Gaming the System

John Kerry on Michigan and Florida and Hillary's behaviour:

SCHIEFFER: What do you think ought to happen?

Sen. KERRY: I think the rules ought to be followed. I think that obviously Barack Obama believes very strongly that delegates from those states ought to be represented at the convention. And Barack Obama believes in inclusivity, but he also believes in playing by the rules, not changing them after the fact. He played by the rules in Michigan. He even went to the lengths of taking his name off the ballot, as did every other candidate except for Hillary Clinton. And now…

SCHIEFFER: And he—and none of the other candidates campaigned in Florida.

Sen. KERRY: Correct. And they didn’t campaign. But—well, there was a campaign under the radar screen in Florida and everybody knows that. A lot of money was spent in Florida, and Senator Clinton went there the night of the primary and claimed a victory.

SCHIEFFER: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sen. KERRY: So, in a sense here, what you see is sort of two different attitudes about how American politics ought to be played. Barack Obama will play by the rules and he will do whatever the party and the states decide to do. And so…

SCHIEFFER: So if they decide to do what Senator Nelson’s talking about, he’ll do that.

Sen. KERRY: He will play by the rules. He will play by the rules, but let me emphasize that Senator Clinton is trying to change the rules in Michigan. She’s saying, `I won’t accept a caucus,’ which is, frankly, up to the state, also the party, and they had a caucus there. That’s exactly what was there. So she’s busy gaming it, frankly, in the same way that, unfortunately, I think she’s gaming this commander and chief issue.

That pretty much sums up what Hillary is up to. Good for Kerry.

Hat tip to Balloon Juice.

Tags: John Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Michigan, Florida, US election 2008, Democratic presidential nominee