Lengthy, repetitive, and starring Andrea Mitchell. Did you know that we should count the votes? Notes after the jump, audio TK. Also, Phil Singer was en fuego!
Quotes of the call:
Singer: [Obama campaign] distributed photos of President Clinton shaking hands with Rev Wright within hours of calling for a high minded debate, well, Clinton took thousands of pics during his time as president: stop the presses!
And:
Phil: I apologize for shouting, I didn’t realize I was doing it… but with regard to Ohio… we’ve got a word from NY, it’s called “chutzpah,” and it takes a lot of chutzpah for the Obama campaign to say that Clinton’s being misleading
And I must include as well:
Phil: We’ll wrap this up, I’m sure everyone wants to try to watch some basketball… thanks everyone… hope everyone has a good Easter weekend… and the Obama campaign is feeling desperate, and feeling like they need to change the subject… Goodbye.
So, yes, thanks for reading, have a good Easter weekend, and the other guy sucks! Later.
Singer: No secret that Obama campaign is in political hot water… what is their response? First, to disenfranchise voters… No. 2… distribute photos of President Clinton shaking hands with Rev Wright within hours of calling for a high minded debate, well, Clinton took thousands of pics during his time as president: stop the presses! …. he promises a different kind of campaign while attacking Sen Clinton’s character… for all the rhetoric, for all the speeches, his candidacy is really just words… top journalists going on the morning shows and calling the Obama campaign desperate and saying its amateur hour in Chicago
Penn: we really don’t think the American public is going to be distracted from the big issues that president clinton is discussing…
Dickerson [way to make an appearance!: you’ve made a lot of arguments about superdelegates will ultimately choose HRC… how will Obama supporters come to accept that kind of an outcome? What will be their process of thinking?
Penn: Contest btw 2 nominees who are v well liked by their supporters… who ever gets the nomination will get the support of the other and the party will come together… as i’ve set out before, we’ve got a lot of other factors in here: pop vote… who will be a stronger candidate against mccain… we’ve had a strong reversal in the polls… so you’ve seen support of Democrats as a whole swings quite swiftly..
Susan Page: Richardson endorsement? Vet of Clinton admin…
Penn: Everyone has their endorsers… contest has come back repeatedly to the quality of [candidate?]… we won NM, if the Obama campaign practiced what they preached, they’d be telling Richardson to support HRC… the time when he could have been most effective has long since passed
Singer: This is about sen c and sen o… but at the end of the day, the candidates will determine the outcome of this race…
National Journal: Obama call accuses her of being deliberately misleading… what say you?
Jay Carson: I’m taking the archives questions… these should not be viewed as an exhaustive compendium of what she did, min-to-min as First Lady… reported and pushed by Obama campaigning that she was championing NAFTA… but 4 of 5 meetings she was actually opposing the legislation, and pushing back on the administration… they were titled “NAFTA/health care care,” about which the admin should pursue… i don’t have to
Phil: I apologize for shouting, I didn’t realize I was doing it… but with regard to Ohio… we’ve got a word from NY, it’s called “chutzpah,” and it takes a lot of chutzpah for the Obama campaign to say that Clinton’s being misleading when his advisor are meeting with Canadian officials [and telling them that he’s intentionally misleading the voters of Ohio].
Jay: [Quotes Gergen] to compare this to Goolsbee is disingenuous at best
[MI/Fl Q & A]
Phil: We can’t afford to let the obama camp’s political needs get in the way with offering solutions to the American people… this is too important to let languish… [Back and forth about whether the Obama campaign are pushing caucuses: Are they? Didn’t you say that? No, I didn’t say that. Well, are they? Very who’s on first.]
Paul West, Baltimore Sun: how important is it to have another vote in fl and Mich.? if you don’t have them, how do you get to a lead in the popular vote…
Penn: Obviously, if we don’t have another vote, the only solution is to count the votes that have been cast… they turned out in record numbers to show their preference [despite the claim that more would have turned out in a contested competition]…
West: So you in your calculations, you’d only count Clinton?
Penn: Well, there were several uncommitted… they’d be split up among all the people that were candidates at the time…
Phil: Let’s not forget that Obama made a strategic decision to remove his name from the ballot in order to court voters in early states… he’s trying to say that he’s not being on the ballot is somehow unfair, but he could have easily stayed on the ballot… that’s a disadvantage that he put himself at. Amy Chosik, WSJ: Why do you need another pollster?
Phil: You want to be as many good players as you can, because that makes you a better organization… we’ve got a great left fielder in Mark… we’ve got a great team in Howard, and me, and Jay, but we’re always looking to bring more good people on…
Penn: I don’t think those details were accurate [about the new pollster]… someone will have to get back to you on that.. [Q about over half Americans thinking Clinton not trustworthy]
Penn: trust is an issue with all politicians… but polls also say people trust her to be c-in-c, to lead the country, and to [handle] the economy… they would trust her in those tasks over him… and you’re seeing real questions of trust w sen o… relationship with wright… economic policy… his Iraq speech in 2002, did he follow through? … you’re seeing significant issues of trust raised every day.
Phil: Just on Rezko [you’ve got issues of trust]… Mark Johnson, Charlotte Observer: [Apologizes for being “parochial”]… Voter disenfranchisement in North Carolina?
Phil: You look at what they’re trying to do… seem to want to stop voting in process… I believe their campaign manager has said that it’s impossible for anyone else to win… before everyone has a had a chance to vote… we think all 50 states should have a chance to vote.
Gannett: There are those that don’t share your view… that at the end of thing, all things are going to be harmonious… aren’t you arguing a form of disenfranchisement yourself… if regular voters don’t matter, if superdelegates are going to decide
Penn: We’re for every vote getting counted here… there are about 7m people yet to be heard from here…
Gannett: Does it matter at all who’s ahead in del June 4?
Penn: The superdelegates are going to look at that! They’re going to look at popular vote, they’re going to look at who can win… let’s not try to rush this… let’s just let people vote…
Phil: The Obama campaign has a habit of isolating one metric and saying that its the one [way this race should be measured]… we think she’s the most electable candidate because we think she’d make the best president [Questions winding down. We’re all bored… ]
Andrea Mitchell [! What took her so long!]: Passport investigation in 1992… what is your position on the investigation on what happened with Obama’s passport files?
Phil: Well certainly there should be an investigation.. but, Andrea, we will not put up with being tied to this… while we understand they’re feeling nervous… we don’t think that’s appropriate… as Joe Scarborough put it… it might be “amateur hour.”
That wasn’t part of my report.
Phil: No, it was discussed afterwards.
Andrea: Well, nonetheless, separately, do you feel the acting AG is the right person to investigate this?
Phil: There should be an investigation
Nora O’Donnell: Are you expecting any more announcements about [defections?] of superdelegates?
Phil: WE’re going to continue moving forward… we expect superdelegates to respond [to our message about being ready on day one … yadda yadda yadda]
Nora: Mark, [have you seen a change in support of superdelegates because of Wright and other things over the past week? Is Obama being further vetted?]
Penn: There’s a lot of things… Wright… Rezko… [ready to lead, etc] … I think the next big moment of this campaign is the Pennsylvania primary… I think the decision of superdelegates is going to happen after this is all played out…
St. Pete Times: Howdy, yall… [yes! Redneck Riviera!] We’re hearing that the real stonewalling is coming from you guys and not Obama… why are you not ready to talk about a negotiated settlement?
Phil: In America, we vote…
SPT: But that’s not going to happen…Unless God himself comes down and orders a vote, they’re not going to do it.
Phil: Problem that rises to the highest levels… threatens D prospects in MI and Fl… we call on the Obama campaign to stop standing in the way of a new vote… to come out strongly to make sure… votes are counted… there’s a very simple solution right under our noses! Why not just count the votes that have been cast?
SPT: I feel ya, I do… right now, it’s a triangle, and you’re the only ones in the corner [I love this guy.] … 50-50…?
Phil: I don’t think it’s appropriate to negotiate deals in the press… there’s got to be a resolution… it’s not in keeping with the principles and traditions of our country to disenfranchise voters in any state..
Chuck Todd: [Your strategy to emphasize popular vote and primaries?] You do trail…
Penn: I just think that it’s a very important factor… caucuses much lower participation… fundamentally different profile… smaller states… states that aren’t and will never be in our column…
Phil: We’ll wrap this up, I’m sure everyone wants to try to watch some basketball… Obama keeps trying come up with a single metric to measure this race, but in fact there are many factors… thank everyone… hope everyone has a good Easter weekend… and the Obama campaign is feeling desperate, and feeling like they need to change the subject… Goodbye