Barack Obama and John Edwards have now taken the pledge. Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden did it yesterday. The question now is, what will Hillary Clinton do?
None of the campaigns that I have talked to seem to have a very clear idea of what, precisely, they have agreed to. The pledge is that they will not “campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as ‘campaigning’ is defined by the rules and regulations of the DNC.” (In other words, Florida and Michigan.)
But those Democratic National Committee rules are vague and contradictory, according to campaign officials who have been poring over them. (My own calls to the DNC yesterday went unreturned.) The pledge stipulates that the candidates can fundraise in the rogue states. On September 9, the Democratic candidates will be in Miami to participate in a forum sponsored by Univision. But what about rallies? Obama charges admission to his, so does that put them inside the fundraiser exemption? Clinton doesn’t, so would that be off limits for her?
UPDATE: Clinton has now signed the pledge:
Clinton Campaign Statement
The following is a statement by Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle.
“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.
And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.
Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.”
SUNDAY UPDATE TO THE SATURDAY UPDATE: The lead editorial in the NYT does a nice job of explaining why this matters. And while their proposed solution makes sense, their means of implementing it won’t work. They suggest that the parties put a new system in place for 2012. But the difficulty is, these decisions are really the purview of state legislatures and secretaries of state. A fix will take a coordinated effort by them, and a willingness to put aside their competing interests. As we are learning this weekend, that is hard to imagine happening.