Obama Hails Court Victory, Raps Clinton Campaign

Senator Barack Obama smiled as he tried to get a clear question from the crush of reporters after the event. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama appeared at a roundtable discussion on the economy at the San Francisco Women's building at 3543 18th Street Thursday. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle} less Senator Barack Obama smiled as he tried to get a clear question from the crush of reporters after the event. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama appeared at a roundtable discussion on the economy at ... more Photo: Brant Ward Photo: Brant Ward Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Obama Hails Court Victory, Raps Clinton Campaign 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama Thursday praised a judicial decision upholding Nevada caucus locations on the Las Vegas strip to aide casino workers - and strongly dismissed the angry accusations of former President Clinton who claimed the system was "rigged," saying that was "an implausible argument" rightly rejected by the courts.

"This caucus process was designed by Democratic party of Nevada in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee," said Obama, asked his reaction to the ruling in a meeting of the Chronicle editorial board Thursday. "I, as somebody who's not part of the establishment of the Democratic Party, had no say in the rules....(but) individuals like Harold Ickes, Clinton's key adviser, were a part of making these rules. And some o f the people who filed the lawsuit were a part of making these rules."

"President Clinton now suggests they didn't understand the rules that they designed," said Obama. "This is coming from the campaign of extraordinary detail and thoroughness and experience," said the Illinois Senator, laughing, in reference to a theme which has been strongly emphasized by the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton since the two met Tuesday for a Nevada televised debate.

"But somehow, they didn't know what these rules were," Obama said. "Six days before the caucus - two days before I received the endorsement of the Culinary Workers (Union), suddenly these rules are grossly unfair and a violation of 'one person, one vote'. And a lawsuit is filed that would disenfranchise mostly Latino maids, dishwashers, and bellhops from participating in the caucuses."

Obama's tough response to the former president came in reaction to a court ruling Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan which rejected arguments of the teachers union, a group with ties to Sen. Clinton, which had argued that the special caucus sites for casino workers were discriminatory and unfair to other Nevada voters.

The Nevada caucuses will be held Jan. 19 - and ruling was widely seen as a victory for Obama, who has been endorsed by the 60,000 member Culinary Workers Union, which represents the lion's share of the workers who will use those locations.

The Chronicle reported Wednesday how President Clinton, following a roundtable discussion on the economy in Oakland, angrily debated with a television reporter who asked about the fairness of the lawsuit.

"Do you really believe that all the Democrats understood that they had agreed to give people who worked in the casino a vote worth five times as much as people who voted in their own precinct?" the former President told ABC 7's Mark Matthews.

"Did you know that? Their votes will be counted five times more powerfully, in terms of delegates to the state convention, compared to delegates to the national convention," Clinton said. '"None of them knew that the votes were rigged that way. They found that out later."

He argued that "the state Democratic party is in the position of defending a system that makes it easier for some people to vote, and counts those votes five times as much...no one could have known that at the time."

Obama said that was "an implausible argument before the court rules. I am glad the court bought none of it. I think it took about an hour for the court to decide that this lawsuit had no merit."

"And I think at this point we should go out and persuade the caucus goers of Nevada who the best candidate is," he said.

Obama was in San Francisco and Silicon Valley Thursday as part of a campaign swing that included a roundtable discussion on the economy in the Mission District, and a fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.