Richardson Ends Campaign With Keystone Kops Routine
Posted on Thu Jan 03, 2008 at 02:42:07 PM EST
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Bill Richardson was easily the worst candidate of this cycle and he ends his campaign tonight with an appropriately hilarious Keystone Kops routine. First, John Harwood of the NYTimes, a serious guy, reports:
After earlier winning the support of Dennis Kucinich, Obama’s campaign has reached an agreement with Bill Richardson for the second-choice votes of Richardson supporters in caucuses where the New Mexico governor can’t clear the threshold for competition, according to a senior Obama campaign adviser [It is David Pflouffe, me talking not Harwood. How do I know? Becuase in the update he went on the record to say there was an "informal arrangement"]. . . . But the specter of backroom deal-making could also raise questions about Mr. Obama’s stance as an opponent of traditional politics. The national spokesman for Mr. Obama’s campaign, Bill Burton, said word of a deal “isn’t true.”
I believe it is true now, and a useless deal it is. If it were not true, Richardson would be denouncing Obama's campaign for this. They are not. Marc Ambinder reports:
Tom Reynolds, a spokesman for Bill Richardson, denies reports that his precinct captains will urge non-viable Richardson caucusers to choose Sen. Barack Obama second.
If it is not true, why is a senior Obama advisor quoted on the record (albeit anonymously) by the solid John Harwood? Shouldn't Richardson be talking about the dirty tricks the Obama campaign is playing? They are not saying that because it is true. Boy I bet those Richardson precinct captains are really enthused now.
Bill Richardson's campaign is over tonight. And good riddance. And I doubt this deal will amount to a hill of beans anyway. But if I was with the Clinton or Edwards campaign, I would be trumpeting this deal to everyone - first as a sign of the backroom politics Obama plays and second to argue that his caucus total will be greatly inflated. Of course neither is really very true. But in politics, when has that mattered?
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