Wow - just wow! :o)

coming up!!!

Rise.  Hillary.  Rise!

She said this too shall pass, and noted that it's a perverse form of flattery when they spend that much time and energy trying to tear us down, when what we need to be doing is trying to figure out how to swear in a Democrat on January 20th.

Why even include this when you don't actually believe it?

thank you for continuing to create these positive diaries!

She even looks better in person.

you had this chat! I wish I had been "there"!

We already have been "discussing" you and "the call". No matter what... you have become a minor blog celebrity to people who agree with you and even to ones that disagree with you.

Nice positive diary alegre.

Keep up the good work.

It must be a thrill to be recognized by a person you admire so much. This will be something you never forget.

bringing our message to Hillary, and her message to us. It's a vicarious thrill for me...

I listened to the tape.  It was great.  I heard your voice too Algre. And Hillary recognized you right away after you introduced yourself.  That was so cool.

She knows all about how the bloggers like us work in the blog sphere (she actually used that word). She knows that we took a lot of heat being her supporter and defending her.

She knows how it is done in the blog world. I couldn't imagine she understands all about it. But she does. And she really appreciated what we have done for her.  

I'm glad you told her again that we are with her all the way.  That's what I wanted to tell her too: we are with you, don't give up.

Isn't it nice to be appreciated!  And I know Hillary and her team appreciate all the bloggers who volunteer and work on her behalf.  I know because Terry MacAuliff told me at a fundraiser where I met Hillary and from staff who opened an office here in the N.C. campaign.  

I've been on several campaign calls available to press, including bloggers, but that's nothing like a call from the leader offering encouragemt and thanking you. I don't know about others but I do know YOU deserve her thanks, Alegre.

I am though concerned that you see no problem with taking this to the convention.  When either party has done this in the past 40 years, they have lost in November.  I hope that you will accept it if she concedes after June 34d.

Also, why is that you are so hyped up about counting every voe, but you ignore four caucus states?  If you want to count every vote, then you should want to count their votes and that would put Obama back in the lead.  But in the end it's delegates and not popular vote that determines who the nominee is.

Finally, do you not realize that wins in a primary is completely different than wins in the GE?  Just b/c Hillary won WV or any other state does not mean she's going to win those states in November.  Thus I don't accept your thesis that the electoral map based on primary results is any indicator of who we should nominate.

It really is great you got to talk to Hillary.  How surreal.

I just wanted to say (as an Obama supporter) it was really neat putting a voice to the words on the screen.  It shows you're human just like the rest of us.  This is something I wish all of us would think of when blogging and commenting.

So, I'm a little jealous.  I might not support her bid for the presidency, but I have always and will always admire Hillary.

Kudos on the positive diary.

always for your terrific work.  And I am sure HRC knows about you and of you, and what an honor to be there and to have it feel like you were "chatting with an old friend".

You've got some serious mojo, and thanks for sharing with us!

and absolutely felt recommitted to Clinton again.  You're right, Alegre---She is inspirational!  I'm in this with her until we reach the finish line. How outrageous for the mainstream media to not be talking about the real story in this race---that Senator Clinton's supporters are so bonded to her candidacy that we don't need the media to confirm what we already know:  She deserves to be the next President, and with our help, she'll win the nomination.

Ahh, Alegre. Don't worry, you can be my wingman anyday.

Awesome post. I'm sure you handled it much better than I do. I would freeze like a block of ice if I got to talk to Hill--so little time to say things, so much to say.

What's the point of you promoting ideas that are not taken seriously by the people who make decisions in the party? You know that the rules say that the nominee is chosen by delegates.

"It's the map, not the math!"

That's right. Don't pay any attention to the math.

Instead, let's look at the subjective count of the popular vote, which undeniably can go for either Clinton or Obama depending on which way you count it, and the conjecture of Clinton's victories representing 300 electoral votes over Obama.

You know what? You're right. Sort of. It's true that Clinton won in bigger states than Obama. She has won more swing states. It's true.

But that doesn't mean that she has a better chance in those states in November. Why? It's very simple: Obama won among the voters that are going to have the hardest time deciding between McCain and the democrat in November. In other words, he won among independents.

Let's look at the CNN exit polls.

In Ohio, Obama won independents 50%-48%.
In California, Obama won independents 58%-34%.
In Indiana, Obama won independents 54%-46%.
In Iowa (seems like ancient history now!) Obama won independents 41%-17%.
In Wisconsin, Obama won independents 64%-33%.
In Missouri, Obama won independents 67%-30%.
In New Hampshire, Obama won independents 41%-31%.
In New Mexico, Obama won independents 65%-29%.
In Virginia, Obama won independents 69%-30%.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton won independents 60%-40%.
Colorado does not have exit polling, but Obama undoubtedly won independents there. Simply look at the overall margin.
The same goes for Washington and Minnesota. No exit polling, but huge margin.
There was no campaigning in Florida, so that election loses a degree of validity. However, Clinton certainly won the independent vote in that state.

My argument is about this quote: "as of her big win in West Virginia, Clinton has won states that represent 300 electoral votes.  Her opponent has racked up wins in states holding 217 electoral votes, and that his were won in states that are about as red as you can get." This implies that Obama's strength in states that he's won will not serve him well in November. I believe that the results above show that what he has won is not the swing STATES, but the swing VOTERS.

Please, rebut my argument. Don't ignore it, or avoid it, as you usually do. I don't mean that as an attack; it's clear that you have a mind that works well and I always like to see counterarguments to my points.

...I heard from someone else that was on the conference call that Hillary talked about party unity and how we should rally around the eventual nominee...Could you elaborate on this, I noticed it wasn't in your diary..Thanks..

How many straws does the HIllary Campaign have left to grasp?

"She also noted that - as of her big win in West Virginia, she's won states that represent 300 electoral votes.  Her opponent has racked up wins in states holding 217 electoral votes, and that his were won in states that are about as red as you can get.  She has a cushion - he has a significant deficit

In other words gang...

IT'S THE  MAP - NOT THE MATH!"

California and New York will be the real nail biters on Election Night.  Lets exclude Democrats from Utah or South Carolina because their state vote GOP come fall.    

The actual scoreboard shows Obama with an insurmountable lead in delegates with few states remaining.

In the end it is adding up to Obama as our nominee.    

I listened to the call and you were terrific, Alegre! The whole thing was great to listen to but I really loved your segment. Ya done good, kid! :)

have some kind of messiah complex

Way to go, Alegre - I'm going to listen to the call now.

As the first serious female candidate for President (I mean "serious" in that she has significant support and a real chance to win), Senator Clinton sets the right precedent for continuing to fight until the game is over.

Winners never quit.

Quitters never win.

Thank you, Senator Clinton, for showing us how it's done.

All the way. This race isn't over. All good things are worth the wait. Let ever voter vote and let every vote count. This is about the map not the math; Hillary has the EV to beat McCain, Obama doesn't! The party needs to stop propping up a wiener and get behind Hillary if they want to win back the White House.

After listening to the conference call and seeing that there are a number of bloggers simply working for the Clinton campaign and propagating their talking points I have to say that you've lost all credibility with me.

This is especially a shock after you pushed an unsubstantiated rumor about 400 so called Obama bloggers.  I always thought people that called you a Clinton shill were simply being mean.  But nope, it's true.

Sometimes I get weary of fighting for Sen. Clinton on the blogs.  It thoroughly amazes me that you can write one energetic and positive diary after another, even on days when the news is really bad.

Hillary Clinton should think about what she is going to do with us when this is all over.  We're battle tested and ready to go.  We're passionate in our beliefs and firm in our convictions.  The values we all share transcend the Presidency.  

You were great.  I thought that the stories about the children were very moving.

"She talked about how she's still out there campaigning in the upcoming states.  She's in Oregon now and was getting ready to take part in a town hall event hosted by KGW Newschannel 8 in Portland, OR.  This was originally presented by KGW as a debate to both Hillary and Obama, but he declined as he has for any recent suggestion of a face to face debate with Hillary.  Hillary - always ready to face off in these events, accepted the invitation and as a result of her readiness to discuss the issues, will have a full hour of air time with undecided voters in Portland.  She seemed to be really looking forward to that event."

I'm quite sure no offense is intended. He's just sort of busy trying to win the White House. Might be you've missed it, but round 1 in the fight for the White House was about foreign policy, more specific the situation in the Middle East. Even at Foxnews they seemed to be pro-Obama after the skirmish.
Have fun campaigning for Hillary, Alegre.

See you in november,
Hebi

As a fellow Dem and Obama supporter, I am proud of how hard our grassroots have and continue to work for our respective candidates.  I am proud of how Sen. Clinton has energized so many in the party and I believe that it is in the party's best interest for Sen. Clinton and her supporters to continue to fight on and fight hard for the nomination.  This nomination fight should only be over when everyone feels as though all votes are counted and all avenues have been exhausted.  It is my hope, no matter our nominee, that we can come together knowing that everything has been decided fair and square.  It is this fairness that is critical in my mind's eye.

I regret what has happened to fracture our party so bitterly and hope that we can work through it in time to save our country from the rethugs in Nov.  We can differ on our 1st choices, but the final choice should be clear for any thoughtful American as the rethugs are clearly taking us in the wrong direction.  There are those on both sides with insurmountable philosophical differences that we as a party will have to accept.  But for the rest of us who are not willing to surrender the WH to another 4 years of Rethug rule while saying AGAIN to the rest of the world that '...we support the corrupt and bankrupt decisions made on our behalf by our Administration," we have our work cut out of us as we MUST prevail lest we want a disastrous environment, out of control spending, an Iraq war without end coupled with a war with Iran, with possible nuclear consequences.  None of that!

So, keep up the hard work, Clinton supporters.  Keeping registering voters Obama supporters.  There are a few loud and negative voices in the blogosphere for both sides of this debate, but this place/blogosphere is insular in many ways and seems to suffer from an over-inflated sense of self-importance.  I know plenty of Obama and Clinton supporters - not online - who want this process to work through until the end and are excited about joining forces in the fall.  Though disagree we might. many of us know what's at stake when we look into our children's eyes everyday. We refuse to have our children's futures destroyed by the GOP because of the behavior/ideals of a relative few number of supporters from both sides.  There is just too much at stake this time.

Excellent diary.  Thank you for sharing.

For those of your denying claims that Hillary leads in popular vote totals, according to ABC News, if you included FL & MI, Hillary leads in the popular vote. Yes, Obama is currently ahead in pledgies, but Hillary has a legitimate case she can make to the Supers. They both need the Supers to win. They both have a case to make. Be patient, let the voters finish voting, let all the votes count, and let the candidates make their case to the Supers. Both candidates deserve our support to see them through the process. If the shoe was on Obama's foot, Obama's supports would be fighting for those votes as well, you know it and I know. Simmer down and let the remaining states/PR vote, let the RBC meet and decide FL & MI, then let the Supers do their job. We may not agree with the decisions that are made, but at least we saw the process through to the end.

Thanks Algere, you have the stamina of Hillary.  Those nay sayers who insist we give up and humbly accept their numbers and their inevitability don't know girl stamina.  We can't be bluffed, we know substance from spin.  Wiping bottoms gives one a certain perspective on power and pooh.  

Hillary Clinton has proven she has no qualms about distorting numbers in her favor by claiming the PV lead.  How is it reasonable to scream and complain that MI and FL's Hillary votes must be counted while simultaneously claiming that the Uncommiteds and the 17 million caucus voters shouldn't?  This is 100% pure bullshit, and anyone that tries to feed it to anyone else is full of it themselves.

- folks who've taken the heat out here on her behalf.  She said she deeply regrets the insults that we've had to put up with in supporting her

But just last week it was Obama who couldn't take the heat....

I guess the victimology strategy works better.

And would have been a real winner against McCain!

Hillary - always ready to face off in these events,

Really? That would come as a helluva shock to Jonathon Tasini.

Oh, you mean "always ready" when it suits her...?

That makes sense. You should go back and "edit for clarity".

...it's now up to the Supers.

Good luck with them.

I listened to the conf call.

Now, let me get this straight.  Alegre, you had the extraordinary opportunity to gain the undivided attention of a candidate for president, and you asked nothing?

I couldn't believe it as I heard you speak.  Instead of asking something, you're voice was almost choked-up by being star-struck.  Like dreaming HRC is your BFF.  

I'm stunned, but it makes clear now why you write your pro-Hillary diaries in the way you do.  You're infatuated with Hillary and that has surpased your ability to be objective.

Frankly, you came off kinda creepy on that call.

I listened in but wasn't quick enough raising my hand to ask a question.

I thought you sounded so wonderful and sure of yourself.  One of the Obama diarists last night said something like Alegre sounds normal.

You were great, Hillary is wonderful and we're in this to win.

Lets see..."it's confirmed we are ahead in the popular vote" using our math where we change the rules of math like we do the rules of the DNC because we are entitled to do this and be as delusional as we desire to be...if we just keep saying it maybe everyone will start buying into it...wrong...maybe we drink the koolaid but we certainly are not hitting the LSD.

For sane people...we get our popular vote counts from legitimate sites like Realclearpolitics.com..Not Bill Clinton and Howard Wolfson...see the popular vote...you are not ahead and several caucus states totals have not come in which would add to Obama's total.

Popular Vote Total   16,104,613 49.3% 15,511,003 47.5%

Hillary is running against Obama and not McCain at this point so using the Map theory is good in the general election but not the right strategy in the Democratic primary.  Jumping the gun, Hillary's campaign should have focused on the Math rather than the Map, perhaps she would have done better against Obama.  Perhaps Hillary should have paid more attention to the smaller states as well?

We can't apply General Election rules because the Democratic primary has its own set of rules.

Because the general election has its own rules, Obama would use a different strategy against McCain and Obama will win!!!  With the Democratic Party's and his campaign's focus on the Fifty State voter registration initiative, Democrats can win the white house!

In any case, I do wish Hillary the best of luck in the upcoming primaries.

of this diary is ageist...  please change it before you offend all the oldies who support Hillary.  Thank you.  

But Obama is our nominee.

she's retaken the lead in the popular vote.

If you give Obama ZERO votes in MI and ZERO votes in 4 caucus states that don't release vote totals.

Even if you give Hillary a 20 point victory in states such as Iowa (where her internal polling showed her losing from day 1), that would not give her anything close to a popular vote lead.

Alegre - how can you continue to repeat this misleading, divisive and infuriatingly inaccurate  statement? It's not one bit different from saying "we don't torture - we don't torture". It's patently and demonstratively false and tens of thousands of honest Clinton supporters hear it, and repeat it, and become enraged at the thought of Obama "stealing" the election when Clinton "won the popular vote".

It's flat out wrong. You're doing a horrible disservice to the democratic cause and participating in propaganda, pure and simple. Have you no shame?

over at that cesspool No Quarter?
I saw you posted the two warnings you got with  screen shots - and had everyone in a frenzy ripping into Jonathan Singer.
Who happens to be the best admin on this site.
Not.
Cool.

But now i know how every single diary you write shoots to the rec list on MYDD.
You send the word out at Taylor Marsh, No Quarter and Hillary is 44.
And then they all crow about how they make sure you own this site and seem to do a blog swarm over here.
Not.
Cool.

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/16/ meet-me-in-denver-the-rest-of-the-story/ #more-2540

"After listening to the conference call and seeing that there are a number of bloggers simply working for the Clinton campaign and propagating their talking points I have to say that you've lost all credibility with me.This is especially a shock after you pushed an unsubstantiated rumor about 400 so called Obama bloggers.  I always thought people that called you a Clinton shill were simply being mean.  But nope, it's true."

Exactly.

"You see, here's the difference between me and Alegre: I think she works for the campaign, but I have no factual basis for that, only rumors. So I say so up front, just like I did in my post.She, on the other hand, repeats verbatim a completely unsubstantiated smear as if it were fact, and then has the nerve to be self-righteous about it when the admins here have one of their occasional fits of even-handedness and delete the smear from the diary. Then you and others attack Obama supporters for suggesting the same thing she did in her diary.  Pathetic."

Exactly x 2.

"The fact is that she blogs on behalf of the campaign.  She might have blogged on her own because she believes in Senator Clinton.  But, right now she blogs for the campaign and she should disclose that tidbit of information in her diaries.  People constantly question her use of Hillary's website as a source for the majority of her diaries and disclosing that she is blogging oj behalf of the campaign would explain that.  It would also let us know that Alegre is not presenting her opinion for discussion, but being entirely partisan on behalf the candidate she works for.If you phone bank for a candidate you tell the person you're calling who you are, why you're calling and which campaign you're working for.  You don't get on the phone and pretend to be some concerned citizen.Not disclosing that she is actually volunteering on behalf of the campaign when she blogs (and then ask for donations) is entirely dishonest."

Exactly x 3.

Some of you people need to read these comments and let them sit for a while. Alegre is a paid blogger.  It's like watching a tv commercial and saying "I agree!" to the television.  That's great and all, but you look fucking nuts. Seriously fucking  nuts.

Thanks, Alegre, as always.  You've really helped me to keep committed.  I'll be in Denver in August.  Thanks goodness to the rules committee meeting.  Good luck to all of us with that.

Again, no one cares about the popular vote statistic. If our nomination was built upon which candidate gets the most votes overall, no candidate would leave the top 10 states and there would be no caucuses anywhere. Repeating this line as a way of trying to fool people into putting pressure on super-delegates to hand Hillary the nomination gets you nowhere, and really does make you look moronic.

I hope you'll be alright.  I know Hillary will, she's a professional who's no doubt already seen the writing on the wall.

Clinton's doing well these last weeks at cleaning up her image and retaining her stature as a leading Democrat...provided she works like hell to help her party and its nominee to win in November.  This needs to include, of course, helping people like you - who've staked their everything on her - to wind it down and move on, onward to our great victory this fall.  

You can be included in this, if you'll allow it.  (I myself was a strong Edwards supporter, so I do know what it's like to lose and move on.)

My best to you, Alegre.

this is a case in point for an argument I made earlier. If alegre is coordinating with the Clinton campaign, shouldn't it be made clear in her diaries that she has an active role with them?

This is, of course, taking a leap of faith to suggest that I believe that, a) she's not creating an importance for herself that doesn't exist and/or b) the Clinton campaign is so desperate that they would use her in any capacity, even as a (really, really) low level operative.

I don't think it's too much to ask that there is some clarification on alegre's connection to the Clinton campaign. According to this and a few other diaries, she's been privy to certain aspects of a campaign that are not within reach of a regular voter which suggests that she is subject to influence...and that's something that potential readers should know.

The fact that alegre has a crush on a Hillary (what would "hubby" think!) and is deluded into thinking that she's a player is old news.  More tired crap from tiresome people, without the class to give this thing up.  

So how much does a paid Clinton blogger make?  Do they pay you by post?  

These things interest me.