Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Former Clinton Aide Pushes For Dream Ticket



(image via z.about)

The abrupt removal of Senator Jim Webb's name as Obama '08 running mate has left something of a political vacuum among the Obamaratti. Would "Hillary Democrats" accept Governor Sibellius (And doesn't Hillary, who achieved half the popular votes in the primary have a better claim on the mantle?)? Webb, who accomplished the amazing feat of passing major legislation in his freshman year with bipartisan support against the will of a sitting President, was a solid front runner who could easily pull Hillary Democrats. His pluses dovetailed perfectly into the weaknesses that Senator Clinton exposed in Obama's armor, namely: white working class voters.

In a Post-Webb political cosmos, Obama is under more and more pressure to pick Senator Clinton as his running mate. Although insiders know that the Senator from Illinois is squarely against this possibility, it is not inconceivable. Then there is the new Quinnipiac poll that says that one in five Hillary Clinton voters have not reconciled themselves to voting for Obama. And the campaign -- at least by former aides -- continues to put pressure on Obama, though their impact, thus far, is minimal. From TheHill:

"'A former aide to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is contributing to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) with the hope of putting Clinton backstage at the Democratic convention next month.

"Adam Parhomenko, the former Clinton aide and a co-founder of VoteBoth.com, a website pushing the idea of a dream ticket of Obama and Clinton, hopes the Obama campaign will choose him to be one of 10 Obama supporters who will receive backstage passes for the convention.

"If chosen, Parhomenko said he 'would like to make a substitution.'

"'I would like Hillary Clinton to join Barack Obama backstage at the Democratic National Convention instead,' Parhomenko wrote in response to a mass e-mail sent out by Steve Hildebrand, Obama's deputy campaign manager. 'In fact, like millions of Americans, I think Sen. Obama should choose Sen. Clinton as his running mate. It would be a true Dream Ticket.'"

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