Clinton and the Four State Pledge

David Yepsen gets uncharacteristically snarky in his discussion of news that Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned in Florida this week:

One thing we learned during Bill Clinton’s presidency was to study and parse his words carefully.

Apparently we’ll need to do that with his wife should she become president.

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Hmmm. Clinton had pledged: “I shall not campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as “campaigning” is defined by rules and regulations of the DNC.”

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So, do five funders and “a discussion about her senior agenda at the Century Village West in Boca Raton” a constitute a “public appearance” that is campaigning?

You be the decider.

Mark Daley, her spokesman in Iowa, said “she is doing 5 fundraisers and a public meeting about seniors issues. This doesn’t violate the pledge as Florida is not in violation of the DNC rules at this time.” He initially said Sept 30 is the deadline for them to set their date but said later he wasn’t sure of the deadline.

“Sen Clinton is very much committed to Iowa’s special role and that is why she signed the pledge,” he said.

Ah. But the pledge she signed says nothing about deadlines or Sept. 30.

At the very least, we can be relatively certain that the other campaigns do not have the same interpretation of the four-state pledge as the Clinton campaign. All of the Democrats were in Florida for Sunday’s debate at the University of Miami, which was carried in Spanish by Univision. The Clinton campaign, from all of the indications I have seen, was the only campaign to host any events that would fit the DNC’s definition of “campaigning” while they were in town. Had other candidates believed that they could host this kind of event without violating the pledge, it seems relatively certain that they would have done so.

This is notable because of how unenthusiastic the Clinton campaign appeared when it decided to take the pledge: their release came hours after all of the other campaigns had already taken it, and, unlike the others, they did not include the actual pledge signed by Clinton. The release merely quoted a senior staffer saying the four designated early states are important. Here is their full statement from September 1:

The following is a statement by Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle.

“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.

And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.

Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.”

Perhaps Clinton has not actually signed the pledge yet, and she’s waiting until September 30 to do so? Otherwise, I don’t know how she’d get out of this one. That said, Mark Daley from the Clinton campaign indicated to Yepsen that “[Clinton] signed the pledge,” so this possibility goes against that. Either way, there is clearly a little bit of gaming going on behind the scenes here.

(I should also note that I’m from Palm Beach County, near the Century Village retirement home where Clinton was hosting her event. Many residents there are moderately wealthy, and — like much of South Florida — more residents there are probably from New York than anywhere else.)