Democrats trade barbs over bullying, breaking vote rules
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The campaigns of Democratic White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Sunday traded accusations of bullying and breaking vote rules as tensions rose in the hotly contested race.
The latest barbs came just days after the two Democrats announced a truce over a racial flareup, and displayed the mounting pressure on both sides ahead of the next state primary contest in deep south state of South Carolina on January 26.
Illinois senator Obama's campaign threw the first punch, accusing the former first lady's staffers of urging polls to close early in Nevada's nominating caucuses, which the former first lady won on Saturday with 51 percent of the vote to Obama's 45 percent.
Clinton's campaign swiftly denied the allegations and shot back, accusing Obama's campaign of being "desperate" over its loss and committing its own "widespread intimidation and strongarm tactics" aimed at "bullying" voters.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton, in a conference call with reporters, alleged that Clinton supporters had broken Nevada state caucus rules.
"Despite clear rules and timelines laid out by the Nevada Democratic Party that caucus doors should remain open and voter registration should continue until noon, the Clinton campaign encouraged their operatives to close the caucus doors at 11:30 am, a half hour before that deadline," Burton said.
"This caused confusion and led to people leaving the caucuses before having the chance to participate."
Clinton's campaign director for Nevada, Robby Mook, dismissed the charge as "a false and desperate claim by a campaign that is trying to rewrite what happened yesterday."
"I think the real issue is that there were some ambiguities in the state party documents ... it is never clear as to when doors are actually closed."
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson added: "Clinton campaign workers don't have the authority to shut the doors ... We are not running the precincts. They are ascribing to us a power that we do not have under the rules of the caucus."
Staffers for Obama, who won the Democrats' first nominating caucuses in Iowa at the beginning of the month, but saw his pace slow after Clinton's victories in New Hampshire and Nevada, called for a full review of the Nevada vote but insisted they were not disputing Clinton's win.
"We are not calling the results into question at all. We want to make sure this doesn't happen again," said Obama general counsel Bob Bauer, adding that at least 300 complaints had come in.
"We are going to notify the Nevada Democratic party that we want a full review of this, and make sure we have in front of us a full picture to make sure this behavior is highlighted and discouraged in the future."
Meanwhile, Clinton spokesmen detailed various acts of "intimidation" by Obama supporters and alleged irregularities.
"We did receive hundreds of examples of irregularities," said Mook, listing among them "acts of voter suppression ... doors were closed early ... numerous examples of miscounting ... and others who were told they had to vote for Obama or they would lose a shift at their workplace."
Wolfson hailed Clinton's win as a sign of how she was able to "face up to these kinds of bullying tactics and come out ahead."
However, the New York senator's campaign had no plans to press for a formal probe, he said.
"We are going to continue to gather evidence of the strongarm tactics and the intimidation that was occurring," said Wolfson. "Certainly evidence comes in many different forms and we will consider our options."
Asked by reporters why an early close in Nevada would have particularly affected Obama supporters, Obama's lawyer Bauer said "a campaign that departs from the rules and disenfranchises voters has to be held accountable for that."
He added: "We care about all the voters who would have been affected by this rule."
The two top Democrats in the race to gain the party's nomination for president last week announced their intent to seek common ground and put aside disputes following a tense racial row.
