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Once again, Clinton is faced with a caucus, something her campaign has not managed to win. What is their response to the Texas caucus rules? Sue the Texas Democratic Party. The last time a presidential candidate sued, because he didn’t like the rules, turned out to be a disaster for America. And now, we have Hillary Clinton following in the litigious footsteps of George W. Bush.

For some, the Texas primary and caucus system may be confusing, but it is by far not a new process. This system has been around for many years, even Bill Clinton ran under the same Texas primary/caucus system. However, for the Hillary Clinton camp, reading the Texas Democratic Party rules was never important until Super Tuesday when Texas became important. Obviously, Hillary thought Texas would stay irrelevant, and reading our old primary/caucus rules was not going to be necessary. Another bad decision.

Guy Cecil, Clinton’s political director, asked party officials to spell out the rules. Well Cecil, here you go, the rules, which have been public for years.

Texas caucus takes place on March 4 after the polls close, there are two lists, one for Clinton and one for Obama, caucus goers sign their names on their candidates list and the freaking caucus is over.

The idea of Clinton suing the Texas Democratic Party proves to me just how divisive she is. Clinton will stall the Texas caucus to get her way. Sound familiar? It’s interesting the Obama camp doesn’t have a problem with the Texas caucus rules.

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has raised the possibility of a challenge to Texas’ primary and caucus rules just days before the contest, drawing a warning against legal action from the state’s Democratic Party.

Top strategists for Democratic rival Barack Obama said Friday they supported the party’s action, suggesting the Clinton campaign was trying to block the reporting of caucus results.

Aides to Clinton said earlier this week they were alarmed at the lack of clarity about many of the caucus rules and expressed their concerns on a conference call with Obama’s staff and state party officials. Texas has a two-step voting process, with a primary and then caucuses shortly after the polls close.

Clinton political director, Guy Cecil said he asked party officials to spell out the rules in memo form and to send them to both campaigns.

“We want to see the results in writing, and we reserve the right to challenge something if we don’t believe it reflects something that was discussed on the call,” he said, insisting that if there were clear problems with how the caucuses were being run, “you are allowed to say something about it.”

Cecil on Friday denied that the campaign planned to sue the party, which will manage roughly 8,700 caucuses Tuesday evening.

“There were no veiled threats of lawsuits of any kind,” Cecil said of the conference call.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the Clinton campaign was trying to minimize the results of the caucuses. The former first lady and her team have made clear their unhappiness with caucuses, believing that they cater to the hard-core party activists who tend to support Obama. The Illinois senator has won 13 caucuses so far, while Clinton has won just two.

Texas party officials said they believed Cecil was threatening legal action and wrote a letter to him and to Obama senior strategist Steve Hildebrand reflecting that concern.

“If it is true that litigation is imminent between one or both of your campaigns and the Texas Democratic Party, such action could prove to be a tragedy for a reinvigorated democratic process that is involving a record number of participants here in Texas and across the nation,” party attorney Chad Dunn wrote. “Litigation regarding the TDP could cripple the momentum of a resurging Texas Democratic Party and ultimately the November 2008 election.”

The letter also noted that many of Clinton’s senior campaign advisers in Texas had helped to develop the rules governing the state’s caucus system. A Texas party official also noted that former President Clinton won the state’s caucuses in 1992 and 1996 following the same rules.

Posted by nytexan February 29th, 2008 | Category: Caucus, Clinton, Democrat, Politics, Texas, Texas Democratic Party, Texas Politics, primary | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL