Obama Gains Minnesota Superdelegate
Fox News reported Sunday that Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar has given her endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.
Sphere: Related ContentWASHINGTON — Barack Obama has gained another superdelegate. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar endorsed her Illinois colleague Sunday night, saying in a statement that Obama “has inspired an enthusiasm and idealism that we have not seen in this country in a long time.”
It is the latest development among many that have been putting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on its heels. On Monday, Obama was poised to receive the endorsement of the seven Democrats on North Carolina’s congressional delegation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Jewish Superdelegates Favor Clinton Thus Far
According to MSNBC First Read, Sen. Hillary Clinton is leading Three to One(Clinton has 36, Obama has 12) to Sen. Barack Obama with Jewish Superdelegates, that really isn’t that much of a surprise after Obama association with Jeremiah Wright (and his Pro- Palestinian stance). It would be surprising if the remaining undecideds lean more towards Obama, which is very unlikely, unless the Superdelegates hands are forced.
Sphere: Related ContentClinton leads Obama 36-12 among the Jewish superdelegates, according to a survey by the Forward, a Jewish newspaper. Twenty-six Jewish supers are undecided.
Here’s the Forward’s list of who’s fallen behind whom and who’s undecided:
CLINTON
Patti Higgins (AK-Chairwoman of Alaska Democratic Party)
Rachel Binah (CA-DNC)
Maria Echeveste (CA-DNC)
Diane Feinstein (CA)
Jane Harman (CA)
Brad Sherman (CA)
Rosalind Wyman (CA-DNC)
Ellen Camhi (CT-DNC)
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL)
Debra DeLee (MA DNC chair)
Barney Frank (MA)
Steve Grossman (MA-DNC)
Diane Saxe (MA-Clinton)
Nancy Kopp (MD-DNC)
Carol Pensky (MD-DNC)
Sander Levin (MI)
Anita Freedman (NH-DNC)
June Fischer (NJ-DNC)
Shelley Berkley (NV)
Gary Ackerman (NY)
Eliot Engel (NY)
Emily Giske (NY-DNC)
Steve Israel (NY)
Nita Lowey (NY)
Jerrold Nadler (NY)
Chuck Schumer (NY-Sen)
Sheldon Silver (NY)
Anthony Weiner (NY)
Randi Weingarten (NY-DNC)
Robert Zimmerman (NY-DNC)
Marcel Groen (PA-DNC)
Gov. Ed Rendell (PA)
Allyson Schwartz (PA)
Mark Weiner (RI-DNC)
Eric Kleinfeld (DC-DNC)
Robert Bell (Democrats Abroad-DNC)OBAMA
Eric Garcetti (CA)
Adam Schiff (CA)
Robert Wexler (FL)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
John Yarmuth (KY)
Paul Hodes (NH)
Steve Rothman (NJ)
Steve Cohen (TN)
Russ Feingold (WI-Sen)
Paul Strauss (DC-DNC)
Allan Katz (FL-DNC)
Alan Solomont (MA-DNC)UNDECIDED
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ)
Howard Berman (CA)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Henry Waxman (CA)
Bob Filner (CA)
Susan Davis (CA)
Mitchell Ceasar (FL-DNC)
Diane Glasser (FL-DNC)
Ron Klein (FL)
Andrew Tobias (FL-DNC)
Rahm Emanuel (IL)
Carol Ronen (IL-DNC)
Ben Cardin (MD-Sen)
Susan Turbull (MD-DNC)
Carl Levin (MI-Sen)
Richard Wiener (MI-DNC)
Muriel Offerman (NC-DNC)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ-Sen)
Sam Lieberman (NV-DNC)
Irene Stein (NY-DNC)
Ron Wyden (OR-Sen)
Sophie Masloff (PA-DNC)
Bob Strauss (TX)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Alice Travis Germond (WV-DNC)
Larry Cohen (DC-DNC)
Howard Dean Wants the Nomination by July 1st
Howard Dean DNC chairman wants the Superdelegates to decide the race by July 1st, or he warns that the Democrats will lose the election in November. At this point, it might take a miracle to pull that off. What if all the Delegates and Superdelegates fall 50/50 will that be enough for Obama to secure the nomination, probably not, which means they might have to count Florida and Michigan, would that be enough to push one candidate over the edge?
In a Friday interview on “Good Morning America,” Dean cited record turnout but noted “some personal criticism” between the candidates.
“We have to keep our mind focused on the idea that at the end of the day we really need change in these country,” Dean told ABC’s Diane Sawyer. “One of these two candidates needs to win. We’re going to win unless we divide ourselves and that, we cannot do.”
Dean Suggests Super Deadline
Intense back-and-forth on the campaign trail have left the two Democratic candidates with a narrow margin between them.
In a race that could be left to the party’s nearly 800 leaders who have independent votes in choosing the Democratic nominee on the convention floor, Dean says he’d like the superdelegates to announce who they’re supporting by July 1.
“We don’t want this to degenerate to a big fight at the convention,” Dean said, “This is an evenly divided party with two great potential nominees. I need to make sure that we all play by the rules that we all agreed to a year ago that the person who loses will be just as strong a supporter of the person who wins.”
Source: ABC News
Sphere: Related ContentGovernor Anibal Acevedo-Vila the Superdelegate
Just for those keeping count, the Puerto Rican Governor Acevedo-Vila, is/was a Super Delegate, that is a supporter of Obama. So it looks like Obama is winning the Superdelegate race, in the sense that Obama has lost two in the last two weeks, last two weeks because of scandals (Acevedo-Vila and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick) with indictments and Clinton has only lost one (NY Governor Eliot Spitzer) because of scandal and no indictment as of yet. Score one for the Obama camp.
Sphere: Related ContentTennessee Governor Makes a Proposition for the Superdelegates
Democratic Tennessee Governor and Superdelegate Phil Bredesen sent a proposal to the New York Times, that said all the Superdelegates should get together and hold a Superdelegate primary/caucus. It may not be the best idea, but at least he has an idea. Maybe one of the democratic leaders will get the idea to do away with superdelegates and let the winner of the popular vote be the nominee, but then they would have to count Michigan and Florida.
WE Democrats have a problem, but it’s one we can fix.
We are blessed with two fine candidates, but it’s entirely possible that when primary season ends on June 3, we will still lack a clear nominee. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could each still believe that the nomination could be his or hers at the national convention in Denver in August.
In that situation, we would then face a long summer of brutal and unnecessary warfare. We would face a summer of growing polarization. And we would face a summer of lost opportunities — lost opportunities to heal the wounds of the primaries, to fill the party’s coffers, to offer unified Democratic ideas for America’s challenges.
If we do nothing, we’ll of course still have a nominee by Labor Day. But if he or she is the nominee of a party that is emotionally exhausted and divided with only two months to go before Election Day, it could be a Pyrrhic victory.
Here’s what our party should do: schedule a superdelegate primary. In early June, after the final primaries, the Democratic National Committee should call together our superdelegates in a public caucus.
Photo Source: All Science Fair Projects
Sphere: Related ContentDemocratic Delegate Count
Here are current delegate counts for the Democratic Presidential Contenders:
Delegates Superdelegates Total
Hillary Clinton 1227 + 245 = 1472
Barack Obama 1366 + 201 = 1567
Source: MSNBC
Sphere: Related ContentGeorgia Representative Faces Primary Challenge For Superdelegate Switch
In one of the more idiotic and pointless reasons for someone to run for a political office, Markel Hutchins is going to challenge Representative John Lewis for his house seat, because he might switch his choice for president that will receive his Superdelegate. John Lewis who was said to cast his lot for Hillary Clinton might change his mind, though he has no plans to do so, whatever that means. Hutchins believes that this isn’t a time to be wavering in your opinion. Now, it would be a different story if Hutchins said that he was running because he believes that Superdelegates are unconstitutional or something to that effect. Why is it pointless and idiotic you may ask yourself- this is why, it will not take away Lewis’ Superdelegate for this election. If he is defeated in the Primary, he still holds the office until January 2009 and effectively allows him to still have his Superdelegate, so it does nothing in the current election cycle of nominating the Presidential Nominee of the Democratic Party. to is said to be facing a Primary challenge because he might switch his Superdelegate.
Markel Hutchins, a 30-year-old minister, announced Wednesday that he would run for Lewis’ congressional seat in the Atlanta district. Hutchins said he had been considering a bid for several weeks but was ultimately swayed by Lewis’ recent equivocating over whether he supports Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama.
“Political experience can often times lead to political indebtedness, and I think such political indebtedness has caused Congressman Lewis in some real sense to separate himself from the winds of change that are blowing in his own congressional district,” Hutchins said.
Lewis, a civil rights leader who is close to the Clintons, announced in October that he was endorsing the former first lady. His was among the most coveted endorsements in the Democratic race.
Since then, he has come under increasing pressure as Obama has generated excitement among black voters. Lewis’ 5th District voted 3-to-1 for Obama in Georgia’s Feb. 5 primary. Nearly nine in 10 black voters statewide supported Obama.
Lewis’ spokeswoman has disputed recent media reports that Lewis said he would shift his support or was at least reconsidering. The spokeswoman, Brenda Jones, said last week that Lewis had not changed his endorsement. But that did not necessarily mean Lewis was planning to cast his superdelegate vote for the former first lady, she said.
“It’s too premature to make that decision,” she said.
Lewis, who turns 68 Thursday, has since ducked the matter, declining to take questions.
In response to Hutchins’ announcement, Lewis’ office issued a brief written statement Wednesday citing the congressman’s experience as a unifying leader.
Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta who specializes in black leadership, said Lewis is “trying to have it both ways.” Like many other older black politicians, she said, he probably made a strategic calculation that Clinton would win and is now caught between appearing fickle and ignoring the wishes of his constituents.
She predicted that Lewis and others would quickly abandon Clinton if she loses in the upcoming Texas and Ohio primaries.
The congressional primary is July 15.
Source: FOX News
Photo Source: Flickr
Sphere: Related ContentDNC Urges Michigan & Florida To Hold Caucuses
Let the battle over Michigan and Florida begin. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is recommending Florida and Michigan to hold caucuses now to get their delegates back that were lost. This seems rather backhanded, considering both states did have a Democratic Primary that Hillary Clinton won pretty handily, even though she ran against uncommitted in Michigan. Clinton will have a case to argue over with the DNC if these caucused take place and even more of one, if she loses those caucuses to Obama this race being so close.
Howard Dean (Chairman of DNC) is trying to keep the Superdelegates out of the spotlight, because that is a potentially huge scandal waiting to happen and the less publicized the Superdelegates are the better for the Democratic Party. Howard Dean has stated that if the Presidential race makes it to the Democratic convention without a winner that he might ask one of the candidates to step down. There is to much going on behind the scenes in the Democratic Party.
LANSING, Mich. — The Democratic National Committee is pressuring Michigan and Florida to hold Democratic presidential caucuses so the delegates they’ve lost for holding January primaries could be seated at the national convention, a top Michigan Democrat said Wednesday.
DNC member Debbie Dingell said it’s unclear whether either state would hold caucuses since they’ve already held primaries. But she said the DNC is asking the two states to consider such a plan.
But Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said the DNC isn’t saying anything it hasn’t said before to Michigan and Florida.
”Everybody involved, the candidates, the DNC and we, need to remain open-minded. So if someone comes up with a creative way that meets everyone’s interests, we can do that” and get the delegates seated, he said.
Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski agreed with Brewer that the DNC’s position isn’t new. But he said the party has no intention of holding another election.
”We’ve said all along that we’re going forward with our delegate selection program using the vote on Jan. 29,” he said. ”We’ve got more delegate applications than ever.”
The decision could end up being made at the August Democratic National Convention in Denver, which makes the question over whether the Michigan and Florida delegates are seated an important strategic point.
It’s unlikely that Clinton would favor holding caucuses, which could open the door to Obama victories in two states she already has won. But there’s also pressure to hold some kind of alternative election that meets DNC rules so the states don’t have to wait to find out if the delegates are to be seated.
Source: Fox News
Sphere: Related Content
Superdelegate Scandal Starting Soon
In November millions of Democrats will go cast their vote for a Presidential candidate that they may or may not have voted for during the Primaries. That isn’t going to be different than it has been during the last 30 years, what will be different is that democrats may be voting for the candidate that lost a majority of the Primaries and received less of the popular vote. This hasn’t been a real problem in the past because of the presents of one dominant candidate by this point in the election cycle and this time around it is really close between two strong democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Sen. Obama leads the Delegate count for Democrats, when you just count primaries and caucuses that have taken place, when you add in superdelegates, Sen. Clinton has a nice lead that will probably just get bigger, regardless of how people vote and more than likely garner herself the Democratic Presidential nomination. Many Superdelegates were cast before the Caucuses and Primaries started. How could this happen you might be asking yourself. Here is how and it can be summed up in one word- Superdelegates.
We here at Political Kudzu have been griping and complaining about Superdelegates for a while. Why were we complaining about superdelegates? This is why, Superdelegates potentially take away an individuals voting power, and essentially making our democratic process, not so democratic. The Superdelegate is quite frankly a watered down form of Socialism/Communism, in that it potentially allows the democratic elites to tell people who they will be voting for in November. Here is the back story of Superdelegates.
Americans like a level playing field.
We wouldn’t watch the Super Bowl if one team was given a free touchdown to start. We’re apoplectic over the idea of baseball players loading up on steroids.
No wonder the Democratic Party is facing serious scrutiny over the idea that superdelegates are tilting its presidential playing field in favor of Hillary Clinton.
If you haven’t heard of these folks in past elections, don’t feel bad. They have been, at times, a rather obscure bunch.
Here’s their story, in short:
A few decades ago, Democratic leaders felt that sometimes, Democratic voters were choosing poor presidential candidates: campaigners who couldn’t win elections, or even if they could, they didn’t please Democratic kingmakers.
Jimmy Carter, for example, was an obscure candidate who developed so much popular appeal that he essentially forced Democratic Party leaders to accept him as the nominee, even though not everyone was thrilled by it.
See? So the party changed the rules for picking its nominee.
They made the superdelegates: a super class of super Democrats, each of whom could vote at the convention for a candidate of choice — in effect, giving each of these Democrats the power of tens of thousands of average citizens.
Who are they? Democratic members of Congress, governors, big-shot party members: Bill Clinton, for example. The theory was that the superdelegates could help steer the party toward solid, competitive candidates, and away from Monday morning regrets.
There are about 800 of them, and that’s a lot when you can win the nomination with only about 2,000 delegates. Hence the controversy
Source: CNN
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