Hillary's campaign has set itself up.

[Renew Deal]

Hillary's campaign has made another amazingly dumb mistake that may not be obvious yet. Last week Hillary's campaign said that they'd be within 25 delegates including supers by the end of March 4th. They did this before Wisconsin voted. There are 2 major problems with making a prediction like that.

• First is that they set a measurable goal that they have to live up to. A more than 25 delegate gap is a failure.
  
• Second is that Wisconsin and Hawaii hadn't voted yet. There was no way to know what would happen there.
  
• Third is that they can't control super delegates.
  Obama has been gaining them and Hillary has been losing them. That means that it's that much harder to make their goal.
  
• Fourth, I don't think Hillary's campaign understood Texas or that Democrats Abroad was going to report on Feb. 21. Obama is very likely to do well with DA. I haven't seen a single report of Obama losing a DA election. I bet Obama is going to get a motherload of those delegates tomorrow (around 22 available).
  

So Hillary's campaign has screwed up once again. Chances are they will miss their stated goal for March 4th, and her campaign is that much closer to finished.

[FormerDittoHead]

1. One mistake after another. I voted for her, but Hillary's campaign has NOmentum... n/t

[karynnj]

2. Well, Penn was on the Joe Leiberman 2004 campaign n/t

[FormerDittoHead]

3. THIS would an EXCELLENT time for her to make a deal with Obama, but she probably won't...

The ONE THING I liked about Hillary more than Obama was her health care plan.

SERIOUSLY, if she would make a deal NOW, drop out but become head of the new national health care initiative (I'm thinking she could retain her Senate seat as well....)

I know she's been planning to erase that 1993 failure off her record. I KNOW she wants to put HER name on that thing, and there's no question Hillary knows MUCH more about the subject than Obama does (and how to get it done).

THIS would be her chance to get a lock on it, but I just know her ego's not going to let her do it...

[karynnj]

11. She is on the Senate committe that will create a plan - but it is headed by KENNEDY

I doubt that Obama would kick Kennedy aside.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Make a deal?

Too bad for her she's burned all her bridges.

[Lerkfish]

6. well, that explains a lot.

if true

[karynnj]

10. Here's a link from 2004

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03EFD91638F936A15752C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Mark Penn, Mr. Lieberman's pollster, contended that his candidate's support had been undermeasured because polls did not reflect the views of independents.

Mr. Penn said that Dr. Dean's third-place showing in Iowa and his concession speech had scared off many of the independent voters who had originally flocked to his candidacy. ''He originally tapped into the straight-talk model,'' Mr. Penn said, referring to what had been the theme of Mr. McCain's campaign. ''But he's lost it.''

[Lerkfish]

12. thanks for the link

I wasn't doubting you, I just am careful around here to agree with something with no personal knowledge.

[karynnj]

17. Don't blame you at all - I would have asked for a link as well

and should have included one in the first place - as it was obviously not common knowledge - though I thought it was.

[Renew Deal]

15. Oh that's funny.

Penn is a tool.

[mohc]

4. I don't think this particular target causes her much trouble

The numbers are all over the place from different sources. NYT pledged delegate counts do not include caucuses or even primary projections, and shows a mere 42 pledged delegate lead for Obama. The Green Pages gives Clinton the largest superdelegate gap currently at 77. Given the Clinton campaign's attitude towards caucuses and superdelegates, I do not think they would have a problem cherry-picking these two sources to get their count, which would have them AHEAD by 35 right now. Basically, if she wins OH and TX, there will be sources showing her within 25, and if she loses then it will not matter if shes within 25 or not.

[Renew Deal]

5. I love that.

Cuacuses don't matter. Another brilliant move.

[mohc]

7. I take little issue with someone that thinks primaries are better than caucuses

I happen to agree, but thats not really what the Clinton campaign is saying. You can not divorce the caucus from the state it represents. Dismissing the Washington caucus, Hawaii caucus, and the various "red state" caucuses is as much dismissive of those states as it is of the caucus system. Not to mention the fact that the campaign competed heavily in Iowa and Nevada, caucuses only did not matter once the campaign started losing them. Caucuses might not be as fair, as representative of a state than a primary is, but they are still fair, and still representative. There might be an argument if Clinton were just barely losing the contests, but she is being blown out of the water.

[XemaSab]

14. Hillary won the Nevada caucus

n/t

[dchill]

16. "if she wins OH and TX..."

!!!HUGH!!! if. Makes me want to offer to eat my hat, but I've promised myself never to do that again.

[BeyondGeography]

8. Gergen accused her campaign of political malpractice last night

for all of their missteps, blunders and internal confusion. Wisconsin should have been at least contested, but she farted around in Texas and Ohio for four days while she was running negative ads about Obama being afraid to debate in Wisconsin, where he was campaigning.

Pretty good line, (especially for Gergen).

[Renew Deal]

9. It absolutely is.

How Hillary devided to go to Texas before Wisconsin, I don't know.

[Arugula Latte]

13. Good thing she's so Competent and Ready to Lead from Day One.

Not.

[KittyWampus]

19. You REALLY think the Media will bring that up? They are now invested in keeping Clinton in

[Renew Deal]

20. On March 4th? Absolutly.

They're going to say that the Clintons made their goal or missed it. If they miss it, calls for her departure will be loud.

[THUNDER HANDS]

21. Hillary supporters deserved a better campaign from her than this

for the money they've donated.

They certainly haven't gotten their money's worth.