I did not write these annotations, the Obama Communications team did. This is about the snarkiest they’ve ever come across. I think they should bring this kind of messaging to the forefront of their press releases. The original .pdf is here.
On Behalf Of Bill Burton
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:37 PM
To: Bill Burton
Subject: FW: The Clinton Memo… as annotated by the Obama communicationsdepartment
To: Interested Parties
From: Clinton Campaign
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Re: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground [Get ready for a good one.]
The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama
can’t win there, how will he win the general election?
[Answer: I suppose by holding obviously Democratic states like California and New
York, and beating McCain in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin where Clinton lost to Obama by mostly crushing
margins. But good question.]
After setbacks in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama needs to demonstrate that he can win
the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the last state with more than 15 electoral votes
on the primary calendar and Barack Obama has lost six of the seven other largest states
so far – every state except his home state of Illinois.
[If you define “setback” as netting enough delegates out of our 20-plus-point wins in
Mississippi and Wyoming to completely erase any delegate advantage the Clinton
campaign earned out of March 4th, then yeah, we feel pretty setback.]
Pennsylvania is of particular importance, along with Ohio, Florida and Michigan, because
it is dominated by the swing voters who are critical to a Democratic victory in November.
No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no
candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.
[What the Clinton campaign secretly means: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE
FACT THAT WE’VE LOST 14 OF THE LAST 17 CONTESTS AND SAID THAT
MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA WOULDN’T COUNT FOR ANYTHING. Also,
we’re still trying to wrap our minds around the amazing coincidence that the only
“important” states in the nominating process are the ones that Clinton won.]
