Former Governor Tom Vilsack charged Monday, during a Hillary Clinton campaign conference call, that Barack Obama broke the early states pledge by running campaign ads on national cable networks.
Losses in New Hampshire and, by Clinton's count, Nevada, "compelled (Obama's) campaign to sacrifice part of his integrity," Vilsack said during Monday's call. "Your word ought to be your bond, whether it's politically convenient or not."
"Words matter, promises matter and pledges matter," said Vilsack, who ended his own presidential campaign in February 2007 and endorsed Clinton. "It calls into question the promises and pledges he's made on the campaign trail."
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the cable networks could not eliminate Florida from the national buy. He added that the campaign sought and received permission from Carol Fowler, the Democratic chair in last remaining early state South Carolina.
On Aug. 31, the top six Democrats all agreed to skip campaigning in states that violated the Democratic National Committee's calendar which placed Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina first. The DNC later punished Florida and Michigan by taking away all their delegates. But the close race and the advantage going into Feb. 5's 20-plus state primary makes Florida irresistible.
Iowans, of course, saw many candidate ads on cable, but those were local buys. The Obama ads in question are national buys on CNN and MSNBC. A Clinton press release charges:
These ads are a clear and blatant violation of the early-state pledge that Senator Obama and the other leading Democratic candidates signed last year.
The early state pledge was crystal clear in its prohibition against any kind of campaign activity (outside of fundraising) in states that do not adhere to the DNC calendar. There is no ambiguity. Among the list of prohibited activities are “electronic advertising that reaches a significant percentage of the voters in the aforementioned state.” (According to Nielsen, there are 6.6 million TV households in Florida that receive CNN through either local cable systems or satellite dishes. This represents 92% of all Florida TV households.)
"We certainly weren't happy about the pledge, but we have scrupulously abided by it," Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a national co-chairwoman for Clinton, said on the conference call. "Now, it's time to review all the options on the table." Those options could include any kind of campaign activity.
"If the Clinton campaign wants to campaign in Florida and ignore the pledge they signed, they'll be running the wrong way around the track because there are no delegates at stake," said Plouffe.
In a statement on Jan. 15, the date of the Michigan primary, the Obama campaign said:
Senator Obama is firm in his commitment to neither participate nor campaign in the Florida Primary and its outcome has no bearing on the nomination contest. We raise Florida today because Senator Clinton has scheduled a fundraiser in Florida on Jan. 27th, and there are signs -– despite Senator Clinton’s public pledge to the contrary –- that she may be planning to campaign in the state – inquiring about large venues and increased organizing activity – ahead of the Florida primary.
Our position and the position of the DNC is clear – neither the Florida nor Michigan primaries are playing any role in deciding the Democratic nominee and we are not campaigning in either state.
Despite the official loss of delegates, the Florida Democratic party said in a statement: "We are confident that the Democratic Presidential nominee will seat Florida's delegation at the Convention."
Blogger Jerome Armstrong of MyDD wonders if the national ad buy was a consultant's mistake: "Anyone think this was an oversight by the Obama campaign? Can Obama just blame (media consultant) David Axelrod? How much of a commission will Axelrod gain from running ads in a state that doesn't matter?"
In another event on the early state front, a low-key Republican National Committee meeting last week looked at the nomination calendar for 2012. A Thursday rules committee meeting held preliminary discussions about proposals for overhauling the system.
“It’s pretty obvious now that no person can win the nomination of our party unless he or she is both financially and organizationally prepared to conduct a campaign in half of the country simultaneously,” said committee Morton Blackwell of Virginia. "That is not good."
Republican rules require any changes in the 2012 nomination process to be made at this year's national convention.
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