The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wanted Illinois to move its primary election to April or May 2016 to benefit the Democrats and hurt the Republicans, according to leaked emails from campaign Chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account.

The Clinton campaign was worried the Illinois primary might strengthen a moderate Republican presidential nominee before the Nov. 8 election. To stop that, Clinton’s campaign manager promised that Hillary and Bill Clinton “[would not] forget what their friends have done for them.”

“And the Clintons won’t forget what their friends have done for them.”

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“The overall goal is to move the [Illinois] primary out of mid-March, where they are currently a lifeline to a moderate Republican candidate after the mostly Southern Super Tuesday. [Illinois] was a key early win for Romney in 2012,” wrote Robby Mook, campaign manager for Clinton, in an email released in a fresh dump of Podesta’s emails Thursday. “Our preference would be for them to move all the way to May, but if they at least move to April 12 or April 19 they will have the day to themselves and presumably garner a lot of coverage. They will also be influencing a big Northeast primary day on April 26.”

The Clinton camp then made promises to entice Illinois officials, including an increase to the number of delegates awarded to the state for the Democratic National Convention — something the Clinton campaign should not have been able to promise.

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The goal was to get William Daley, an old Clinton ally, to call Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s chief of staff, Tim Mapes. For the favor, Illinois would get the extra delegates.

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But the Illinois Democratic leaders were pushing back, mostly because they felt ignored by President Obama, the former junior senator from Illinois. To overcome that problem, the Clinton team was ready to make promises to Illinois Democrats, who control the state legislature.

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“As we discussed, they don’t really care about being helpful and feel forgotten and neglected by POTUS,” wrote Robby Mook, in an email dated Nov. 26, 2014. “The key point is that this is not an Obama ask, but a Hillary ask. And the Clintons won’t forget what their friends have done for them. It would be helpful to feel out what path, if any, we have to get them to yes. This will probably take some pushing.”

Apparently, the Clinton team failed. The Illinois primary was held on March 15.