Hillary Will Win With Superdelegates No Matter What Obama Does

Harold Ickes, who was mentioned in a previous post as trying to change rules that he voted for, is saying flat out that Hillary will win the nomination on the strength of superdelegates and Obama's many wins and millions of votes will not matter:

A top Hillary Clinton adviser on Saturday boldly predicted his candidate would lock down the nomination before the August convention by definitively winning over party insiders and officials known as superdelegates, claiming the number of state elections won by rival Barack Obama would be “irrelevant” to their decision.

The claims no doubt will escalate the war of words between the campaigns, as Obama continues to argue superdelegates should vote the way of their districts. But the special class of delegates, which make up about 20 percent of the total delegate haul, are not bound to vote the way of their states and districts, as pledged delegates are.

Obama leads handily in the pledged delegate count and has won more states but trails Clinton in superdelegates, making them potential and controversial deadlock-breakers if the race ends up a dead heat come convention time.

Harold Ickes, a 40-year party operative charged with winning over superdelegates for the Clinton campaign, made no apologies on Saturday for the campaign’s convention strategy.

“We’re going to win this nomination,” Ickes said, adding that they would do so soon after the last contest on June 7 in Puerto Rico. “You’re not going to see this go to the convention floor.”

Ickes predicted Clinton and Obama would run “neck and neck” in the remaining states and that there would be a “minuscule amount of difference” between the two in pledged delegates.

But he said superdelegates — who “have a sense of what it takes to get elected” — would determine the outcome and side in larger numbers for Clinton.

Ickes is trying to get everybody used to the idea that Hillary will win in the hopes that it will demoralize Obama supporters. However, if Obama leads in the popular vote, pledged delegates and number of states won, and Hillary still wins because of superdelgates, you'll have a war in the Dem party that will make 1968 look like a Sunday School picnic.

There will literally be millions of Obama supporters who will not tow the Dem party line and will go to the polls in November with the specific intent of punishing Hillary and the Dem party. This could not only swing the presidency to McCain, but could give the GOP back the House and Senate as well.

Bring it on.

I'll talk about this subject and more on Monday's BlogTalkRadio program which you can hear by clicking on the icon. Feel free to call in and join the conversation. The show kicks off at 8pm PT Monday night.

I've expanded Monday's show to 45 minutes to give us plenty of time. The call-in number will be (347) 347-5547.