Something Stinks In Texas

This is interesting, here is a Report by the Dallas Morning New which talks about the training materials the Hillary campaign is sending out to its precinct captains for caucus night:

The materials say in part, "DO NOT allow the supporter of another candidate to serve in leadership roles."

It goes on to say, "If our supporters are outnumbered, ask the Temporary Chair if one of our supporters can serve as the Secretary, in the interest of fairness.

"The control of the sign-in sheets and the announcement of the delegates allotted to each candidate are the critical functions of the Chair and Secretary. This is why it is so important that Hillary supporters hold these positions."

I guess if you aren't likely to win an election, you might as well try to control it and be in a position to hijack the system. Now this might seem harmless, or relatively harmless, on the surface, because, after all, would the Clinton campaign really abuse power to their advantage? Well, of course. The last important contested caucus we had was in Nevada (you know, the one where the Clinton campaign tried to sue to disenfranchise thousands of union members because they had voted to endorse Obama a day before). In the aftermath of that disastrous event came a deluge of reports of malfeasance by the Clinton campaign. I encourage you to read this kos diary which does an amazing job at documenting many of the violations of rules and ethics by the Clinton campaign, here are some examples of what went down:

• Obama voters being turned away from a caucus site


• Obama voters being told to fill out voter cards in the lobby until noon while Clinton supporters were invited in the caucus room--then the doors being shut on the Obama supporters because they weren't in the room


• Interference on the part of State Party officials to cheat on behalf of Clinton


• Voter cards being filled out in advance for Clinton and given to all voters, regardless of support


• Voter cards being used in the place of actual headcounts to tally votes


• The Clinton campaign setting up signs against the rules


• Clinton supporters managing the voter registration process, and threatening to call the police when Obama volunteers requested equal access


• Other general bad behavior and bad faith moves by the Clinton team--and more besides.

Now this shows what the Clinton campaign and their people will do in order to try to win. They are mean, they are antagonistic, and now we know why, they were told to take control of everything and run the caucus their way. Again, these are just examples of SOME of what happened, but it is in no way a comprehensive report. I think there is good reason to expect that this will happen again on Tuesday in Texas, and the blogosphere WILL be reporting. We cannot let democracy be hijacked like this. Caucuses are supposed to be about political engagement and community, they are supposed to bring people in the community together and facilitate discussion, and Hillary wants to run them like war zones. She will do anything to win, she has proven that time and time again. And if you want another example of what can happen when her loyalists control the process, just look at New York City where 80 districts, many of them heavily African American showed ZERO votes for Obama. 80 is not a huge coincidence, 80 is malfeasance. For this reason we can't let Hillary get away with trying to dominate the electoral process so she can disenfranchise voters.

Also keep in mind that Hillary has been threatening lawsuits against the Texas Democratic Party in order to delay the results of the caucuses so as to keep them from being headline news (if/when she loses).

Update: Word on the street:

The Clinton camp is telling folks to arrive at the caucus at 6:30 and Obama is stressing 7:00pm.

This was forwarded to me. Please pass this around to all your Texas Groups and anyone you know in the media! I was wondering today why Hillary was telling her supporters to be at the caucus at 6:30!

In addition to the comments below, be aware that the potential impact of this is that a full parking lot at 6:30 PM could dissuade late Obama voters from casting their Primary ballot because they cannot find a parking space. This could be considered impeding voting.

For Obama Precinct Captains who are monitoring their voting location on March 4 (100 feet from the polling location until 7:00 pm or until the last voter is done) stay alert and report any questionable activities to the election judge and call the Obama Precinct Captain Hotline for election day questions and concerns at 1-877-48-OBAMA (62262) or the Texas Democratic Precinct Convention at 1-800-336-3254.

"Clinton has been telling her supporters to show up at 6:30 [Dallas/Mesquite speech on Saturday, March 1], while Obama keeps stressing 7:00. I'm afraid there's going to be some shenanigans involving closing the doors at caucus sites when at capacity or at 7:15 PM whichever comes first. There was a similar gambit run in Nevada where the Clinton camp shut out a good number of caucus goers by barring the doors.

Anybody who has got a line on Obama folks or Texas caucus goers please pass along the heads up to show up early and not to get muscled. Know your rights!

Compounding this issue is the possibility there may not be enough caucus chairs to go around for the 8,000 sights leading to the 1st person in the door being the caucus arbiter (TDP's apparent policy).

Again let's try to get the word out about this possibility as there is no doubt the Clinton camp is going to try to game this one.

Update (3/3): There have also been reports that Hillary has resorted to paying people (who happen to be black) to hold signs on street corners supporting her in Texas. If true, this means that Hillary can't even find enough serious supporters to hold signs for her. Ouch. At other points in this campaign I have heard of her resorting to paid "volunteers" to do work that tons of unpaid volunteers from the Obama campaign have been doing. It seems she may very well have a problem in the inspiring department.