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Obama skips West Va. on its primary day
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Published: May 13, 2008
Today's primary in West Virginia matters so little to the Democratic presidential nomination race that front-runner Barack Obama will spend the day in Missouri and Michigan, two battleground states in the fall's general election.
Obama, who has racked up a commanding lead in delegates to the nominating convention over rival Hillary Clinton, for the first time chose to spend the day of a primary election in states that have already voted.
"We're not going to have a lot of time to pivot" after the primaries end, Obama said in Bend, Ore., on May 10. Presumptive Republican nominee "John McCain's been getting a free pass."
A poll of likely Democratic voters by Boston-based Suffolk University May 10-11 gave Clinton a 36-point advantage in West Virginia. While victory in that primary won't much improve her chances of clinching the nomination, it may encourage her to continue her campaign, using tactics that could hurt Obama in November, said Clyde Wilcox, a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington.
"If Clinton wins by a huge margin, she may just try to fight on to the convention and will be tempted to use more negative arguments," Wilcox said. The back-and-forth between Clinton and Obama became especially pointed in the weeks before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, which Clinton won, and Democrats have fretted the attacks would harm the party.
Double Ticket
Still, there are indications that the Clinton camp may be planning for an Obama nomination, with jockeying over whether she would be the Illinois senator's running mate. Neither Clinton nor Obama would address the issue publicly, and at least one prominent Obama supporter said such a coming-together is unlikely.
"I don't think that's possible," Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy said in a May 9 interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt."
Kennedy's spokesman, Anthony Coley, later said Kennedy believes Clinton is "more than qualified." The only issue is the "tenor" of the campaign in recent weeks, Coley said.
Reports that Kennedy ruled out Clinton on the ticket drew fire from Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel after articles in the New York Post and the New York Daily News misinterpreted Kennedy's comments as a suggestion that Clinton didn't have the right leadership qualities to be Obama's running mate.
Ted Kennedy
"I have a lot of respect for Ted Kennedy, but I don't know how the hell he comes off saying that," Emanuel said, according to the New York Times.
Emanuel, 48, has taken pains to stay neutral in the race as he represents Obama's home state and served as a White House adviser to Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg wouldn't say whether the congressman had spoken with the former president or had been asked to respond to Kennedy's remarks.
"He never comments about private conversations like that," she said.
Bill Clinton, 61, also took a swipe at Kennedy this weekend, bringing up the senator's bid for the Democratic nomination against President Jimmy Carter.
"I remember what it was like in 1980, when the people who didn't win tore our party up," Clinton told a Democratic Party dinner in Billings, Montana, according to a report from ABC News. "And I'm here to tell ya that however these last states come out, my candidates, our family and our supporters will be here to get a victory in November for the Democrats."
1980 Race
Kennedy's unsuccessful 1980 challenge to Carter unfolded amid a more ideological and issue-driven contest than this year's nomination battle. After he lost the fight, Kennedy, 76, campaigned for Carter in the fall.
Yesterday, Senator Charles Schumer of New York called on Obama and Clinton to join forces, saying they would form a "dream ticket."
Mo Elleithee, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said the candidate is focused on "trying to get the nomination" and "any discussion about the vice presidency is very premature."
Obama, 46, is now talking more about unity, telling supporters he expects Clinton to back him just as he would have worked hard to get her elected if she were the nominee. He discusses the fight with Clinton, 60, a New York senator, only when asked and spends his time talking about McCain, 71.
Michigan, Florida
Obama will hold an event in Missouri today and travel to Michigan in the evening. Next week, he is scheduled to campaign and raise money in Florida. The early visits to Florida and Michigan are part of an effort to begin reaching out to voters in those states and heal wounds after the bitter debate over seating the states' delegations at the party convention in August.
In Charleston, West Va., Obama mentioned Clinton in his remarks only once yesterday, saying she would likely win today's primary. Instead, he highlighted McCain's opposition to legislation that helps veterans pay for college.
McCain "thinks it's too generous," Obama said.
Campaigning in Oregon over the weekend, Obama assailed McCain's record on energy policy and said he would challenge his opponent's "straight-talker image."
Even some West Virginia voters are looking past today's primary -- to November.
"Beat McCain," one supporter called out as Obama left a pool hall in the town of South Charleston yesterday.
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