Ickes, Then: It’s All About the Delegates. Ickes, Now: It’s All About the Popular Vote

In December 2007, Clinton campaign adviser Harold Ickes told Tim Russert on Meet the Press, “Timothy, delegates nominate. Not states, not popular vote, delegates.”

Today, Mr. Ickes sings an entirely different tune. Here is the transcript of his visit yesterday with Tim Russert. Russert held his feet to the fire in terms of his popular vote analysis; Ickes counts Hillary’s Michigan and Florida votes in full, but does not count Michigan’s votes for “uncommitted” as votes for Obama. It would be laughable except for the fact that Hillary is likely to stand on the podium at the Democratic Convention in Denver and proclaim to the world the truth as she truly believes it to be — that she won more primary votes than any candidate in history. Obama has to give her a Tuesday night slot in in primetime — but who will write her speech, and even if the Obama camp vets the speech, who can prevent her ad-libbing whatever she wants? Will it be Ted Kennedy 1980 Redux: “The Dream Shall Never Die.” And a furious President Jimmy Carter? Or a reprise of Reagan in 1976 insisting on a virtual co-presidency with Gerald Ford?