Obama lawyer Ambushes Clinton Conference Call
by Russell Berman
Tue, 4 Mar 2008 at 10:12 PM
A lawyer for Senator Obama's campaign tonight ambushed a conference call convened by advisers to Senator Clinton who were accusing the Obama camp of "intimidation" during the Texas primary and caucuses earlier today.
The Clinton officials said supporters of the Illinois senator had broken election rules by trying to sign up voters for the night-time "precinct conventions" at poll sites during the day. They also accused the Obama campaign of "locking out" Clinton supporters from caucus sites. "This is just truly outrageous behavior," Mrs. Clinton's Texas state director, Ace Smith, told reporters on the hastily-scheduled "emergency" conference call. "It's really disturbing and its really undemocratic what's going on."
The call was interrupted, however, by a lawyer for Senator Obama, Robert Bauer, who dialed in under the guise of a reporter asking a question. Mr. Bauer suggested the Clinton campaign's allegations were similar to those lodged against several other caucuses across the country, which have been dominated by Mr. Obama. "I'm just curious to know how this is any different from any of the series of complaints you have registered against every single caucus that you lose," Mr. Bauer said. He then debated the Clinton campaign's communications director, Howard Wolfson, for several minutes. Mr. Wolfson tried to get Mr. Bauer to commit to denounce the tactics, but Mr. Bauer kept returning to his chief charge: that the Clinton campaign was a sore loser.
After he disconnected, Mr. Wolfson said Mr. Bauer had made "a vigorous defense of the indefensible." The Clinton officials would not say if they intended to challenge the Texas results, which were unknown at the time of the call. "All options are on the table at this point," an attorney for the campaign said.
Related Topics: Dem Primary
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