Can Clinton Count On The Superdelegates?

Hillary Clinton is now, by CBS News' count, more than 60 delegates behind Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination. Clinton presumably has one important advantage, however: She and her husband have stronger relationships than Obama with many superdelegates, the group of party insiders who could ultimately decide the nomination.

But The Associated Press' Ron Fornier says she shouldn't necessarily count on them. "Top Democrats, including some inside Hillary Clinton's campaign, say many party leaders — the so-called superdelegates — won't hesitate to ditch the former New York senator for Barack Obama if her political problems persist," he reports.

Why? A whole host of reasons, Fornier writes: Some labor leaders are upset that Bill Clinton backed the North American Free Trade Agreement; some social activists are mad he didn't veto welfare reform legislation; some Congresspeople didn't like Hillary Clinton's handling of health care as first lady. The list goes on.

When Clinton was thought to be the "inevitable" candidate, it seemed, well, inevitable that all these folks would fall in line, despite their grievances. But these days the Clintons don't have the juice they once did. "A superdelegate who is uncommitted today is clearly going to wait and see how this plays out. She's at her zenith now," Democratic strategist Jim Duffy told Fornier. "Whatever political capital or IOUs that exist, she's already collected."

And 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?"