Richardson Set to Send Obama Second-Choice Support

Source: Iowa Independent

Richardson Set to Send Obama Second-Choice Support
by: Chase Martyn
Wednesday (01/02) at 23:30 PM

Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign is expected to direct their supporters to caucus for Sen. Barack Obama in the second round of voting at Thursday's caucuses in precincts where he is not viable. Two sources familiar with the plan told Iowa Independent that the New Mexico Governor's organizers have been instructed to direct supporters to Obama in the places where they fail to reach the 15% threshold for viability.


Read more: http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1782

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Most Excellent.

Unfortunately, a lot of posts in this forum consist of nothing but a single line evincing some sort of "pro" or "con" attitude, without any justification or explanation. Forums like this are a great opportunity to give and take ideas. One-line expressions of approval or disapproval waste this potential.

Hi this is Joaquin with the Richardson Campaign and the rumor is false- there are no deals. These are typical last minute election shenanigans.

Joaquin H. Guerra
Richardson for President
jguerra-at-richardsonforpresidnet.com
by: Joaquin H. Guerra @ Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 23:02:36 PM CST


http://www.openleft.com/showComment.do;jsessionid=3E74316838F261993E775C25CED0CEAE?commentId=24139

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

A lot of people will just see this on the front page and assume it is true.

Uh hum....

WTF?

I am going to bed.

Ed. note: For about ten minutes when this story was first published, it asserted that there was a mutual agreement between the Richardson and Obama campaigns to swap supporters in precincts where one was not viable. This, it turns out, resulted from a misunderstanding that has since been cleared up. There is no deal between the two campaigns; there is only a strategic decision -- one which makes complete sense -- on the part of the Richardson campaign about where to direct its supporters if their group is not viable in certain precincts.

*

So he will be directing his supporters to Obama after all, there is just no 'deal'.

their people are supposed to decide themselves what they want to do

if you just needed your great leaders to shuffle you around why not just pack the place with brainless lemmings and see who's best at herding.

to vote for as an alternative -- poor wording. Why can't they just say who THEY'RE going to support & let everyone else think for themselves....

When it's a "Strategic Decision"

and I'm a Richardson caucus leader in central Iowa. Anyone who has participated in the Iowa caucus know it is important to have a second, and perhaps even third choice before it starts. As a leader for a second tier candidate I have to work out what to do if my guy isn't viable in order to keep any one candidate from picking up multiple delegates. It's complex and difficult to explain in a forum, but not horribly complicated once you understand the premise. Early indications say MY precinct will be viable for Richardson. Edwards is looking strongest with Obama and HRC trailing.

If I have ample people in my group and lets say obama only needs a couple to be viable I may find some of my folks willing to step over to make him viable as opposed to HRC getting the extra delegate (there are 4 delegates in my precinct). At this early stage it's not win/lose, it's setting up the chess boards for the next level. We leaders have thought about all manner of scenarios and what to do about them.

Gov. Richardson has not made any endorsement to my knowledge, and each leader can try to direct people as they see fit but there have been no "official" directives to any second choice candidate.

In the unlikely event my group isn't viable, I'll recommend my folks to move to their personal second. Me, I'll go to Edwards :)

If this were true, wouldn't the caucus leaders know about it??

sounds like a lot of Dem candidates are rallying up with Obama instead of Clinton.

Looks like pretty smart strategic call by the Richardson team(supporters). People should vote for "their" second choice... sometimes that is a stratigic vote to help your 1st choice in future primaries.

not

poliGazette covering the same topic:

The Carpetbagger adds that Richardson isn’t the only one who may instruct his supporters to vote for Obama: Kucinich has already done the same and Senator Joe Biden may very well do the same thing. The reason that Biden may choose to support Obama in this way? “Davis chatted with one of Biden’s national consultants, asking if the Delaware senator is angling for a Secretary of State position in an Obama Administration. The Biden consultant said, ‘Well, Joe would make a great Secretary of State, wouldn’t he?’”

http://poligazette.com/2008/01/03/richardon-to-send-voters-obamas-way/

Biden Staffer: Our People Likely To Go For Obama

"A decision will be made tomorrow about who we'll encourage our supporters to stand behind if we aren't viable in a precinct," the anonymous staffer said. "Right now, I'd guess Obama gets our support because we're more inline with his vision of foreign policy than any of the other candidates, and besides, we like him and how he's run his campaign."

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/biden_staffer_our_people_likely_to_go_for_obama.php

I am not surprised these more viable 2nd tier candidates aren't publicly telling their Caucuser’s to break second for Obama when they don't have viability.

Interesting ....

Thanks for all of the posts. :thumbsup:

at least, but would be great if true.

Looks like even without a public push from Richardson or Biden second choice numbers (at least by this measure) are looking good for Obama and Edwards.

Exclusive: Hillary's Iowa Gap In Zogby Poll Worsens After Second-Choice Allocations
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/zogby_poll_hillarys_gap_worsens_after_secondchoice_allocations.php
"Some further data from this morning's Zogby poll points to Hillary Clinton doing very poorly as the second choice of non-viable candidates' supporters, and Barack Obama and John Edwards both doing quite well.

In an exclusive get by Election Central, we asked Zogby for information on how the final poll result would look after second choices are reallocated for voters who were in favor of candidates under the 15% benchmark for viability, thus adding those respondents to the top three candidates' totals. Here's what they gave us: Obama 37.5%, Edwards 33.7%, Clinton 28.8%.

It it is true there is a strategic decision to nudge supporters to Obama the gap could be bigger. (edit: ...could make the gap bigger.)

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/03/a_bidenobama_deal_1.html

A source close to the Biden campaign described a possible arrangement, now under discussion between the two camps, that could apply to certain precincts where Biden can't meet the 15 percent viability threshold, but where he is backed by local officials with the clout to move Biden supporters to Obama. In return, Biden could capture some of Obama's overflow in precincts where the Illinois senator has more than enough support to win...
The Biden source described the possible Obama deal as "viability for victory." An Obama source confirmed that discussions had taken place, but that nothing had been decided.


This is interesting. Richardson sending non-vability support to Obama... Biden sending non-vablity support to Obama... meanwhile if if Obama sends his overflow support to either one of them it would mean a forth place finish for only one of them.

See the GDP.

Which story has been debunked today? Richardson to Obama or Biden to Obama? There appear to be more than one source for both of these stories.


And what is GDP?

Biden Spokesman: There Are No Discussions Of Any Deal With Obama Camp
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/biden_spokesman_there_are_no_discussions_of_any_deal_with_obama_camp.php

Obama's "endorsement" rumor debunked by Richardson spokesman
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3936001

GDP: DU's General Discussion Politics forum.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/obama-will-get-richardsons-second-choice-votes/

Barack Obama’s drive to win tonight’s Iowa caucuses is getting a boost from two of his putative rivals. After earlier winning the support of Dennis Kucinich, Obama’s campaign has reached an agreement with Bill Richardson for the second-choice votes of Richardson supporters in caucuses where the New Mexico governor can’t clear the threshold for competition, according to a senior Obama campaign adviser. The adviser estimated that the deal puts Mr. Obama in position to claim support from roughly half of the 15 percent of Democratic caucus-goers expected to support second-tier candidates.
In return, the Obama adviser said, Obama forces will lend support to Mr. Richardson at caucuses where Mr. Obama turns out more backers than he needs to win any additional delegates.

Perhaps there is a some implied agreement?

... supporters moved in a bloc for Obama, and Obama advisor Samantha Power appears to confirm there was in fact a deal

LINKS:

http://firedoglake.com/2008/01/03/late-late-nite-fdl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32LYl2LkLo