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In D.C. Area, a Superdelegate Tug of War
The Washington Post ^ | May 3, 2008 | Tim Craig, John Wagner and Nikita Stewart

Posted on 05/02/2008 7:53:39 PM PDT by mdittmar

Maryland Democratic Party Vice Chairman Lauren Glover is fielding calls from Sen. Barack Obama. Jim Leaman, executive director of the Virginia AFL-CIO, is being inundated with personal letters and e-mails from supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. just wants be left alone.

Pressure is mounting on the 67 Democratic superdelegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia to choose between Obama and Clinton in the most heated presidential nomination fight in a generation.

With neither Clinton nor Obama likely to win enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, the 793 superdelegates nationwide will have the final say on who will face Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP nominee. Clinton is ahead in commitments from area superdelegates, but several said they are undecided and others said they are considering switching.

Clinton (N.Y.) and Obama (Ill.), as well as their official surrogates and rank-and-file supporters, are fighting for every superdelegate vote, launching aggressive campaigns across the region to sway the outcome at the convention in August in Denver.

"This is the most stressful thing I've been through in my whole life," said Virginia Del. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond), a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton last year but is now undecided. "It was never supposed to be like this."

The superdelegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia are being cornered in grocery stores by their constituents. Some have been threatened with retribution if they vote for one candidate or the other. And many of them now dread the personal phone calls from Obama or Clinton and their surrogates.

Similar scenes are playing out across the country, but the efforts to persuade superdelegates are particularly intense in the Washington region.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: aflcio; hillary; md2008; obama; superdelegates; unionvote

1 posted on 05/02/2008 7:53:39 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: mdittmar

“It was never supposed to be like this.”

Yep. Life’s a bitch, then you die.


2 posted on 05/02/2008 8:00:00 PM PDT by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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To: mdittmar

>>>>”This is the most stressful thing I’ve been through in my whole life,” said Virginia Del. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond), a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton last year but is now undecided. “It was never supposed to be like this.”

too much democracy for the democrat party!

it’s better when the unions or party chiefs tell you what to do.

/s


3 posted on 05/02/2008 8:03:26 PM PDT by ken21 ( people die + you never hear from them again.)
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To: mdittmar
Choose one from below by June:

1- The Chosen One (recommended by DNC), who will bring Change if elected, but hasn't a snowflake's chance in Hell of winning real American votes, or:

2- The B***h, who carries more baggage than a Princess on a frog-kissing tour, and who is eternally between a double-wide and Fort Marcy Park, or:

3- Big Mac, who is a Repuke! No, you cannot choose him. Please choose between 1 or 2 now. You will be assimilated.

4 posted on 05/02/2008 8:05:56 PM PDT by Sender ("Why is it that I can't just eat my waffle?" - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: Sender

The amusing thing about this race...is that twelve months ago...you couldn’t have forecasted any of this, and Hillary was supposed to be the absolute winner. No one in the media would have even argued over her winning 45 of the primaries. The idea of the entire party meeting in Denver now becomes a even bigger joke, with various hooligans and thugs showing up and triggering chaos. Personally, if I were a democrat, the first thing I’d change is the superdelegate business and terminate it completely. And then I’d go and make sure its a winner take-all situation for each state primary. But the chances of the democrats changing anything? Zero percent. They will repeat the same scenario in 2012 and likely learn nothing.


5 posted on 05/02/2008 10:01:53 PM PDT by pepsionice
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To: pepsionice

Yep it’s fun to watch the Democrats meltdown over this. The Democrat party isn’t very democratic is it? While the voters will have their say, the super delegates will make the final decision. If they pick the person who didn’t win the popular vote, how can Democrats ever complain about the 2000 presidential election again? At least, how can they be intellectually honest and complain about how Gore won the popular vote that year and lost the election?


6 posted on 05/02/2008 10:20:45 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: mdittmar

TEXAS CAUCAS FRAUD!!!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/2/22818/72392


7 posted on 05/02/2008 10:45:01 PM PDT by cyberella
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To: pepsionice
I noticed with the Democrats "fair" system of sharing the delegates from most states, all the hubbub over "who won" is kinda meaningless since Obama gets a bunch and Hillary gets a bunch either way. All those million$ and all that battle for PA, all the spin over who won and by how many points, and the delegate lead remains about the same.

Yes, make every state a "winner take all" state and they'd get rid of a lot of this foolishness, but they are trying to create a popular democracy, and now they are seeing the result of a democracy when approximately half the people want this and half want that.

Personally, if I were a Democrat, the first thing I'd change is the D beside my name. D is for Denver.

8 posted on 05/03/2008 3:18:41 AM PDT by Sender ("Why is it that I can't just eat my waffle?" - Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: mdittmar; Abundy; Albion Wilde; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; bayliving; BFM; cindy-true-supporter; ...

Maryland “Freak State” PING!


9 posted on 05/03/2008 5:53:30 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (To the liberal, there's no sacrifice too big for somebody else to make. --FReeper popdonnelly)
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"This is the most stressful thing I've been through in my whole life," said Virginia Del. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond), a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton last year but is now undecided. "It was never supposed to be like this."
It was supposed to be a coronation. Now it's a really old Imperial Margarine commercial.
10 posted on 05/03/2008 10:44:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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