Obama Election Watch

Bringing Hillary Clinton dissidents back into the Democratic fold turns in large part on a totally unacceptable statement by John McCain: “I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned.”

According to CNN, there are now 200 or more Web sites and political blogs operated by former Clinton supporters urging Democrats to abandon — if not undermine — the Obama campaign. This is serious. A damaging poll released in early July says that only 54 percent of the voters who backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries said that they plan to vote for Obama in November. The same poll showed that 33 percent of Clinton primary voters, or 6 million voters in all, plan to sit out the November election.

It’s well established that the dissident group is essentially female Democrats — particularly women over 30. The question then is, what can Obama do to mend the breach and bring this very large number of voters back into the fold?

Obviously, Obama can’t do anything about the fact that millions of Hillary supporters are angry that the party has now lost a historic opportunity to nominate a woman for president. Then, too, Obama can’t change the fact that women are upset at Howard Dean for disenfranchising Michigan and Florida in the Democratic primaries. Lastly, Obama can do nothing about the fact that the Hillary dissidents are disappointed that she isn’t carrying the nomination battle to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

But there are some measures Obama can take to repair the damage. And these measures should be specifically directed to women voters. (Click Here to Read More)

Hillary Clinton was gracious in conceding the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama. And she pledged to do everything she could to help Barack Obama become the next president of the United States.

But it is clear that some of Clinton’s supporters are not enthusiastic about joining the Obama campaign. In fact, there are very unhappy Clintonites in Texas who have formed a new group, Clintons4McCain.com, which has a Web site featuring attacks on Obama.

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee and Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro hinted she might vote for McCain. Polls suggest that one in five Clinton primary voters will cast their ballots for McCain in November.

Clinton is doing nothing to squash these defections. In part this stems from a lingering hope that a surprise revelation about Obama or that a major gaffe by Obama will persuade superdelegates to reassess their position before the Democratic National Convention in Denver this coming August.

Obviously it is important that the Obama campaign take useful measures to stop defections of Clinton supporters to the GOP. But this week, the Obama campaign made an appointment that threw some more fuel on the fire. (Click Here to Read More)