Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Super Delegates speak

The New York Times has a very interesting web page that details the Democratic super delegates, especially who they're supporting; and in some cases, direct quotes from the supers.

This is the fascinating bit; reading what some delegates say about their vote. Here's a few examples, along with their current positions:

Michael Gronstal, Party official, Iowa - CLINTON
[Justifying his support for Mrs. Clinton in part because she got the most support in Pottawattamie County on caucus night] "Representing my constituents, I can make the case that's exactly what I'm doing."

Mary Gail Gwaltney, Party official, N.M. - CLINTON
"I want to have a woman president of the United States, one that I can be proud of. I think Hillary Clinton's going to win."

Steven Horsford, Party official, Nev. - OBAMA
"I think that the majority of the delegates — those that are representative of voters of states — should decide who the nominee is."

Nick Nemec, Party official, S.D. - OBAMA
"South Dakota is a pretty bright red state, and I think a lot of South Dakota Democrats were sick of being beat around the head and shoulders with the Clinton name."

Chris Whittington, Party official, La. - UNCOMMITTED
He has said Mr. Obama's decisive victory in Louisiana will partly influence his thinking, but the main consideration is who looks to be the eventual nominee. "I think we need to go with a winner."

David T. McDonald, Party official, Wash. - UNCOMMITTED
"Delegate-by-delegate fights are very emotionally intense. There is a great risk to all of us that the support base of the two candidates will not be able to work for the other. The single best way for a Republican to win is for us to have a fight that gets out of hand. Whoever we support, the overriding concern is to not have a Republican in the White House next year."

And probably the winner of all the comments is Sam Spencer, Party official, Me. - UNCOMMITTED
"Superdelegates are sort of outdated; it's not a very democratic way of doing things."

Connecticut's super delegation is strongly tilted towards Obama. According to the NY Times' list, currently out of CT's 12 supers, there is only one committed to Hillary Clinton:
Ellen Camhi, Party official, Conn.

There are eight Barack Obama delegates:
Anthony Avallone, Party official, Conn.
Rosa DeLauro, Representative, Conn.
Christopher J. Dodd, Senator, Conn.
Martin Dunleavy, Party official, Conn.
Stephen Fontana, Party official, Conn.
John B. Larson, Representative, Conn.
Christopher S. Murphy, Representative, Conn.
Donald E. Williams, Add on delegate, Conn.

Three are still uncommitted:
Joe Courtney, Representative, Conn.
Nancy DiNardo, Party official, Conn.
John W. Olsen, Party official, Conn.

And the only Connecticut super delegate quoted in the Times report is Don Williams:
"The momentum is with Sen. Obama, in state after state. Even the states Hillary Clinton won, we have seen huge leads evaporate and we've seen strong surges by Sen. Obama."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
CT Bob said...

Sorry, stupid, but you're off topic.

And I don't like you.

You lose twice.

Sellitman (Kevin) said...

Do you think phone calls and emails from CT voters outside the uncommited delegates voting districts will have any effect on their outcome?

CT Bob said...

I don't think they'd hurt. I can imagine that some delegates consider a consensus of people they've heard from in making their decision, although probably someone outside their district wouldn't have as much influence as one of their constituents.

But I'd guess that it would still have a positive effect, especially if they hear from enough people.