible that both candidates are beating on each other so hard. On the other, it might just be that by the time a Democratic nominee is chosen, everything will be on the table.
I doubt that will be the case. The more this primary drags on, the more my optimism erodes and the bleaker the future looks for this party.
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