The Bull Moose: Hillary’s Big Convention Surprise

by Dean Chambers

All of the pundits on the 24-hour news channels are so good at predicting conventional wisdom. The “All Stars” on Fox News among others, all argued over why Hillary is going to get a roll call vote on her nomination from the convention floor as well as that of Barack Obama, and the pundits are completely oblivious as to why this is happening. It’s all too clear to the Moose what’s going on in Denver week with that roll call vote at the convention.

Remember, in politics, attack that is least well defended or prepared for is the one that is not expected. When the underdog side of a battle can operate quietly and in stealth and plan a sneak attack, it is possible use the element of surprise and pull off a shocking victory from the jaws of defeat. If you could imagine any election cycle for something like this to happen, clearly it would be this year. Just look at all upsets, surprises, and anomalies we’ve seen in the process this year. Not only would the nomination of McCain have seem unlikely, but also who two years about would have predicted Barack Obama being the presumptive Democratic Nominee. There again, the very use of that label for Obama bolsters my point.

Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed Obama, but clearly she has not given up any last ditch attempt that could somehow make her the nominee. Remember the spin offered by Hillary partisans at the end of the campaign, that they had won more popular votes (counting Michigan and Florida), more large states, more blue states, more swing states, more this that and everything else that really counts. Except for convention delegates. Hillary’s supporters really did, and do, believe that their candidate truly has a better chance of defeating the Republican ticket in the fall. And they have some credible polling numbers to support their assertion. They really truly do believe they have the better candidates to win the election in the fall and regain the White House for their party.

What confirm so to the Moose what will be attempted by the Hillary forces at the convention next week is precisely the fact that the Moose is the only one pointing it out. It’s a great plan, and despite it’s exposure here in this column, it’s going to work great for Hilary. Look for Hillary to accept the nomination next week and be announcing a candidate for vice president herself. Impossible you say, well, you don’t see it either.

Remember the compromise struck over the votes of Michigan and Florida. That shaved off some of Obama’s delegate lead and cemented, seemingly, a close Obama majority among the delegates, elected and superdelegates included. Hillary accepted the compromise but her supporters could still push for seating of the full delegations from Michigan and Florida. That is only PART of the procedural tricks Hillary’s supporters could execute on the floor of the convention. The other part is so obvious you’ve overlooked it, and you’ll know it’s going on as soon as you read.

Remember that many of the delegates are not obligated to vote for a candidate on the first ballot. And as close as the convention make-up is, it’s easy to see a possible second ballot if neither candidate gets a majority on the first one. With Obama having no worries about the delegates or even seeing this as a possibility, don’t be surprised if Hillary’s supporters have been quietly and effective courting those few delegates to switch sides they need to win on the roll call. In fact, don’t be surprised to see Hillary accepting the nomination and announcing her own vice president choice next week. I am predicting exactly that, yes I am predicting that, when the votes are tallied after the convention roll call, Hillary will have won a slim majority to defeat Obama for the nomination.

Hillary’s Big Convention Surprise will be quietly winning enough delegates to upset Obama on the night of the roll call. Won’t that be a change? Then again, weren’t the Democrats voting for change this year?

This entry was posted on 20. August 2008 at 18:45 and is filed under Freedom News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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