I find nothing wrong with Clinton leaving SC early.

[Egnever]

Sure her and bills concession speeches were lame but, I cant for a second fault her for getting on with the campaign and moving forward as quickly as she can. This race is tight and there is no time for these guys to be sitting around giving concession speeches. They have work to do to get people to vote for them and I for one will not fault her for doing it.

[Catherine Vincent]

1. That is true. Obama would have done the same thing. nt

[Egnever]

2. I would hope so

This thing is too close to be sitting around on your bum. Every minute seems to count this time around and I hope all of the candidates fight for every vote.

Its silly to take any of them to task for it IMHO.

[TeamJordan23]

4. Cat girl, judge your vote on the candidates and their policies/vision and not on DU supporters.

Each group's supporters are DU are slanted compared to the majority of each candidate's voter base.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I agree.....I didn't give a fig,

But maybe the voters there didn't like it.

[Egnever]

6. I would hope they don't give it a second thought

I can understand them taking issue with her basically conceding SC to Obama before the vote. I do hope that her not staying for a concession speech doesn't play a part though.

It would just be silly to sit there IMHO and I hope Obama is on a plane right now!

[Big Blue Marble]

20. Actually, I thought it trashed her dedicated workers and volunteers.

These people worked themselves to exhaustion as campaign workers do.
And she did not even stay around to publicly thank them or console them in their hard loss tonight.
She just left them in the dust and moved on.

Oh the Clintons are known for that. Aren't they?

[emilyg]

27. Didn't Obama do that recently?

[DJ13]

5. It showed that she didnt care for all her supporters on the ground

She should have been there to publicly thank them in her concession speech.

Oh well, she's not known for her warmth in public anyway.

[Barack_America]

14. That's the only thing that doesn't sit well with me...

Win or lose, there were people who worked hard for her and they deserved to be recognized.

But I guess that's the nature of the game.

We must remember that Obama made a pretty quick exit of Nevada as well.

[Captain_Nemo]

7. Didn't Obama leave Nevada without saying anything?

[Egnever]

8. Pretty much yup

And as a Nevadan I dodnt hold it against him either. This thing is stupid tight they need every minute on the ground they can get. All of them.

[FrenchieCat]

9. More or less......

But he waited until the voting had stared in earnest.....didn't leave 2 days before.

[ShortnFiery]

10. No, I honestly believe that Obama would NOT have done such a COWARDLY act.

Time and time again, The Clintonian DLC considers themselves political royalty, and therefore, they feel no need to play by the rules of "fair play and decorum."

It's long past time to wrest the stranglehold that The Clintonian DLC has over our party. A good start would be to deny HRC the nomination. No, she is NOT worthy. Not due to her background but due to her distinct lack of character vividly demonstrated this evening and cemented by years of privilege. :thumbsdown:

[Egnever]

11. Well Obama pretty much did the same in NV

So your belief is great and all but it belies what happened.

I am with you on the oust clinton thing. I just dont think this is one of those things to hold against her or Obama or John for that matter.

[comradebillyboy]

15. exactly so

Obama won big in NC, it was obvious early on. Got to move to the next contest. I would expect any candidate to do the same.

As a Clinton supporter, I must congratulate Obama and his supporters in SC (not at DU) on a very impressive win, and offer my condolences to Edwards who hoped to do much better in his home state.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. Technically, of course, SC is not Edward's home state - it's where he

lived until he was what, 12 years old? NC is, and has been, his home for decades.

[Captain_Nemo]

12. What cowardly act would that be? Like when he left Nevada without giving a speech?

[pnwmom]

16. Cowardly, huh? You never miss a chance to dis her, do you?

No matter how trivial the issue.

[Captain_Nemo]

19. and considering he did the same thing in Nevada,shameless,shameless.

[tammywammy]

29. Cowardly?

Um, maybe you forgot, but Obama left Nevada.

[AX10]

13. It's all part of politics.

Obama did the same thing in Nevada.

[ShortnFiery]

17. Not "the same thing." But you know that, don't you? eom.

[AX10]

18. Too bad you can't be as honest and graceful...

as the OP.

[ShortnFiery]

24. Now that's hilarious!

Talk about irony? ... Stop! ... you slay me. :rofl:

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. Agree, but it was a boneheaded move to not have had a PR rep

issue a quick "she will be speaking to the public upon arriving in Tennessee" to not leave an opening for jackasses like Scarborough to jump in.

Anybody can understand a candidate being busy and rushed, but anybody can misunderstand a candidate dashing off without a word.

[Egnever]

23. That would have been smart

It does all come down to perception I guess and that would have helped.

[ShortnFiery]

25. It's not the SIMPLE act of leaving, but the smarmy way HRC changed the topic.

by speaking to A LARGE CROWD in TN and going on-and-on about GENDER. It was disgusting to watch. :thumbsdown:

Plus, for the life of me, I don't understand your M.O. for posting this thread? Are you having second thoughts about Obama? What gave you such an altruistic streak? Realize that The Clintons would not ever cut you such a break. :(

I do blame HRC for NOT EVER taking responsibility for her actions (or her husband's) ... this is just another example of their arrogance and "sense of entitlement."

[Meldread]

26. I don't blame her for leaving.

Everyone knew Obama was going to win - even though no one expected it to be this big - and all the campaigns pretty much pack up and hit the road almost immediately once the voting ends. Hillary knew she had to go out there and get back on the road ASAP. I don't fault her for that at all.

I do, however, fault her for the way she handled the loss. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting her to gush over Obama or anything, but it would have been nice for her to actually give a few words of praise to Obama. To give at least a few paragraphs of a concession speech before jumping into her stump speech. I understand the political calculation behind it, but it felt like a snub not only to Obama, but to all those in SC who voted for him and any who are supporting him. It felt like her way of saying, "Yeah, you've had your say... and you're already forgotten - you are irrelevant." That is the way it came off to me.

I don't think it was a politically wise move in the long run, because of the contention between the Clinton Campaign and Obama. It would have been a nice way to smooth things over and for them to start "fresh". I also think letting Bill speak before she got the chance was a bad move. Sigh. It looked almost like Bill was the candidate instead of her, and I do not think Hillary wants to take her campaign down this road.

[pnwmom]

30. Why would you expect her to "give a few words of praise to Obama"

when, with the situations reversed, Obama left Nevada without making any concession speech -- much less offering praise to Clinton?

Why is it that people always seem to expect more from the woman?

[Meldread]

32. Two things.

1. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Hillary is a Woman.

2. I had forgotten about Obama leaving Nevada before making a concession speech.

However, this is a much different situation than Nevada for one main reason. This is a clear victory. There was and still is some debate over what exactly constitutes as a win. We're in a delegate by delegate battle - both campaigns will acknowledge this. So although Obama lost the popular vote in Nevada he still won an extra delegate due to his higher than expected showing in rural areas outside the strip. He was trying to claim what amounted to a tie.

That does not even touch on the fact that a lot of people were angry over a number of things done that surrounded the Clinton Campaign. The lawsuit, for example, Bill Clinton basically accusing the Union(s) that endorsed Obama of threatening to ensure Hillary voters couldn't turn up (John Stewart pretty much debunked that), the fact that Bill Clinton showed up at caucuses along the strip, and various other dubious things - the Obama Campaign has filed a formal complaint about that.

However, ultimately, in the end it wasn't a clear victory for Hillary. It's a bit dubious for Obama NOT to at least say a few kind words, but it's a completely different situation. I don't necessarily say Hillary should have said a few kind words for Obama's benefit but for her own. People were obviously turned off by her campaign in SC, both white and black voters. People in the up coming states are obviously at least partly aware of what has happened before them, and Hillary had the chance to try and get a fresh start. She choose not to - and I think that will hurt more than help.

[pnwmom]

37. I think the situations are comparable. The margin of victory isn't

important, if the issue is being gracious or not.

By the way, Obama and/or his supporters have jumped the gun in claiming more delegates than HRC in Nevada. The state's delegates have yet to commit, and there's every indication that they will follow the lead of the state's voters.

[ErnestoG]

28. I prefer she leave the race, but....

n/m

[fujiyama]

31. Don't see a problem her either

Obama won the battle by a good margin, but the war is yet to be won by either candidate.

They have little time to rest.

[johnnydrama]

33. the one bad thing

The one stupid and dumb thing she did was release the statement congratulating Obama without telling anybody her plans.

It led to confusion all night and led people to believe that was all she was doing.

In all the election nights I've watched, I have never seen somebody not concede by speech, rather than by a statement, and technically she conceded by statement, even though later on she did concede in TN.

For over an hour I heard Keith say we'll hear from Obama at 6, followed by Edwards, and then MAYBE Clinton, we're not sure.

Not that smooth a night.

[fujiyama]

34. Agreed

Poor planning on a night she couldn't afford to use any more bad press, especially when Obama was getting GREAT press coverage.

[BeyondGeography]

35. Me neither...she made the most of her evening

hopefully, the people who worked for her in SC didn't feel slighted. They're the only ones with the right to complain.

[applegrove]

36. Plus Bill was there to give the concession speech. Dam if CNN didn't

cut him off halfway through. Probably got some complaints.

[Adelante]

38. It didn't bother me at all that she left the state and moved on with her campaign

I don't even care about concession speeches in primaries. She called to congratulate him and that was sufficient. You concede when the result is the opponent will be taking office. That's when it matters.

[Tom Rinaldo]

39. It is always a pleasure to read a sensible post free from self serving spin

Thanks for providing this one.