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GOP plant or 'wacko'? Just a loyal Hillary ally

Published July 3, 2008 at 8:09 p.m.

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Carmella Lewis, of Denver, said she still smells a victory for Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.

Photo by Darin McGregor © The Rocky

Carmella Lewis, of Denver, said she still smells a victory for Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.

Carmella Lewis campaigned for Hillary Clinton all across the country before the New York senator and former first lady suspended her campaign last month.

So when Clinton announced she'd take the stage with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama last Friday and urged voters to support the Illinois senator, Lewis decided she had to be there.

In Massachusetts for her son's graduation from Harvard, Lewis made the trip to Unity, N.H., with six other Clinton supporters she had met along the campaign trail.

They carried Clinton signs, which they hoisted as the event began.

"We want Hillary," yelled Lewis, sporting a Clinton T-shirt. "We love you, Hillary!"

She booed Obama loudly. When he began speaking, she put tissue in her ears.

And just like that, the 57-year-old retired Yellow Book ad saleswoman became a minor celebrity - and for some Obama supporters, a major irritation.

Since then, Lewis has been all over the national media and blasted in the blogosphere, accused of being a Republican plant or a "wacko." One blog called her the newest "media darling" and suggested she had carefully calculated her actions to get the media coverage. Others lauded her for not throwing in the towel.

"It was nuts," Lewis said Thursday, after returning home to Denver. "There were 30 or 40 reporters around me. It was like a press conference."

A Clinton delegate who has lived in Colorado more than 30 years, Lewis insists she's not an operative for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Nor is she a wacko, she says.

She's just a woman with a calling, who believes Clinton is the most qualified candidate and the person most likely to "clean house."

Never mind that Clinton suspended her campaign, or that people at the Unity event were yelling at Lewis to get over it.

Lewis believes something will happen between now and November that will lead to Clinton becoming the first female president of the United States.

"I don't know what's going to happen. Nobody knows," she said. "It's just a feeling I have. And it's not just me who feels that way."

Then, Lewis, a native of Long Island, quoted one of her favorite songs, New York Minute, sung by one of her favorite artists, Don Henley of the Eagles.

" 'In a New York minute, everything can change,' " she said. "That's what Don Henley says. And he's right."

Lewis has friends who plan to write in Clinton's name in November if she's not on the ballot.

As for herself, she's not sure yet what she's going to do. Also up in the air are her plans for August, when the Democratic National Convention comes to Denver.

"I'm waiting to see what happens," Lewis said. "When the moment tells me I need to speak up or do something, I'm sure I will."

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343

Carmella Lewis weighs in

* On the media attention she got after the Obama-Clinton event in Unity, N.H.:

"I never anticipated the amount of coverage I got. It was nuts."

* On accusations she is a Republican operative:

"That's not true."

Lewis donated the maximum amount - $2,300 - to Clinton's campaign.

* On being interviewed by Maureen Dowd, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist:

"I didn't even know who she was. My son knew. I guess she's a big deal, this Maureen Dowd."

* On being called a "wacko" on the blogs:

"I'm not a wacko. And I'm not offended by the words."

* On Clinton's astrological sign:

"I'm not into astrology, but Hillary's birthday is on Oct. 26. . . . She's a Scorpio, and Scorpios are tough."

* On Obama:

"He's bright, no question about it. But it's not his time right now."

Comments

  • July 4, 2008

    7:59 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    zivo24 writes:

    "Lewis believes something will happen between now and November that will lead to Clinton becoming the first female president of the United States.

    "I don't know what's going to happen. Nobody knows," she said. "It's just a feeling I have. And it's not just me who feels that way."

    *******************************************************************

    So, essentially she's hoping, or in the very planning on something catastrophic happening to Obama, like an untimely demise.

    She's tiptoeing around it but what she is saying is that she thinks or hopes that Obama will be assassinated and than Hillary will then swoop in like a vulture.

    Nice, lady, really nice.

    I didn't read a word in the story above that indicates that she really has any other reason to vote for Hillary except that she wants to elect the first woman president.

    But wait..I thought Hillary was the victim of sexism, not the beneficiary of it.

  • July 4, 2008

    10:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jbowen43 writes:

    She needs to get a life.


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