> The Fix is in for Hillary
>
> by Richard Lawrence Poe
>
> Monday, January 7, 2008
>
> Forget Iowa. Forget New Hampshire. Forget the Democratic primaries
> altogether. The fix is in for Hillary Clinton.
> When Democrats convene this August in Denver, they will nominate
> Hillary as their candidate for President of the United States.
>
> The day after Hillary's loss in Iowa last Thursday, her campaign
> chief Terry McAuliffe told reporters, "Listen, Hillary is going to
> be the nominee. There's no question." McAuliffe was not indulging
> in wishful thinking. He was stating a fact. He knows things the
> rest of us do not.
>
> One thing McAuliffe knows is that Hillary controls a decisive
> majority of the Democratic Party superdelegates. The
superdelegates
> control 42 percent of the votes needed to nominate Hillary. They
> may vote for whomever they wish, for any reason, and may change
> their minds at will. In August, they will nominate Hillary.
>
> Democrats started the superdelegate system in 1984, to give party
> leaders tighter control over the nominating process.
>
> This was partly in response to the catastrophic defeat of George
> McGovern, the radical, anti-war demagogue who, in 1972, lost every
> state in the union except Massachusetts to Richard Nixon.
>
> To prevent such maverick candidates from winning the nomination in
> future, party leaders rigged the system.
> State delegates were no longer permitted to nominate presidential
> candidates on their own. Henceforth party-approved superdelegates
> would also cast votes.
>
> Superdelegates are party stalwarts, Democrat officials whose
> loyalties favor party over state. Their number varies from one
> election to the next. Currently there are 852 superdelegates,
> including 29 state governors, 232 congressmen, 49 senators, two
> "shadow" or non-voting senators from the District of Columbia, and
> 540 Democratic Party leaders and officials of various sorts.
>
> At this year's Democratic Convention, 4,049 delegates will vote.
> Hillary must get 2,025 votes to win the nomination. This is the so-
> called "magic number". The 852 superdelegates total 42 percent of
> the magic number. In a close race, their votes could prove decisive.
>
> At this writing, CNN reports that 257 superdelegates have already
> pledged their votes: of them, 154 (60 percent)
> have pledged for Hillary; 50 (19 percent) for Barack Obama; and 33
> (13 percent) for John Edwards.
>
> Should Hillary falter in the primaries, the superdelegates will
> likely come to her rescue and nominate her anyway.
>
> The Web site 2008 Democratic Convention Watch offers updated lists
> of superdelegates who have and have not pledged their votes.
>
> Of course, Hillary cannot win from superdelegate votes alone. She
> must get a sizeable number of state delegates as well. This
> presents no problem for Hillary. Her political machine is deeply
> entrenched in America's urban centers. These crowded cities can
> overwhelm rural voters, bringing entire states into Hillary's
camp,
> with large numbers of delegates.
>
> The decisive date will be February 5, dubbed Super Duper Tuesday
by
> political pundits. Twenty-four states will hold their primaries
> that day.
>
> "These states include some of our largest and most delegate-rich
> states, such as California, New York, Illinois, Georgia, New
Jersey
> and others," notes Steven Hill, political reform director for the
> leftwing New America Foundation. "Together these two dozen states
> hold enough delegates to nearly decide the presidential nomination
> all by themselves." Hillary is counting on that. As Steven Hill
> explains, "Having a single primary day with so many states… gives
> great advantage to those candidates with the most campaign cash
and
> name recognition… It creates a virtual wealth primary in which new
> presidential faces will be quickly eliminated." In any contest of
> wealth, Hillary has the advantage. Her blue-chip backers include
> the likes of Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, wife of Sir Evelyn
> de Rothschild of the famed Rothschild banking dynasty.
>
> "I'm always doing everything I possibly can for Hillary Clinton…",
> Her Ladyship told Portfolio magazine. "I have been waiting for
this
> since Bill Clinton left office, frankly." Married November 30,
> 2000, Lady de Rothschild spent her wedding night in the Clinton
> White House.
>
> OpenSecrets.org reports that Hillary has raised $90.9 million,
only
> slightly higher than Obama's $80.3 million.
>
> However, most of Hillary's money is off the books. No one knows
how
> many millions Hillary has laundered through George Soros' "Shadow
> Party", a network of Democrat front groups masquerading as non-
> partisan charities. These include Fund for America, the Democracy
> Alliance, America Votes and Media Matters for America, among others.
>
> Republicans need to stop gloating over Hillary's every misstep and
> see the big picture. Hillary has the money, the machine, and the
> support of global financial elites. Unless we can muster a
> counterforce of similar strength, Hillary will win the nomination
> and the presidency.