May 8, 2008
Hillary Battles On As West Virginia Primary Looms
Chelsea, Bill Clinton Also Barnstorming Mountain State
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Despite the “it’s all over” declarations from certain national media commentators and political leaders, the Clintons -- Hillary, Bill and Chelsea -- descended upon the Mountain State Wednesday, May 7 and Thursday, May 8.
Hillary joined her daughter Chelsea at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., about an hour from Washington, D.C.
Candidate Clinton will return to Charleston for a rally at the State Capitol Complex at 10:15 a.m. Thursday morning. No tickets are necessary. Doors open at 8 a.m. To RSVP: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/charleston.
Former President Bill Clinton will visit Phillippi (10:30 a.m.), Sutton (1 p.m.), Fayetteville (3:45 p.m.), Fairlea (5:30 p.m.) and Athens (8 p.m., Concord University, (Carter Center Gym) Thursday. No tickets are necessary; the public is invited.
Although the Clintons have been canvassing the state, Obama has made only limited appearances, such as the one at the University of Charleston. Charleston’s Daily Mail wrote Wednesday that Obama has not announced any stop in West Virginia before Tuesday’s primary. However, at the opening of his Huntington headquarters a few weeks ago, organizers stated the candidate would come to West Virginia. In fact, his national office indicates that he will be heading for general election “swing states,” rather than accenting the remaining primaries.
Tracking polls favor Clinton as the Mark Blankenship Enterprise (MBE) poll shows 56% favoring Clinton to 18% for Obama with 26 % undecided. Rasmussen Reports gave her a 56%-27% lead. A TSG Consulting poll gave her a 63%-23% advantage.
At the Shepherdstown rally, she defied naysayers with “it is a new day. It is a new state. It is a new election.”
Clinton has continued touting her plan for a federal gasoline tax holiday. The 18.5 cent per gallon tax goes for maintaining infrastructure, but Hillary Clinton would put the tax on oil companies reaping windfall profits from the near $4.00 a gallon prices.
Her opponent, Obama, does not support the holiday indicating it would have no impact. One of his supporters stated an average family might save thirty cents a day. However, the estimate appears to apply to states where workers have short work commutes, rather than rural states where workers and families must travel mile after mile to work, school, recreation or retail shops.
By contrast, Republican challenger John McCain supports the tax holiday, but he would not place the burden on oil companies to make up the difference like Clinton.
Meanwhile, a few more super delegates defected to Barack Obama including former presidential candidate George McGovern.
Just who are West Virginia’s Super Delegates? According to a chart from The Washington Post, the Mountain State has ten Super Delegates, two of which have committed to support Obama. Sen. John D. Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall have both given the Illinois senator their votes.
Remaining West Virginia Super Delegates include: Gov. Joe Manchin; Rep. Alan Mollohan; Distinguished Party Leader Robert C. Byrd; Belinda Biafore, W.Va. DNC member; Alice Travis Germond, W.Va. DNC member; Pat Maroney, W.Va. DNC member; Marie L. Prezioso, W.Va. DNC member; John Manchin III, Democratic Governor’s Assn.; and Alice Travis Germond, officer, Democratic National Committee. (To see the list from other states, click: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/primaries/2008_superdelegates.html)
Currently, Sourcewatch.org has the Super Delegate talley as Undecided 271, Clinton 269, and Obama 254. With 2025 necessary to win nomination, The Associate Press calculates Obama at 1,840 and Mrs. Clinton with 1,688.
Clinton has met with undeclared superdelegates. She also has been fighting to have delegates from Florida and Michigan seated at the National Convention in August. Both states had their delegations banned for holding early primaries without DNC permission. Clinton won both states.
In fact, ABC NEWS reports that several “exit” strategies for Clinton. One of them involves leaving on a winning note following anticipated victories in West Virginia and Kentucky. Bill Clinton’s former press secretary George Stephanopolous suggested negotiations for seating the Michigan and Florida delegations at the August convention, and , despite the primary bitterness of the campaign, the VP spot on the ticket with Obama.
For information on the Clintons' appearances, call 346-1913.
Obama's Charleston office can be reached at 346-2616