Obama campaign used party rules to foil Clinton

[Araxen]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080530/D90VTEV00.html

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

(AP) In this Feb. 9, 2008, file photo, Democrats spread out across a floor in a hallway as they caucus...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, rival Barack Obama planned for the long haul. Clinton hinged her whole campaign on an early knockout blow on Super Tuesday, while Obama's staff researched congressional districts in states with primaries that were months away. What they found were opportunities to win delegates, even in states they would eventually lose.

Obama's campaign mastered some of the most arcane rules in politics, and then used them to foil a front-runner who seemed to have every advantage - money, fame and a husband who had essentially run the Democratic Party for eight years as president.

"Without a doubt, their understanding of the nominating process was one of the keys to their success," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist not aligned with either candidate. "They understood the nuances of it and approached it at a strategic level that the Clinton campaign did not."

[gateley]

1. And now she's trying to go AGAINST party rulings to foil Obama. nt

[grantcart]

2. great article

[yourguide]

3. I loved this article

it shows his staff understands to look at the details to figure out how to make things work.

Again, he will make a great president.

[grace0418]

10. I had someone telling me the other day that this was the kind of

dirty Chicago machine politicking that made him so distasteful when he was still in Chicago. So doing your homework and covering all the bases is dirty politicking now. :eyes:

[roguevalley]

12. I guess it is, Grace, when you buy and sell things for so long. Just

think. Some of those crooks didn't have to be crooked. they just had to follow the rules. Go, OBAMA!

[FatDave]

16. Shame I missed that.

Because I lived in the Chicago area when Obama was running for U.S. Senate, and I sure don't remember there being any distaste. Quite the opposite in fact.

[grace0418]

20. It was apparently when he was running for state senate.

But some people just have to find fault no matter what, even when it's a trait they'd find admirable in someone else.

[FatDave]

21. Well, if there were no hard feelings by 2004, I'd have to assume it wasn't too big a deal.

And of course, it's always OK when your guy does it, just not when the other guy does it. I think everybody's guilty of that to a degree. Some more than others of course.

[lligrd]

4. Intelligent Campaigning Instead Of Dirty Campaigning

What a refreshing change!

[myrna minx]

5. Great article. K&R n/t

[habitual]

6. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6184093

but worth it if it gets to the greatest page twice in my opinion.

[AtomicKitten]

7. Obama has skillz.

[patrice]

8. One of the biggest Democratic turn-offs has always been the message that only certain states are imp

ortant. There were often no coat-tails for local Dems if you didn't live in the "strategic" states and NEVER any coat-tails if you lived in a Red state. It was NOT a very unifying experience to belong to a political party that basically considered you "cannon fodder".

[CoffeeCat]

9. Hillary's campaign in Iowa was terrible...

I've posted about this before, but you really had to be in Iowa to
understand how atrocious her campaign was; conversely, how amazing
the Obama and Edwards campaigns were.

Hillary blew into our state with this really bizarre, haughty attitude.
She seemed to have absolutely no grasp of the caucus system
and what she needed to do to court us. Iowans take the caucus process
very seriously, and we demand to talk with the candidates, ask them
questions and challenge them. We expect to see the whites of their
eyes and talk with them one on one.

I guess it's what we demand--since we feel honored and responsible--since
Iowa is the first voting state.

Hillary behaved like she was in the middle of a GE. She gave large, impersonal
speeches. She rarely answered questions. In fact, she was caught planting questions. She
denied doing it, and then another person came forward to say that Hillary's campaign
asked her to ask a planted question. Then, we had the "Obama is a Muslim" email
campaign, for which one of her Iowa field directors was fired.

Hillary totally relied on her inevitability and she did score some points with her
name recognition. However, she failed to connect with Iowans. She came in third--because
she blew it. She had been 20 points ahead here.

She obviously didn't take the time to understand the caucus process or the expectations
that Iowans have of the candidates.

Bottom line, she was arrogant.

[bvar22]

11. I don't like the way this was framed.

Obama did NOT use party regulations to FOIL anybody.
Obama used intelligence, good research, excellent organization, great management, and leadership to WIN the Democratic nomination.

Hillary was a victim of her own campaign's incompetence.

[kenny blankenship]

19. But wait: Didn't mammals use the rules of evolution to FOIL the dinosaurs?

Hmmm on second thought maybe you have a point there.

[barack the house]

13. The fact that the Clinton's sill don't know their own party's rules is still concerning.

[high density]

14. The Clinton campaign simply didn't know the rules.

And that helped out Obama. Their major turd, I can't even remember his name anymore, thought it was a winner take all sort of contest they were playing in each state.

[D23MIURG23]

22. You mean Mark Penn?

[thoughtcrime1984]

15. Obama was ready BEFORE day one

that's the kind of leadership we are yearning for.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. But I thought he was less experienced...

:rofl:

[kwenu]

18. The title should be Hillary ran an incompetent campaign.