Senator Clinton's tepid support from her Senate colleagues - Does she want to return to the Senate?

[grantcart]

Senator Clinton has a major problem with her Senate colleagues



1) More Senators have endorsed Obama than Clinton

Obama 17

Dodd (CT)
Kennedy (MA)
Kerry(MA)
Brown(DC)
Strauss(DC)
Durbin(IL)
Klobuchar(MN)
McCaskill(MO)
Nelson(DE)
Conrad(ND)
Dorgan(ND)
Casey(PA)
Johnson(SD)
Leahy(VT)
Rockfeller(WV)
Feingold(WI)

Clinton 13

Boxer(CA)
Feinstein(CA)
Schumer(NY)
Cantwell(WA)
Pryor (AR)
Lincoln(AR)
Bayh(IN)
Mikulski(MD)
Whithouse(RI)
Menendez(NJ)
Murray(WA)
Inouye(HI)

Senators are not going to be impressed with Clinton’s street tactics during the primary campaign. When she returns to the Senate she is not going to have an easy time. There are in the Senate certain ‘unwritten rules of collegiality’ that extend not only to members of your own party but also to the other party.

Has Hillary’s hyper partisan attacks and the Clinton Über narcissistic view of the Democratic Party as a personal asset undermined her ability to be a leading force in the Senate?

2) Clinton’s Senators tepid response;

Once you take out Clinton’s fellow woman Senators and ‘home state’ Senators it is a very small list. Basically she is down to a single Senator, Bayh who acts like a surrogate. Obama has Leahy, Casey, Dorgan, McCaskill, Kennedy, Kerry and Dodd who have taken high profile media rolls in support of him.

Of course it raises a question why the peer group that knows these two the best has not only gone overwhelmingly to Obama but are taking a much more enthusiastic role?

Here are three examples of how Senator Clinton’s Senators have pulled back from their endorsement from her:

SENATOR BOXER GIVES A RESOUNDING ENDORSEMENT TO SENATOR CLINTON BY REFUSING TO ENDORSE HER


"Barbara Boxer, one of the state's best-known super delegates, has confused some by her stance. Boxer does not plan to endorse Clinton or Obama."

Senator Boxer has simply stated that she will vote for Senator Clinton because she won the CA primary. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8472501?nclick_check=1


SENATOR CANTWELL GIVES A RESOUNDING ENDORSEMENT TO SENATOR CLINTON BY INDICATING THAT SHE WILL BE VOTING FOR OBAMA

"If we have a candidate who has the most delegates and the most states,” the Democratic Party should come together around that candidate, Cantwell said. The pledged delegate count will be the most important factor, she said, because that is the basis of the nominating process."
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03242008_Cantwell-supporting-Clinton--for-now.cfm


SENATOR SCHUMER GIVES A RESOUNDING ENDORSEMENT TO SENATOR CLINTON BY INDICATING THAT IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO KEEP THE CAMPAIGN GOING ON TOO LONG
http://www.observer.com/2008/schumer-avoiding-self-destructive-end-clinton-vs-obama

But he also said he doubted that one candidate would stay on long after it became clear he or she could not win the nomination.

"The number one thing that people worry about is that the candidates will cut each other up and make it harder to win the general," he said. "But I think that is not going to happen. Because everyone cares about winning so much. Not only the candidates, but the electorate. So if one candidate is doing something that is regarded as really self-destructive, of the ability to win, that's really going to hurt them."

"It would widely be regarded negatively in the electorate," he said.

3) Maybe Senator Clinton is continuing her futile Presidential campaign because she doesn’t like being a Senator and realizes that when she returns she is going to have a diminished base of support, basically Senator Bayh who still hopes to be VP.

Some people just don’t like the legislative, consultative process. In trying to understand why the Clinton’s are pursuing a nomination they cannot win is it possible they are trying to create conditions that will make it necessary to have her on the ticket as the only feasible way to unite the party?


Does Senator Clinton not want to return to the Senate?

[nebula]

1. Don't you mean Feinstein (CA)?

[grantcart]

2. lol thanks

[FARAFIELD]

11. uM WHO THE HELL IS sTRAUSS?

lAST i checked there is no Senator with that name, and what is DC, what state is that? granted Id like the 2 super votes but it doesnt make sense

[Exilednight]

13. Senator Paul Strauss, sometimes called the shadow Senator

[Toucano]

3. Will you expect Rockefeller to change to Clinton after she wins the WV primary?

I've seen most Obama advocates suggesting that super delegates should vote the way their constituents do.

[grantcart]

5. There are a number of SDs who have indicated one way or another that

they are switching all from Clinton to Obama. There has yet to be a single Obama supporter indicate a similar move to Clinton.

[cali]

20. no, most Obama supporters have not suggested that SDs vote

the way their constituents do. I certainly have no use for that idea. Of course, my Senator did endorse the way the state voted, but had he supported Hillary, I'd still respect and support Pat Leahy.

[speedoo]

4. And she will not be Majority Leader either.

Her political future is cloudy, at best.

[Bensthename]

6. I figured Hillary was well known, thats odd.. Well maybe that is why they have chosen Obama.

Are they for Obama or against Hillary?? Hmmmmm.

[Tatiana]

7. She has seriously jeopardized her career in the Senate.

You're right, Clinton is basically left with Schumer and Bayh. On the House side, she better be lucky she locked up Charlie Rangel's support early on, because he looks ready to move to Team Obama. Her most loyal supporters have been women (Sheila Jackson-Lee, for example), which makes McCaskill's endorsement of Obama and Boxer's non-endorsement all the more puzzling.

When she goes back to the Senate, she is going to have a hard time working with folks like Sen. Durbin and Sen. Casey and Sen. Feingold.

[SoCalDem]

18. it IMPROVES their stature..Boxer-Mccaskill. It shows that they do not vote for ovaries

the prefer what's in the BRAIN..not the belly:)

[Tatiana]

36. Agreed.

:toast:

[Saturday]

8. They know she's such a good Senator that they want her to remain

in the Senate. Obama is a mediocre Senator and he's expendable.

[grantcart]

12. wow breathtaking analysis

Senators are supporting Obama to become President of the United States because Clinton's Senate experience is so essential that they can't operate without her.

stunning Chutzpah. I would be curious if even one other Clinton supporter would agree with this gibberish.

[cliffordu]

9. Kicked. Nice work, GC!!

[TexasObserver]

10. She's been inconsequential in the senate, and will remain so.

She bogarted a senate seat from her husband's presidency, and she's been running for president ever since. After she is finally vanquished and Obama wins the presidency, she will be stripped of any good assignments, and relegated to the trash bin of political history, where she belongs.

[bigbrother05]

14. Grantcart , there are alot of people already planning

to vote her out of the Senate.
On another note, another Superdelegate from Arizona, for Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5706898&mesg_id=5706898

[grantcart]

15. good news

[TheDonkey]

16. Has she done anything of note in the Senate? Well except vote for wars in Iraq and Iran?

[goldcanyonaz]

17. Well, she has not renamed a post office like Obama did.

[cali]

21. Are you sure about that?

[goldcanyonaz]

22. What else has he done?

[cali]

23. Here's one thing. What has hilly done in her 7 years?

Oh, that's right, she's been working hard enabling bushy to go to war, to be more agressive toward Iran and to continue using cluster bombs in civilian areas. Oh, and voting for a pro-corporate bankruptcy bill. her senate record is hardly the record of someone like my Senator.

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070111-lugar-obama_non/

[kentuck]

19. Remember the interview with Katie Couric ??

When she was asked what she would do if she were to lose the election?? Hillary said that was not something that she thought about because she was not going to lose...

[Obamanaut]

33. Did you by chance watch the Katie Couric series on all the

candidates on the evening news? One of the questions that everyone got had to do with bad advice that each had been given. They all had serious answers except HRC, and hers was about a hair style.

Even Ms ret88 spewed her beverage on that one.

[billyoc]

24. She's a back-bencher in a chamber with no back bench.

Until we New Yorkers can finally be rid of her once and for all in '12.

[blm]

37. If she had ACTED like a back bencher and used it to oppose Bush and GOP the last 7yrs

then she would have BEEN the nominee by Super Tuesday as she wanted.

But she only fights OTHER Democrats and never ONCE used her team of thugs to take on Bush and Rove..

[Maribelle]

25. For Obama you say 17, list 16. For Hillary you've left off Nelson(FL) Stabenow (MI)

Sheesh.

[grantcart]

27. Obama's 17th is of course Obama

Only Super delegates who have a vote were included.

FL and MI lost not only their pledged delegates they also lost their super delegates.

You are correct however that right now they are non voting super delegate Senators.

Hillary's 13th Senator is of course herself.


And what you have failed to address is the main point of the OP that

1) Of all of the Super Delegate sub groups it is the one that knows her the best and supports her the least.

2) Even among her supporters they don't appear particularly enthusiastic.

[Maribelle]

28. Oh please. Your whole rant was about Senators that support the candidates.

It was not at all about voting superdelegates.

[grantcart]

29. and I agreed that the Senators you noted were omitted from the list

and how does that change the fact that most senators support Obama and Clinton Senate Supporters are very tepid.


I put Cantwell on 'Clinton's' list even though she has made it clear that she will vote for Obama

and I put Boxer on Clinton's list even though it is only because she is voting as a Super Delegate and is not endorsing and not campaigning for her. Quite odd isn't especially given the fact that the Boxer and Rodham family is related and they have been close friends for decades.


So Add the two senators from MI and FL who have endorsed and will not be voting for Hillary and subtract Cantwell and Boxer who are only technically supporting her.


Why is it she still has a smaller number and only one that is willing to act as a surrogate?

[anigbrowl]

26. And these are the people who know her best

They've had 6-7 years to size her up in person, see how she deals with the business of politics on a day-to-day basis, and so on.

[ccharles000]

30. I hope that if she is not the nominee or his VP...

that she goes on to have a wonderful political life.

[grantcart]

34. It's possible that with her temperment she would be better in an executive position like

Governor or Mayor of NYC.

[ccharles000]

31. I hope that if she is not the nominee or his VP...

that she goes on to have a wonderful political life.

[Coexist]

32. had she withdrawn sooner, she coulld have been a very powerful Senator

which tells you that the Senate was never really a goal for her, just a stepping-stone.

[grantcart]

38. yes she is spending capital now

also she could have done it in a way to walk out with $ 30 million in a war chest for future battles.

[Scurrilous]

35. K & R

:thumbsup:

[grantcart]

39. Ammend to add another Senator - Bingham (NM)

[BenDavid]

40. she will not return to the senate. her next stop will be the House,

giving the state of the union address sometime in February 09.