A recently-released email thread reveals that the Clinton camp was seriously concerned about potential voter fraud harming her chances in the 2016 caucuses again as top operatives were “reliving” their 2008 experiences.
An email written by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in May 2015 warned that “old friends of the Clintons” were concerned they could face a repeat experience in various Democrat Party caucuses, particularly in Colorado, where in 2008, “they believe the Obama forces flooded the caucuses with ineligible voters.” As a precautionary measure, Podesta purportedly instructed the campaign’s top election lawyer, Marc Elias, to reach out to the concerned Clinton family associates to address their requests for organizing “lawyers for caucus protection, election protection” and other matters.
Pre-caucus polling in Colorado at the time evidenced a dramatically tightening race between Clinton and Obama before Super Tuesday in 2008. Spring and fall 2007 polls showed Clinton enjoying a substantial, double-digit lead, according to Real Clear Politics. A Denver Post survey conducted shortly before the caucus showed a two-point edge favoring Senator Obama, however. The New York Times would later report that Obama was victorious by a 2-to-1 margin, enjoying 67 percent support compared to Clinton’s 32.
The leaked Podesta email does not offer any additional basis for their concerns apart from the assertions of trusted Clinton confidants.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 rhetoric with respect to election integrity concerns has been largely in-step with the Democrat Party line that voter fraud is an imaginary menace and any attempt to combat it otherwise should be seen as a “blast from a Jim Crow past”. During a January 2016 speech dedicated to “voting rights” in Houston, Texas, she called on proponents of voter ID and similar policies “to stop fear mongering about a phantom epidemic of election fraud and start explaining why they’re so scared of letting citizens have their say.”
Of additional note is the inclusion of Mr. Elias and his tasking to help prevent “ineligible voters” from possibly stealing Colorado and others from Clinton again. One month after the email was apparently sent, the Clinton election attorney would receive considerable recognition from The New York Times and others for accepting $5 million direct from progressive financier George Soros to attack voter ID and other election integrity reforms in multiple states. Proponents of such reforms argue that the laws are designed to keep ineligible ballots from being cast at the polling place.
Logan Churchwell is the Assistant Editor and a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. You can follow him on Twitter @LCChurchwell.
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