Clinton's endorsement list debatable

[jefferson_dem]

COLUMBIA, S.C.—Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's support from South Carolina's black religious leaders may not be quite as extensive as her campaign suggests.

Clinton got a boost last week when she shared a South Carolina stage with dozens of supporters, accepting what organizers said were endorsements from nearly 90 ministers in the state. But an Associated Press review of an endorsement list supplied by the New York senator's campaign found that some of the backers were affiliated with religious ministries and outreach groups rather than churches, some were wives of ministers, two were church elders and at least two were not members of the churches listed beside their names.

All told, about 50 different groups were represented, rather than more than 80 congregations as initially implied, the review found.

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The Clinton campaign initially said more than 80 ministers from the northern part of the state were in the room when the endorsements were announced Nov. 27, but it could not identify everyone on the stage with Clinton. Organizers for the event said 88 were there. The New York senator said later that day she was told the number may have climbed to nearly 100.

"There was more support there than what we could have anticipated, so it took a little longer to get the finite list," Wright said Tuesday. "Everyone signed in as a minister endorsing Hillary."

After being asked for names of the ministers, Clinton's campaign first released a partial list of 44 names. A day later, a list of 82 names was released. That included one name that was repeated twice, several misspelled names, churches listed in the wrong city or with an incorrect name, and a dozen people listed without a church affiliation.

The campaign released revised listings Monday, supplying church affiliations for those left blank and correcting affiliations for others, trimming the list to 81 names.

A review Tuesday of the sign-in sheets showed supporters initially signed separate endorsement forms, giving their names, addresses, phone numbers and occupations. But after those ran out, Wright said, they began signing a single line on a page. Many signed only their names, without affiliations. Some were difficult to read. Some signed both forms. Wright said that's why a complete, accurate list was so difficult to provide.Continued...

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/05/clintons_endorsement_list_debatable/

[regnaD kciN]

1. OMG! So Hillary is guilty of exactly what her campaign accuses her opponent of doing...???

But, of course, in her case, you can bet that the "Amen Chorus" of Hill's Shills will be insisting that there was no way she could have known, while inundating us with push-polls spinning the notion that there's no way Obama could not have known of a similar problem. Plus, of course, he's a drug addict. And a Muuuuuuslim. Not to mention a n....eophyte.

Truly, Hillary's supporters are running as Rovian a campaign as I would ever have dreamed would come from a Democrat. :puke:

[emilyg]

3. Just like Obama.

[BenDavid]

2. And obama doing the same thing...especially in SC w/preachers

[maximusveritas]

4. I'm pretty sure that was the point of the OP n/t

[ElizabethDC]

5. Must be, since the date of the article is Dec. 5 n/t