Friday, May 9, 2008

Letter from Hillary to Barack - The un-edited version

* Below is the original letter written by Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama, as released to the press May 8. The areas highlighted in red are what I imagine Hillary might have written, but edited out before sending. Let me know if you agree with my guess.

5/8/2008

Letter from Sen. Clinton to Sen. Obama

Senator Barack Obama
Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Dear (Hate) Senator Obama,

This has been an historic and exciting campaign. Millions of new voters have been brought into the process and their enthusiasm for the Democratic Party and the principles for which you and I but mostly I have fought and continue to fight is unprecedented, all thanks to me, and who cares about the 1.5 million individual supporters you have.

One of the foremost principles of our party is that citizens be allowed to vote and that those votes be counted, except when I don't think they should count, like caucuses, for instance. Except for Nevada. That caucus is the only one that counts. That principle is not currently being applied to the nearly 2.5 million people who voted in primaries in Florida and Michigan, and it obviously does not matter to me that I signed a pledge stating that the Michigan votes would not count, and that I wouldn't campaign in Florida, even though I did have a victory celebration there. Whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will be hamstrung in the general election if a fair and quick resolution is not reached that ensures that the voices of these voters are heard, although one could argue that apart from selecting a nominee of a particular party, votes cast in primaries are in no way reflective of how voters will vote in the general election. Our commitment now to this goal could be the difference between winning and losing in November.

I have consistently said that the votes cast in Florida and Michigan in January should be counted, except when I signed that pledge, along with you and the other candidates, stating otherwise. So I guess that is not really consistent, but I do have a propensity to misspeak. We cannot ignore the fact that the people in those states took the time to be a part of this process and to make their preferences known, except in Michigan where mine was the only name on the ballot. When efforts were untaken (sorry, I'm not good with grammer) by leaders in those states to hold revotes to ensure that they had a voice in selecting our nominee, I supported those efforts. In Michigan, I supported a legislative effort to hold a revote that the Democratic National Committee said was in complete compliance with the party's rules. You did not support those efforts and your supporters in Michigan publically opposed them. Who cares if that's not how they wanted their campaign donations spent, right? In Florida a number of revote options were proposed. I am not aware of any that you supported. In 2000, the Republicans won an election by successfully opposing a fair counting of votes in Florida. As Democrats, we must reject any proposals that would do the same, just like I rejected the signed pledge and other promises to abide by the DNC rules because of Michigan and Florida violating party rules.

Your commitment to the voters of these states must be clearly stated and your support for a fair and quick resolution must be clearly demonstrated.

I am asking you to join me in working with representatives from Florida and Michigan and the Democratic National Committee to arrive at a solution that honors the votes of the millions of people who went to the polls in Florida and Michigan. It is not enough to simply seat their representatives at the convention in Denver. The people of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other states, must have a voice in selecting our party's nominee. Therefore, I propose that I get all of the delegates from Florida and Michigan, in a winner-take-all method, just like the Republicans do, which would be consistent with how I have been campaigning.

Sincerely (NOT),

Hillary "Hillrod" Rodham Clinton

(future) President of the United States of America

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