Superdelegates Being Courted By Big Names

(CBS)  With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked in a tight battle for the Democratic presidential nomination - the latest CBS News delegate count puts Obama at 1,139 and Clinton at 1,132 - it is the Democratic Party insiders known as superdelegates, who are not bound by the votes of the rank-and-file, who could decide the party's nominee.

Three superdelegates spoke to CBS News Early Show Anchor Harry Smith this morning about how the campaigns are courting them and the decision they have to make about which candidate to support.

Jason Rae, a junior at Marquette University, is, at 21, the youngest superdelegate. Despite the fact the he was personally lobbied by Chelsea Clinton over breakfast, he said he has not made up his mind over which candidate to support.

Rae told Smith that the lobbying by Clinton and others hasn't been the "hard sell" variety.

"They haven't been pressing me in any sense," he said. "They've just been talking to me like an average voter. The same thing that happens when candidates go to Iowa and New Hampshire and court votes there. It's the same thing with superdelegates."

David Hardt, president of the Young Democrats Of America and a superdelegate from Texas, said he has received personal phone calls from Bill and Hillary Clinton and met privately with Chelsea Clinton.

"When your cell phone lights up and they say that President Clinton is on the phone, your reaction is what?," Smith asked him.

"Oh, this is a joke," Hardt said. "Someone's playing a joke on me. Until you hear his voice, and his voice is unmistakable. You know, I was caught off guard, but a chance to chit-chat with the former president of the United States is just an amazing opportunity."

Nancy DiNardo, chairwoman of the Connecticut Democratic Party, also got a call from Clinton - while she was driving. She, too, first thought it was a joke.

Though superdelegates are ostensibly independent, a close race means that they may well be pressured by the campaigns, their peers, and other members of their party. Nonetheless, Rae said his decision over whom to support would be a personal one.

"I think in the end it has to come down to me deciding for myself who I personally think is the best candidate is for the party," he said.

[demwatcher]

And THAT is the truth of the Democrat Party. If they don''t like how America vote, they''ll use their Superdelegates to pick who they want.

Why should Libs even bother voting? YOU DON''T COUNT!

[b-easy63]

McCain WILL beat Obama or Clinton. Obama & Clinton have no experiance, are as phoney as all celebriies and all they do is make grand promises of change and illusions of big dreams that they think will make everyone happy. WRONG. Deal with what the issues are, stop hiding behind rose colored glasses for once. Be adult and be responsible for yourself. Obama or Clinton will not hold your hand, but raise taxes and make enormous mistakes. We don''''t need more mistakes, we need to finish the war correctly, we need not have our taxes raised, and we do not need socialism in this country. WAKE UP.Posted by jack3213 at 11:42 AM : Feb 13, 2008

John has a few problems:

1. He''s old, and does not care about the future (as his endorsing of Bush policies indicate--Bush says the future does not worry him--cuz he''ll be dead)

2. He touted a 100 more years of war (we''d probably be broke and economically shattered in about 5 more of those years)

3. Our economy is in trouble and McCain says he knows next to nothing about the economy

4. He will be perceived as a continuation of Bush and a validation for the GOP.

Tell you what, here, go view this, then come back and we can talk:


http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/10_minutes_on_whether_Hillary_can_win

[b-easy63]

ll the states are proportional, so even in states Clinton won, unless TOO MANY superdelegates want to support Obama, just let the undecided ones go with Clinton until the ratios are right. That way Kennedy CAN vote for Obama at the Primary, who he has endorsed, AND Clinton "gets her share". That way it is still fair, the public is NOT overruled by the Superdelegates, and there is NO ISSUE!

Posted by bookwerm314 at 11:09 AM : Feb 13, 2008


Better yet, give each candidate exactly half-that way, they can be counted and as per the DNC punishment--their count won''t matter as they will each cancel the other''s votes. LOL

[b-easy63]

nd the need to pressure and cajole the superdelegates who the Clintons expected to be squarely in their camp is prompting at least some frustration on their part. When former presidential candidate and Clinton-administration energy secretary Bill Richardson declined to endorse Hillary Clinton after dropping out, the candidate''s husband, as Fornier notes, placed an angry call to the New Mexico governor.

"What," Bill Clinton asked Richardson, "isn''t two Cabinet posts enough?"


LOL

[jack3213]

McCain WILL beat Obama or Clinton. Obama & Clinton have no experiance, are as phoney as all celebriies and all they do is make grand promises of change and illusions of big dreams that they think will make everyone happy. WRONG. Deal with what the issues are, stop hiding behind rose colored glasses for once. Be adult and be responsible for yourself. Obama or Clinton will not hold your hand, but raise taxes and make enormous mistakes. We don''t need more mistakes, we need to finish the war correctly, we need not have our taxes raised, and we do not need socialism in this country. WAKE UP.

[bookwerm314]

How to split the "superdelegates" "fairly", and still allow some of them to both endorse AND vote for their selected candidates?

Not complicated math.

All the states are proportional, so even in states Clinton won, unless TOO MANY superdelegates want to support Obama, just let the undecided ones go with Clinton until the ratios are right. That way Kennedy CAN vote for Obama at the Primary, who he has endorsed, AND Clinton "gets her share". That way it is still fair, the public is NOT overruled by the Superdelegates, and there is NO ISSUE!

[b-easy63]

We%u2019re going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks, bringing our message about what we need in America: The kind of president that will be required on day one to be commander in chief, to turn the economy around,%u201D Clinton told a crowd of thousands in El Paso Thursday night. %u201CI%u2019m tested. I%u2019m ready. Let%u2019s make this happen."


Hilary: "yeah, I''''m tested and I''''m ready!! so what if I can''''t manage my campaign and my core group is splintering...so what if I can''''t manage the campaign money and have to lend myself millions to survive one month? I SWEAR I''''ll do better, when it''''s the entire country and YOUR money, I get to manage--honest"

You have a point Hilary. Bush had ''''experience'''' and it showed he ran all businesses he owned into the ground and had to be bailed out (then he did it on the macro scale with the country) now you are showing that with your experience--you can''''t call a war right, don''''t know how to back off of torture, can''''t release your finances and can''''t even run or direct a Presidential campaign. We gave Bush a shot--why not you?


Why not, indeed.

[jazz4evr]

I predict this election will illuminate the need for the Superdelegate system''s demise. IF Hillary does not concede after losing the popular delegate vote and Obama wins but loses the Superdelegate vote, we''ll have a revolution of the party on our hands. Obama will run as an Independent - Gore/Edwards will support him and the Democrats will save face. If not, Hillary will go down in history as destroying the faith of the Democratic Party and it''s so called "democratic" process

[b-easy63]

Cas2dy
Strangely, a Democratic Super Delegate is a person selected by their peers to attend the national Democratic Convention,
Posted by tibu987 at 12:00 AM : Feb 13, 2008

Not by their peers, but by back room cronies. the people are not the ones who choose the superdelegates --most do not even know that when they put someone in office, that they are a super delegate. The sD are decided by party insiders and the SDs ARE very loyal, tried and true party insiders.

here is a way to NOT win the favor of superdelegates: talk about bringing about change. Most Superdelegates do NOT want change.They want to control the elections and keep the money and power locked up, they do not want to do the will of the people--they want to fatten their own pockets. Hilary and Bill like SD because they have been party insiders with connections for years. Obama is the outsider and pretty new--the only endorsements he is likely to get are from new SD not the old guard.But there is another factor--the violatility of Obama support. If alienated by insider manipulation, the Independents and blacks and other Obama supporters may not join the Democrat camp no matter what party leaders say. Esp the Indies--if that happens--the leaders will have given Hilary the nom--but she will not sit in the WH and the loss will be blamed on her and the "fixing" of the election by the SD, if that happens, sooner or later, many of them can kiss their Congress jobs good bye too.

[b-easy63]

the danger is, in a close race, if cheating goes on--(the most popular loses to the party favorite but has won the states and votes) such a move could anger his supporters and send them into the the GOP''s arms in retaliation, or cause the loser to run as an Independent thereby ensuring no Dem wins.

You never know what the voters will do, but feelings are running so high, that if the party goes against what the people want, they are liable to do drastic things and Hilary will most likely lose in Nov as Mondale did when the nom was brokered for him. The delegates getting involved with their extra vote is unconstitutional actually--but after Carter--the party wants to make sure that who is selected is who they want, even if the people don''t want their candidate. (they think they can do what they like and we will eat it)