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Superdelegates: We Haven't Heard From The Obama Campaign
About Sam Stein
Sam Stein is a Political Reporter at the Huffington Post, based in Washington, D.C. Previously he has worked for Newsweek magazine, the New York Daily News and the investigative journalism group Center for Public Integrity. He has a masters from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a graduate of Dartmouth College. Sam can be reached at stein@huffingtonpost.com.
There is a consensus developing around Washington that Barack Obama's presidential campaign is hoping to herd a dozen or so superdelegates into its camp before the end of Tuesday's primary contests - a move that would allow the Senator to officially declare a delegate victory during his speech in Minneapolis.
But at least three uncommitted superdelegates have confided to The Huffington Post that, even with the nomination all but wrapped up, the Obama campaign has not made any recent overtures to try and turn their support before Tuesday's polls close.
"There has been no pressure on me from Obamaland," writes Christine Pelosi, an uncommitted from California who has vowed to back the pledged delegate winner, almost assuredly Obama, once the primaries are over. "I'm not sure who's doing what before the polls close. My sense is that once the votes are in, the supers like me will speak out."
Bob Mulholland, a senior adviser to the California Democratic Party and an uncommitted superdelegate, says he too has been confronted with silence from the Obama folks. "They haven't called in a week," he told The Huffington Post.
Another superdelegate, who asked not to be identified, said he had talked with four other superdelegates none of whom had been contacted by the Illinois Democrat. "I haven't gotten anything from him," he said. "I had another superdelegate call me and say he heard I was going to come out for Obama on Tuesday but that wasn't the case. I think he was playing us off each other."
Is this cause for concern? Mulholland doesn't think so. "They already have got two or three dozen or so lined up," he said. "Of course they do. I'm sure they do, including a lot of members of Congress. So, I think that is already over... Assume he wins one or two states you let that happen and then Wednesday morning you let the others come out."
It could very well be that Obama's campaign has pinpointed the uncommitted party insiders that they are looking to turn, and are banking on those individuals putting the Senator over the top come Tuesday evening. And indeed, on Monday, a group of uncommitted U.S. Senators met to discuss met at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, ostensibly to discuss a coordination of endorsements.
Pennsylvania Rep. Jasom Altmire, meanwhile, told the Associated Press: "Senator Obama is trying to line up people that are going to come out for him tomorrow during the day so that he'll have enough that puts him over the top that he can declare victory tomorrow."
As a matter of procedure, both Mulholland and the anonymous superdelegate suggested that Obama bring Sen. Hillary Clinton on board to expedite the primary's end and, ultimately, strengthen the ticket.
"If you really want to close the deal he has several different ways of going at it," said the uncommitted super. "He could say, 'If I get the nomination I will take her.' And that would put her in a terrible situation - she'd have to accept. But he is not willing to go there to be the nominee and sometime you have to go places you want."
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June 2, 2008 09:00 PM