More Superdelegates Endorse Obama

The three previously uncommitted superdelegates endorsing Obama are North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina DNC member Jeanette Council, and California DNC member Inola Henry.

Chairman Meek said, “Over the past year, I’ve watched as Barack Obama has drawn countless new people to the political process. Although my position as State Chair has led me to remain neutral through the primary, I’ve quietly celebrated as Barack Obama offered new hope to millions of Americans who have lost faith in the American dream after years of disastrous Republican policies. Rarely does a public servant emerge with Barack Obama’s ability to unite our country and produce real change. With Barack Obama as our nominee, North Carolina can deliver its electoral votes to a Democrat and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot will benefit. Barack Obama offers the best chance to take back the White House, elect countless democrats down-ballot, and breathe new life into the Democratic Party.”

Jeanette Council said, “I am pleased today to be endorsing Barack Obama as he continues to unite Americans for change. This election is a unique opportunity for all Americans and Barack Obama’s campaign has inspired and changed the entire face of our country. His campaign has mobilized new people and welcomed people of all ages, races, backgrounds, attracted everyone from first time voters to voters who have participated their entire adult lives. The way he has built a campaign that reflects his message of hope and change and brought all different communities to the table is unlike any campaign I have ever seen.”

Council added, “I am first and foremost a Democrat and the Democratic Party is truly the party of the people, the party of inclusion that wants to engage all people in the political process. This is what Barack Obama has done. Seeing this happen, especially here in North Carolina, has changed me forever and given me hope that we can change this country. I put much thought, consideration and most importantly prayer into this decision, and today I know I am backing a candidate who can put our country on the right path. I’m proud to endorse him today.”

On the Minds of Superdelegates 4

this is the fourth part of my ongoing: what's on the minds of superdelegates.
in california where 29 support clinton and 13 back Obama and 23 are uncommitted, one super doesn't want to say because he's a typical politician up for election and doesn't want to alienate anyone:

Freshman Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton has enough to worry about this year: He's in a swing district, and Republicans are working feverishly to unseat him this November.

Now he has another headache: As one of 796 Democratic superdelegates, he could help tilt the presidential nomination to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But supporting either one could alienate fans of the other - which could cost McNerney votes he needs this fall.

No surprise, then, that the 56-year-old former wind engineer would prefer to avoid the choice altogether: "I'll make a decision when I have to."

McNerney is not alone. Some superdelegates relish their power in determining the party's nominee, but interviews with uncommitted California superdelegates suggest that many are torn over which candidate to support and are conflicted about their role.

another super compares the candidates to choosing between children:

"It's like saying, 'Which are your favorite children?' How are you going to choose?" said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel. "I like them both. I think they would be great together."

Farr's district was divided in California's Feb. 5 primary: Santa Cruz County voted for Obama, while Monterey and Salinas backed Clinton.

some still can't see the differences between the two candidates (which rocks are they living under?)

"I'm keeping my eyes on the prize," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont. "The differences between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pale in comparison to their disagreements with John McCain."

speaker of the house nancy pelosi has been trying to remain steady:

Pelosi said she will support whichever Democrat finishes the race with the most elected delegates. The position echoes Obama's view that superdelegates should follow the voters, but Pelosi said her position is based on her own experience in grassroots political organizing. She said that to stay engaged, voters must be convinced that they - not party leaders - chose the nominee.

"How are you going to go back after the convention and convene a phone bank and ask people to get out the vote and tell people their vote will count unless you have a process that is transparent, that is fair and that is inclusive?" Pelosi said. She insisted it was the best way to "respect the public's verdict."

one super said he'll support whoever will promise to get latinos to the polls. that's sort of wishy washy.

Superdelegate Steve Ybarra, 60, who teaches at Sacramento City College and is active in state politics, said he will base his decision solely on which candidate promises to do more to register Latinos to vote and to get them to the polls in November.

"I'm waiting for those candidates to tell us what he or she is doing for those Latino voters," Ybarra said. He's taken many calls from both sides, but hasn't been convinced. "I haven't heard a significant commitment. What is the budget? Where is the plan? It's just that simple."

a list of california's undecideds
On the Minds of Superdelegates 1
On the Minds of Superdelegates 2
On the Minds of Superdelegates 3
On the Minds of Superdelegates 4
On the Minds of Superdelegates 5
Clinton’s Deliberate Race Baiting
Who Can Beat McCain?

On the Minds of Superdelegates 3

the third in my series of "what's on the minds of superdelegates?" superdelegates will decide who wins the democratic nomination. the only thing obama and clinton are doing now is proving to the supers that they have the ability to beat john mccain.
and now on to tennessee, where mum's the word:

“We’ve had such interest in our party and the process,” said Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., one of seven undecided superdelegates in Tennessee. “There’s a lot of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Both of them bring change from what we have today.”

Gov. Phil Bredesen said he also is not tipping his hand for now.

“I obviously want to see how things will play out,” he said. “I think superdelegates have an important role to play to figure how to get out of the place we’re in and be where we can be unified behind a candidate. That’s why I’m keeping my powder dry, to see if we can’t provide some leadership.”

The Democratic Party created the superdelegate system in 1984 to give high-level party officials some influence in the nomination process, and this year, with the very close race, their leanings are being scrutinized closely.

Many in the party fear that a protracted nomination battle could cause rifts in the voter base. That’s what led Georgia Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kidd to announce recently her support for Sen. Obama, joining Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., and party activist Mary Long, both of whom announced their support for Sen. Obama in the past two weeks.

“I decided that the last thing I wanted to do was wait until the convention and for it to come down to a superdelegate vote and have it be contentious,” Ms. Kidd said. “I do think we need to move toward a resolution.”

Two other high-profile superdelegates, Reps. John Lewis and Davis Scott, both D-Ga., switched their support from Sen. Clinton to Sen. Obama in February.

tsk, tsk, eliot spitzer's virtually guaranteed resignation means one less super for clinton:

Should Spitzer resign he would lose his superdelegate status. Spitzer is in Clinton's corner on our endorsement list. He would be replaced by Lt. Governor David Paterson who is already a superdelegate and Clinton endorser. This may bring the total number of superdelegates back to 794 depending on how this plays out.

Paterson is currently an at-large member on the DNC roster of superdelegates. If he becomes Governor and gives up his DNC position the DNC will fill the vacancy with someone else and the number will continue to be 795. (Update: The DNC has confirmed that DNC members can also be replaced up to the beginning of the convention). If he holds his position with the DNC the number of superdelegates will go down to 794.

here's one who is completely biased and would overturn the will of the people in a heartbeat, after all, they don't know as much as he does, being he's an important politician and all... he goes on and on and on and on (of course, he's a clinton supporter):

An Open Letter to Democratic Party Super Delegates

From Steven Grossman, Former National Chairman,

Democratic National Committee

Like many Democratic activists and officials honored to have been selected as so-called super delegates to this year's Democratic national convention, I've spent most of my life engaged in the fight for the values that the Democratic party embodies. These values were perhaps best articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his second inaugural address: "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Like some of my colleagues, my commitment to the Democratic party and my passion for its most cherished principles can fairly be said to be part of my DNA. In my own case, my grandfather, father, uncle and I were all given the opportunity to serve as delegates to Democratic national conventions over the last 60 years. Indeed, my grandfather and father comprised the only "father-son" team among the delegates to the 1948 convention in Philadelphia that chose Harry Truman as the party's standard bearer. Given that family history, it will be understood how proud I was to serve first as Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party and then as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Some commentators, observing the current deadlock between Senators Clinton and Obama as they vie for the Democratic presidential nomination, have suggested that as super delegates, our function is to be mindless tabulators of primaries and caucuses won, or popular votes amassed. Despite the super delegates' lifetimes spent working on state, national and international issues, and thinking seriously about the grave challenges, and the dangerous adversaries, facing our country, these commentators demand that we suspend our independent judgments and jettison our profound responsibilities--to the party and, frankly, to the country itself. Even though the very party rules that provide for super delegates contemplated that we would exercise those independent judgments and fulfill those responsibilities, there are those who believe that we should confine ourselves to adding up numbers.

But super delegates were not selected by the national party to be either potted plants or rubber stamps. We were selected because under party rules that have been in place for a generation, our party concluded that we had demonstrated the ability to act as stewards of the national party--and of the national interest. By dint of our experience in the community and our public service, we were adjudged fit to fulfill a moral responsibility to act in the best interest of the country as we saw it--and to be strong enough to withstand the criticisms of those who might object to the political impact of the independent conclusions we reached.

Our duty to our party and our country is a fiduciary one, a sacred trust. We are obliged to regard ourselves in a real sense as trustees, charged with making conscientious judgments on behalf of the party but, more importantly, the country we care, and worry, about.

Any dispassionate analysis of the current nomination fight shows that Senators Clinton and Obama are breathtakingly close in terms of delegates won and popular vote recorded. It is likely that after the remaining primaries and caucuses have been held, the already narrow gap in delegates will shrink yet further, and the equally slim gap in popular vote will also close, with Senator Clinton having a meaningful chance to overtake Senator Obama's popular vote total altogether, particularly when the collective will of Florida’s and Michigan’s primary voters is finally taken into account. At a minimum, the nomination process must be permitted to run its full course, so that not only are the candidates' qualifications, character and positions fully vetted, but everyone who is entitled to vote is actually permitted to do so.

This means that, in the first instance, those super delegates who have not made up their minds or who have decided to remain neutral until all the votes have been cast should resist the pressure to abort the process. We are, after all, electing not a student council president but the President of the United States of America, the leader of the free world and, in real terms, the most powerful person on the planet. There is no amount of prudence and care which can possibly be excessive, under the circumstances.

But what happens after the final primaries are over in early June, when by most analyses neither Senator Clinton nor Senator Obama will have enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination? If the role of super delegates is merely to assess primary and caucus results, how do they wade through the thicket created by the important questions that those results have generated?

Should caucuses, in which citizens who wish to express their choice are obliged to either show up at an appointed hour and sit in a room for up to several hours or not show up at all, be regarded as reflecting the popular will as much as primaries, where voters whose lives do not permit them to spend three hours in a locked room at the end of a workday can simply go into their local elementary school, vote and leave--like voters across the country do on the first Tuesday in November?

Should the results in states that have rarely if ever voted Democratic in a presidential election over the last half century be accorded the same weight as the results in large states that form the heart of the Democratic base, and which the Democratic presidential nominee must carry in order to win the White House?

Should primaries in which voters who are not in fact members of the Democratic party voted in significant numbers be given the same standing for the purpose of choosing the Democratic party nominee as those in which only Democrats voted?

These are difficult questions, if not impossible ones, and super delegates who see their duty as mere numbers crunchers will have a difficult time sorting out the answers.

But being a super delegate is not the same as being a numbers cruncher. It is about consulting one’s conscience about what is best for the United States, and about the party that we hope will assume the leadership of the United States.

I have made my own personal judgment, and that is that Senator Clinton is the better qualified, more experienced and by far the more battle-tested Democrat to lead this country in a world that is increasingly dangerous, and where the stakes simply could not be higher. Others have made a different choice, and may yet make a different choice. But for the moment, super delegates who are not committed to either candidate should resist the blandishments of those who would trivialize their roles in the nominating process, and their responsibilities to the party, and to the country, about which we care so deeply.

On the Minds of Superdelegates 1

On the Minds Of Superdelegates 2

Superdelegates explained
Superdelegates, Superdelegates, Superdelegates

some good information about supers

Clinton’s Deliberate Race Baiting
Who Can Beat McCain?

Magical Mystical Superdelegates

aha! superdelegates throw around their super powers if the candidates don't get the 2025 delegates needed to win the nomination. i hope this doesn't happen because it seems a very subjective thing.
There are 796 superdelegates and apparently, Obama has 96 pledged, which means they said "I do" to obama and clinton has 204 pledged, according to the NYT. so the rest of them are up for wooing.