I am peeling my eyes away from the affairs of the Legislature today – well, mostly but not completely – and retraining my focus on the meaning of the mass of presidential primaries and caucuses.
Any of you doing the same? I hear we can now receive your comments, so try it out and let me know what you’re doing today on what is the closest thing to a national presidential primary we’ve ever had.
I’ve just finished listening in on an extended conference call with two leaders of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign – her Chief Strategist Mark Penn and Communications Director Howard Wolfson.
Wolfson said repeatedly, “I think you will find today will largely be inconclusive.”
They said they expect Clinton will still be leading in the overall delegate count when today’s voting ends. They made clear they mean the combined sum of pledged and super delegates because Sen. Barack Obama leads in the former and she is ahead in the latter. That trend will likely be the same tomorrow, they said.
I asked Wolfson if Clinton would visit Washington on or before Saturday’s caucuses. He said “we are still figuring out our schedule” for the next few days.
She and all the remaining candidates received a letter of invitation last week from Gov. Chris Gregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed.
The Feb. 1 missive said, in part:
We urge you to visit Washington, the second largest state in the west, for our delegate-rich February 9 caucuses and our voter-rich February 19 Presidential Primary. Both will have a profound impact on the nomination of the country’s next chief executive.
Given the strategic timing of Washington caucuses and primary, this is a great place to earn national attention and prove you can win in a culturally and ethnically diverse region.
Washington is also the third largest of the twenty-five states west of the Mississippi with a sophisticated voting public that cares deeply about the future of this region and the path our nation will take to prepare for the future. After “Super Tuesday,” many Washington voters will decide which presidential candidate is most deserving of the nomination. A personal visit to Washington will demonstrate your dedication to the west and to each and every American voter.
We’ll wait and see if anyone responds.
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