Obama, Clinton fish D.C. waters
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
The remaining presidential primaries stretch from Puerto Rico to Oregon, but the real competition is in Washington, D. C., where most of the uncommitted Democratic superdelegates work.
The six Democratic primaries offer a total of 217 pledged delegates. Among the superdelegates — party and elected officials get to vote as they please at the nominating convention — those who remain officially undecided number about 265, including some 50 who have yet to be elected at state conventions.
So Barack Obama was on the floor of the House for more than half an hour Thursday, chatting up his rival’s supporters such as Reps. John Murtha and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, as well as the undecided. About a third of the undeclared superdelegates are members of Congress.
Hillary Rodham Clinton met with undecided superdelegates at Democratic Party headquarters on Wednesday. She said, “We talked a lot about Florida and Michigan,” two states that she won but which have no delegates because their early primaries violated party rules.
Two lawmakers — Reps. Brad Miller of North Carolina and Rick Larsen of Washington — declared for Obama on Thursday, but most of the uncommitted plan to hold their silence until the last primary voters have gone to the polls on June 3 in Montana and South Dakota. That is what they have told The Associated Press, which interviewed nearly 100 undeclared superdelegates or their representatives Wednesday and Thursday, and other news media.
John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees and one of 10 uncommitted superdelegates from Maryland, admitted he’s “kind of getting itchy” about endorsing a candidate.
It’s no easy decision, he said, because Clinton has been supportive of federal workers, while many union members admire Obama’s enthusiasm.
“It’s just been a tough thing, but I think a lot of people are going to be very sensitive to the Democrats’ right to vote out there,” Gage said, referring to the six primaries still to come.
Florida’s Rep. Tim Mahoney met with Clinton for about 30 minutes Wednesday but didn’t plan to commit to anyone anytime soon. “As a businessman, you don’t make a decision until you have to, because you get the benefit of more information,” he said.
Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is in a particularly ticklish situation. She faces a tough reelection race and doesn’t want to offend any of her supporters, “half of whom are for Sen. Clinton and half of whom are for Sen. Obama,” she told MSNBC’s Tom Curry.
Some of the indecision is a pose. Scores of officially uncommitted superdelegates have voted in primaries or caucuses, including such subjects of ongoing speculation as Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi. For them, what happens in the voting booth will stay in the voting booth — for now, at least.
Don Bivens, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, said that his wife and children are the only ones who know how he voted, because they asked him “before, during and after” his decision-making process.
Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and superdelegate from Washington, D. C., said, “I have not spoken to anyone, including my Pomeranian, who is deeply committed to one of the candidates.” NONE OF THE ABOVE But not every superdelegate has voted when given the chance. When Nevada held its first caucus in January, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went to a community-center caucus site next door to Harry Reid Elementary School in Searchlight, his hometown. While the rest of the room split among Clinton, Obama and John Edwards, Reid and his wife stood alone in a corner representing none of the above. “He felt it was important to participate in the caucuses,” said Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman. “He had the option of choosing uncommitted, and that’s what he chose.” “ It goes with the territory: You really have to be very careful and evenhanded and fairminded, ” said Paul Kirk Jr., who was the Democratic National Committee chairman during the 1988 election. At the time, Kirk kept mum about his vote in the Massachusetts primary for Michael Dukakis even though both hailed from Massachusetts and Kirk had risen in the party during Dukakis’ governorship.
All that neutrality doesn’t stop the two camps from lobbying for commitments.
Nancy Worley, Alabama’s former secretary of state and the state party’s first vice chairman, said she got calls Wednesday morning from Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, both Obama supporters.
“It appears that the Obama supporters, just from my perspective, are working a little harder,” she said. Clinton’s campaign has mainly used letters and e-mails, with occasional calls from staff members, she said, while Obama has used more of a “personal touch” with direct phone calls.
Nonetheless, Worley said she still hasn’t been convinced one way or another.
In the hours after the results of Tuesday’s primaries were clear, David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, sent a lengthy memo to Miller, the North Carolina congressman, and other unpledged delegates, making the case for his candidate. “With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days,” he wrote. “While those scenarios may be entertaining, they are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or its millions of supporters, volunteers, and donors.” ‘THAT TIME IS NOW’ Plouffe added: “Since February 5, the Obama campaign has netted 107 superdelegates, and the Clinton campaign only 21. Since the Pennsylvania primary, much of it during the challenging Rev. Wright period, we have netted 24 and the Clinton campaign 17.
“ At some point — we would argue that time is now — this ceases to be a theoretical exercise about how superdelegates view electability. The reality of the preferences in the last several weeks offer a clear guide of how strongly superdelegates feel Senator Obama will perform in November, both in building a winning campaign for the presidency as well as providing the best electoral climate across the country for all Democratic candidates.” Obama said much the same thing Thursday. “My main message is that whichever way you want to go, the sooner that superdelegates make their decision, the sooner we will have a sense of who the nominee will be and sooner we can focus on John McCain,” he told Fox News outside his Senate office. Mc-Cain, a senator from Arizona, is the likely Republican nominee During Obama’s visit to the House floor, Republicans, Clinton supporters, his own backers and more than a few undecided Democrats received the Illinois senator as if he were already the nominee.
Obama headed over to the “Murtha corner” to visit with the Pennsylvania delegation. Unlike Clinton supporter Murtha, who is the dean of the delegation, Pennsylvanians Mike Doyle, Jason Altmire and Robert Brady remain uncommitted.
Obama’s escorts included Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Steven Rothman of New Jersey, who hovered nearby for the entire 40-minute session, whispering names into Obama’s ear and beaming proudly. California’s Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Clinton supporter, waited her turn to extend a warm handshake. Uncommitted Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan got a few minutes of schmooze time.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer bowed gallantly and gave Obama a big hug. The Maryland Democrat is neutral — officially, at least.
House Speaker Pelosi shrugged off the fuss, noting that “senators come to our floor all the time. Some attract more attention than others. I’m sure if Sen. Clinton came, she would attract a great deal of attention as well.” Information for this article was contributed by Nedra Pickler and Brian Witte of The Associated Press, Sasha Issenberg of The Boston Globe and Shailagh Murray of The Washington Post.
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