The national effort to dump the president in 2012 in exchange for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is turning to South Carolina and Nevada as their best targets to get her on those states' primary ballots.
Up first is a fight with, Mark Hammond, South Carolina's Secretary of State, over a rule banning write-ins on next Saturday's ballots. If that doesn't work, the effort will turn to getting her name in the Nevada caucuses.
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"We are going to take our fight to write in Hillary Clinton to the South Carolina Secretary of State, and if necessary, to the South Carolina Supreme Court," said Steve Rosinski, creator of the national petition to draft Clinton. "We feel that South Carolina voters must be given a choice in this democratic process. Otherwise, it will be just another case of voter disenfranchisement," he said.
Rosinski is pressuring Hammond to change the rule. He is threatening to sue if Hammond doesn't act.
The write-in plan may not work. The South Carolina Democratic Party's presidential primary occurs during the individual counties' precinct reorganization meetings, and those are skewed to only include Obama. "By attending the precinct reorganization meetings, you are voting for President Barack Obama, since he is the only candidate on our ballot," the state party's website states.
Rosinski has already been rebuffed by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton, who is stepping down after Obama's first term ends.
On his petition, he argues that only Clinton can get elected in the current anti-Obama political climate.
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In his petition to the DNC, he writes:
We, the undersigned Democrats, want a new Democratic nominee for President who can win in 2012. We are convinced that the only person with the national stature, experience, and high enough approval ratings who can win the general election in November of 2012 is Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mr. President, we thank you for your service. However, we must ask you to do the right thing for your Party and your country and step aside, much like Lyndon Baines Johnson did in 1968 when he read the writing on the wall as to his own chances for victory. Renomination is not mandatory, nor is it a right. It is a privilege granted by us, 'We the People.' On faith, the Party and the nation gave you a chance as a newcomer with little experience to lead us out of the wilderness of recession. We must now ask for the keys back to the party and to the White House.
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