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How Many Rights Are Democrats Willing to Forfeit? by Frank Salvato With the announcement that Hillary Clinton is abandoning her quest for the Oval Office the Democrat National Committee (DNC) - and specifically the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee - has effectively selected the candidate for their party. I say selected because, by construct, the decision making process was taken away from the party faithful and placed in the hands of an elitist class of party insiders. These party insiders - superdelegates and the DNC Executive Committee - have literally usurped the will of the people by marginalizing the popular...

Some of Clinton's closest supporters - the nearly two dozen House Democrats from her home state of New York - switched their endorsements to Obama Thursday.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm isn't switching her support quite yet to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Granholm and Lieutenant Governor John Cherry both endorsed New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton last October. They're among seven Michigan Democratic superdelegates who backed Clinton. Fifteen support Obama, with one more expected to endorse Friday. Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Thursday that, while the governor has made it clear she'll support the Democratic nominee, she won't make a formal statement supporting Obama until after Clinton announces a decision on her campaign. Clinton plans to hold an event in Washington...

According to the media, Barack Obama has won the Democratic Presidential nomination (Obama Clinches Nomination; First Black Candidate to Lead a Major Party Ticket). That's only true if you count the so-called superdelegates. Neither Barack Obama (1750) nor Hillary Clinton (1624.5) has won enough elected delegates from the popular vote in the actual primaries and caucuses to hit the delegate number needed (2118) to seal the nomination. That brings us to the one important thing that the major media (but not AT) aren't sharing with the public right now. Obama's nomination is secured only by the promised votes of the...

With the final primary concluded barely hours before, top Democratic Party leaders in Washington early this morning ratcheted up the pressure to force all remaining uncommitted superdelegates to make their choice of candidate known by Friday -- and thus end the now hopeless, onetime front-running campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. The joint statement was obviously pre-planned and timed for issue shortly after Clinton refused to concede the presidential nomination victory to Barack Obama, who's gained sufficient delegates to clinch the party's nomination. Howard Dean, right, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader...

With the final primary concluded barely hours before, top Democratic Party leaders in Washington early this morning ratcheted up the pressure to force all remaining uncommitted superdelegates to make their choice of candidate known by Friday The joint statement was obviously pre-planned and timed for issue shortly after Clinton refused to concede the presidential nomination's victory to Barack Obama, who's gained sufficient delegates to clinch the party's nomination. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Assn., issued the brief...

Uncommitted Senate superdelegates say they are unlikely to weigh in with endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) until Wednesday at the earliest. The remaining superdelegates in the Senate say they are holding out in the final hours of the Democratic presidential primary mostly to see what their other colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), chooses to do, and how she decides to move forward in the next 24 hours. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who has not yet endorsed either Obama or Clinton, urged the 17 other uncommitted superdelegates in his chamber to “keep their decision in their pocket” for...

As the Democratic nomination marathon neared a potential finish line, key senators said the results of Tuesday’s South Dakota and Montana primaries will have a domino effect on uncommitted superdelegates – quite possibly clinching the nomination for Barack Obama. “We want this locked up sooner rather than later,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who has remained undeclared. “Let’s have the nominee and let’s move on. That’s the common thread among the uncommitted superdelegates. … I will be ready after tomorrow night.” With only 31 total pledged delegates at stake in the two states, Obama cannot win enough in the final...

Rapid City, S.D. (AP) -- As Barack Obama turns to concentrate on his general election challenge, his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is mounting a last ditch campaign to stay relevant in what is left of the Democratic presidential contest. The former first lady enters this week with an insurgent strategy not only to win over undecided superdelegates but to peel away Obama's support from those party leaders and elected officials who already have committed to back him for the nomination. "One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds," she told reporters aboard her campaign plane Sunday night....

First we should know that “Superdelegates” is media short-hand for “Unpledged Party Leaders and Elected Official Delegates” who are anointed by March 1, 2008. Then there are the unpledged Add-On Delegates. These Delegates amount to something on the order of 20% of the total Delegates to the convention. Based on the remaining number of “Pledged” delegates to be elected in Montana and South Dakota, there almost no chance that a candidate will enter the convention with the nomination in hand based on “Pledged” delegates. "Pledged" basically means that they must vote for whom they are pledged on the first ballot....

Don and Carole Fowler are married but are on different sides of this debate. One supports Clinton, the other Obama You might call them a political power couple. Don Fowler is a former Democratic National Committee chair; his wife, Carol Khare Fowler, is chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. They are both superdelegates. And both sit on the DNC's now famous Rules and Bylaws Committee, which will meet this Saturday in Washington to decide the fate of the delegates from the punished line-cutting primary states, Florida and Michigan. While they and the 28 other members of the committee...

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she expects uncommitted superdelegates to begin making the choice that will decide her marathon Democratic primary race against Barack Obama soon after the Tuesday's primaries. In a conference call with Montana reporters, Clinton was asked about the effort by top Democratic leaders to push for a quick end to the fight for the presidential nomination after primaries in South Dakota and Montana next week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said that he, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and party chairman Howard Dean will urge uncommitted delegates to choose sides. Clinton said: "I think that...

There is something magical about the term, "superdelegate," as if it's a representative with superhuman powers who might fly in at the last minute to save the election. This is not totally far from the truth. Unless, of course, you don't approve of how the political superheroes use their special abilities. (Or, if you are a Republican. Technically, there aren't any superdelegates in the GOP). Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama emerged from Super Tuesday neck and neck, separated by less than 100 delegates by most counts. This suggests — if the race continues to be similarly tight —...

(Note: the following is the text of a letter sent by Hillary Clinton yesterday to all Democratic super delegates.) Dear ___________, The stakes in this election are so high: with two wars abroad, our economy in crisis here at home, and so many families struggling across America, the need for new leadership has never been greater. At this point, we do not yet have a nominee - and when the last votes are cast on June 3, neither Senator Obama nor I will have secured the nomination. It will be up to automatic delegates like you to help choose our...

On the night of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, I was asked by a British radio station whether, for all intents and purposes, the Democratic race was over. I said I thought it was -- there was no way neither around the math nor the cast-iron direction in which the superdelegates were trending. "The only question," I told my interviewer,"is how Sen. Clinton will go down -- graciously or ugly." Like most everyone else, I thought it would be the former. That at the end of the day (June 3), the two quarrelsome sides would sit around the camp...

Carter sees superdelegates prompting Clinton to quit 1 hour, 54 minutes ago Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Sunday he expects Democratic superdelegates to reveal their choice for presidential nominee soon after the final primary in June and that Hillary Clinton will then have to quit the race. In an interview with Sky News, Carter said he did not think Clinton was achieving anything by staying in the fight. "I think not. But of course she has the perfect right to do so," he said while attending a literary festival in Britain. "I'm a superdelegate ... I think a...

by Richard Lawrence Poe Saturday, May 17, 2008 ArchivesPermanent Link HILLARY CAN still win the Democratic nomination, provided the superdelegates vote for her. I think they will. Over 60 percent are men, and men cannot resist Hillary. Granted, Hillary is no spring chicken. Her fleshly allure has diminished over time. But Hillary has other ways of bending men to her will. Consider her effect upon journalist David Brock. A ruthless political dirt-digger for the right, Brock nearly toppled the Clinton White House. His Troopergate story in the American Spectator triggered the Paula Jones lawsuit, leading to Bill Clinton's impeachment....

Uncommitted Democratic superdelegates in Congress overwhelmingly say they won’t necessarily back the presidential candidate who wins the most primary delegates. Instead, electability will be very important in their decision. Of 42 lawmakers interviewed by The Hill, only four said they regarded the primary vote as decisive. The congressional superdelegates’ independence is precisely what Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is banking on as she trails by about 130 pledged delegates behind rival Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). It also means the Democratic Caucus is unswayed by its leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who has warned that the party will suffer if superdelegates...

Outright victories for the Democratic Party are rare in presidential politics. Only Bill Clinton in 1996 won decisively among Democrats since the party opened up its nominating system in 1972. Now, it might be argued, the Democrats have managed to achieve the worst of everything in their current system. A quick history of the nominating system explains why it looks the way it does now. The open system after 1972 produced mostly losing candidates from the left end of the political spectrum. The few winners managed to stay close to the middle of the political spectrum, such as Carter and...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Friday afternoon seized the superdelegate lead from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), giving him command of every aspect of his party’s presidential nomination race. That constitutes a key milestone in the race and a shocking reversal of fortune for Clinton. Obama once was behind by more than 100 superdelegates. But according to at least two counts, more superdelegates are now in his camp. Politico’s tally now shows him ahead of her by 270 superdelegates to 268.5, with 208.5 uncommitted. (Superdelegates from U.S. territories count as one-half.) ABC News shows him ahead by two. Clinton’s longtime...