Headlines say that Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Nevada caucus on Saturday, but caucus workers for Barack Obama are accusing Clinton camp of using illegal tactics to secure the victory.
Also, Obama's campaign held a conference call with reporters stating that he actually won more pledged Nevada delegates than his Democratic rival, 13-12, due to Obama's win outside of Clark County.
MSNBC.com explains of the math: "The more populous Clark County, which Clinton won, awarded an even number of delegates, and Clinton and Obama split those down the middle. Meanwhile, the more rural areas, which Obama won, awarded an odd number of delegates, which gave Obama the edge.
"But the Associated Press -- as well as NBC News -- had reported that the delegate split being Clinton 13, Obama 12. Who is wrong here? Per the Obama camp, the state party is still gathering results, and they believe the AP has incomplete numbers."
Nevada Democratic Party chairwoman Jill Derby has come forward to dispute the claim, stating: “The calculations of national convention delegates being circulated are based upon an assumption that delegate preferences will remain the same between now and April 2008. We look forward to our county and state conventions where we will choose the delegates for the nominee that Nevadans support.”
Meanwhile, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe claims there were over 200 separate allegations of irregularities at caucus sites. And Hilary Clinton's campaign tactics in the days leading up to the Nevada caucus are being criticized by eyewitnesses in various reports and blogs.
A precinct captain reporting from one of the Obama field offices in Clark County told dailykos.com "the scene here is ugly."
"Everyone is reporting election irregularities on the part of the Hillary campaign," the precinct captain said. "There is widespread cheating and voter suppression going on all over Clark County--and it's obviously coming in from the top down. Whether it made enough of a difference to swing the election is another question--but there is no question that Hillary was running a scorched-earth, no-holds-barred campaign in which all of her surrogates were instructed to cheat in every way possible."
Various witness accounts of the allegations began popping up on the Internet during Saturday's caucus. Several are listed below:
• From blogger "LV Pol," an Obama supporter: "For starters, we noticed that Hillary's supporters were breaking the rules by placing Hillary signs where they were not allowed and we asked them to take them down, which they did. We then noticed, that a car sporting Hillary signage, was double-parked, blocking people who needed access to handicapped parking. We told a woman who just had a hip replacement to park her car right beside the car. The next controversial issue involved the voter cards disappearing into the Hillary camp, so that the Edwards and Obama people were left with no cards. When we asked them to give us back some cards, we then noticed that they had all been pre-marked for Hillary." Read LVPol's entire post here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/19/192211/885/640/439715
• From "RunnerAAA," an Obama supporter: "When I entered the cafeteria, where my precinct was located along with two other precincts, all I saw was three 'Hillary tables.' I put this in quotes, because it turns out that these three tables were actually the registration tables for the separate precincts. This was the first of many problems and rules broken by the Hillary camp. Next, we had to find a place to set up. As there are four candidates left in the democratic primary, each candidate is supposed to get a corner of the 'room.' The Hillary camp seemed to think there were only two people in the race and placed their signs and tables across one half of the 'room.' We kindly reminded them that there are four candidates and that we each needed a corner. After speaking with the Temporary Chair, they reluctantly took down the signs and we had to move their tables ourselves. The tension was clearly building between the Clinton and Obama volunteers." Read RunnerAAA's entire post here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/19/201119/655/611/439744
There was also a problem with Clinton supporters closing doors earlier than the scheduled time. EUR received an expletive-filled e-mail rant from an Obama caucus chair, stating: "I've never seen so much robbery in all my life from f***ing democrats. Those Hillary people,,,,,,,, closed the doors on our people and we had to call the cops in some precincts to have locks cut from doors, those bastards slipped people in the back doors, they sent people home at 11:30 when it was illegal to prevent people from voting before noon, they called Obama a nigger in some areas, we had fights, we had Hillary crooks who were caucus chairs for the democratic party just pick up cards and send the people home.......no count.................WE WERE F***ING ROBBED."
Another account of the same issue was blogged by RunnerAAA, who wrote of the Clinton camp: "They started closing the doors at 11:30 a.m. (instead of 12 p.m.) as the state party had previously instructed. We had to call the Democratic Party in order to get the doors open again, for a Hillary volunteer who wouldn't settle for anything less. I would later find out that many precincts had the same problem with Clinton volunteers refusing to let people in after 11:30."
Blogger "ThereIsNoSpoon" listed the following infractions committed by Clinton supporters at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/19/162953/644/790/439573
• No less than eight Obama captains (including myself) have reported that Clinton operatives tried to close the doors at 11:30--a full thirty minutes before the doors were supposed to close. In some cases I am hearing they actually succeeded, and voters were turned away before more knowledgeable people could get there to reopen them. The Clinton campaign had obviously told their people to be there by 11:30--and they knew that the higher the turnout, the worse for them.
• At least two reports of Clinton operatives telling the uncommitteds and Edwards supporters, once their numbers were deemed not viable, that they had to leave. Whether these tactics succeeded or not, I do not know. Obviously, the Clinton campaign knew that voters not already in her camp were unlikely to join her camp (I know from my own experience that I convinced many more undecideds than my opponent Hillary operative), so they attempted to suppress their vote.
• At least one report of Clinton operatives telling Obama supporters with viable numbers that they were not viable, and had to leave. From what I hear, some of those voters did in fact leave.
• At least two reports (including my own) of disabled voters being coerced into the Clinton camp against their will, or even having their voter card filled out for them against their will.
• A few reports of probable out-of-state Clinton operatives being counted among the voters--though since checking ID is illegal, and other Hillary operatives from in-state would vouch for them, it's impossible to say.
• At least one report of two large men standing outside the door checking voters for whom they would support, and telling all Obama people they were at the wrong location.
• At least one other report of Hillary operatives doing the check-in, and telling all Obama supporters that they were not on the list, could not register at the location (not true), and that they could not caucus.
• At least one report of ballots being filled out in advance for Hillary in mass.
• At least one report of Hillary supporters saying that the caucus location was just the Hillary room--and that Obama supporters had to go to a faraway location.
• At least one report of a voter registration list only in Spanish, and only with Hillary supporters on it. Obama supporters later found the registration list with the rest of the people--in the garbage can of the ladies restroom.
• Several reports of Hillary signs on the registration table, and Hillary supporters in Hillary shirts doing registration.
In other Obama news, UK's Times Online is pointing out that Oprah Winfrey is being called a "traitor" by some of her female fans for choosing to support Obama over Clinton. It all apparently started with a message on her Oprah.com Web site titled “Oprah is a traitor.” The discussion that followed included hundred of comments both agreeing an disagreeing with the declaration.
In the original post, a reader called austaz68 said she “cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama. For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black MAN. She’s choosing her race over her gender.”
A subsequent comment, 2nurselady wrote: “I don’t think Oprah is a ‘traitor’, but I do think she may be alienating a lot of her fans.”
One suspicious reader posted the message: “All the rude and hateful messages on here can’t be from Oprah fans. Someone’s campaign (wonder who?) is sabotaging the message boards.”
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