Clinton Pays Obama Supporters

According to WhileSeated (via Flickr):

“One of the ways the Clinton campaign was insuring that her nomination would be wrapped-up two weeks ago was by paying college students in Columbia, South Carolina five hundred bucks a week to canvas for her. Incredibly, Clinton’s campaign hired Obama supporters (who probably weren’t Hillary’s best sales people, but hey, everyone needs a paycheck to help with tuition). Either way, as young black students they were actively courted and enlisted into the Clinton campaign, regardless of who they’d pledged to vote for.

When students were telling me about this (and other election irregularities) it surprised me that candidates still ran campaigns that way — that they weren’t all grassroots. That people didn’t volunteer their time because they believed in their particular candidate’s vision. That campaigns threw money at students (regardless of their voting preference) to do their bidding. Money talks.

Clinton still appears to be doing things the old way (including hiring and retaining staffers based on loyalty instead of competence) and the next few weeks/months seem less about polls and campaigns and an election, and more about a perspective shift, not just for Hillary, but for the nation.”