Repudiating the Clintons

First Caroline Kennedy and now Senator Edward Kennedy have spurned the Clinton’s.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, rejecting entreaties from the Clintons and their supporters, is set to endorse Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid on Monday as part of an effort to lend Kennedy charisma and connections before the 22-state Feb. 5 showdown for the Democratic nomination.

Both the Clintons and their allies had pressed Mr. Kennedy for weeks to remain neutral in the Democratic race, but Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton campaign, aides said. He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month over what Mr. Kennedy considered misleading statements by Mr. Clinton about Mr. Obama, as well as his injection of race into the campaign.

I’ve differed from Sen. Kennedy in the past, and I think he’s wrong now, but that is not the story. The emerging story is that the Clinton’s are not wanted by the people.

But South Carolina was more than that. It was also a referendum on the campaign conduct of the Clintons over the past few weeks, particularly the bizarre behavior of President Clinton. The Clintons and their surrogates injected race into the campaign and then disingenuously pretended otherwise, courting the African-American vote while also appealing to voters less charitable instincts, prompting fears that Bill Clinton in particular was content to tear the Democratic Party apart as long as his wife was the beneficiary.

“The electorate seems more polarized now than it was just a few weeks ago, and the Clintons have seemed positively gleeful in that atmosphere,” New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote today. “It makes one wonder whether they have any understanding or regard for the corrosive long-term effects — on their party and the nation — of pitting people bitterly and unnecessarily against one another.”

Days before the SC primary Hillary was leading. What happened in the voting booth told a vastly different story.

This is not just about voters disgusted with dirty politics. It’s also about breaking campaign promises.

 Democrat Hillary Clinton said Sunday she will be in Florida for Tuesday night’s Democratic primary, the latest sign the New York senator is seeking to capitalize on what is likely to be a strong performance there despite the fact party sanctions have rendered the primary essentially meaningless.

You know, when the Clinton’s have to fight for delegates that the party (rightfully or wrongly) sanctioned for breaking party rules, you know she’s in trouble. It’s even more striking because in those races she’s running against “Uncommitted,” and even then, her numbers are not that good.

The fact is, she is not doing well, and we’re getting to the time where the numbers are telling her, and her campaign, she ought to think about dropping out.

Finally, in what is ultimately a race for delegates, here is a final set of numbers.

Sixty-five percent of delegates chosen so far in Democratic primaries and caucuses have gone to Hillary Clinton’s opponents. Of course, the opposition is divided between Barack Obama, with 63, and John Edwards, with 26. But when you add those totals together — the most likely calculation in the eyes of anyone who has been watching the subtle cooperation between the Obama and Edwards campaigns — they don’t just trump Clinton’s 48. They obliterate it.