Will Clinton's Delegates Vote For Obama Even After Released?

DENVER -- With reports surfacing that Sen. Hillary Clinton will formally release her delegates on Wednesday, the question looms: how many of her supporters will follow her lead and vote for Barack Obama during the convention's first roll call vote?

A quick (and certainly unscientific) survey of female Clinton delegates conducted early Tuesday evening at the Pepsi Center suggested that perhaps not many will. When asked if she would vote for Obama, Clinton superdelegate Jean Milko punted on the question by noting that Clinton had yet to release her delegates -- though hinted that she might once the green light had been given.

However, a pair of pledged Clinton delegates both said they feel honor bound to vote for the New York Democrat, no matter how she votes herself. "Absolutely I am a Clinton delegate," said Sylvia Woods, from Tennessee. "I came and was voted on [as a delegate] by the people who supported Clinton, and I have that obligation to do that. We know she doesn't have the votes to win. But we ran on our word that we were supporting Hillary Clinton. ... She's not going to be president, but she's going to be real important for this country. And she needs to know that the people out there really appreciate what she did."

Florida's Shannon Roberts said "my commitment is to support her," even though "she's going to be supporting Senator Obama all the way and will be asking for our support as well."

One female Obama superdelegate who said she has had several conversations with Clinton delegates agreed that many will follow through in the roll call vote no matter what the Senator does herself.

"For those who still choose to support and actually vote for Hillary, I've talked with a lot of them. They have their own reasons. I personally find them, politically, to be looking to the past as opposed to looking to the future," said Massachusetts superdelegate Mardee Xifaras. "At the same time, the future is Friday, going forward. So I'm not going to get hung up on that."

Still, despite their differences, the Hillary and Obama delegates agreed on one thing: the media has over-hyped the division between the two camps. "I am a Clinton delegate and will be voting for Clinton when we do the roll call vote. But when I leave here I will be supporting the nominee, Barack Obama, as hard as i can," Woods said.

"It's overblown," Milko agreed, adding: "I think it's going to be a very smooth, wonderful night. Now, you might have a little demonstration, but there won't be that many [people]. If you have any they'll be very, very few in number."

Comments

[Konnie]

QUESTION:

does hrc not withdrawing have anything to do with her debts?

if she goes thru the roll call, loses, then releases her delegates, and they then are free
to vote for the "nominee", so do those steps help her get the dnc or obama funds to pay off
her debts?

[Tobiasism]

Of course they will vote for Obama.
Stop flogging this dead horse.

[closetodemfection]

O has really blown it now. Every bit of good HRC's speech last night did is at risk. Of course, nothing reported about it here - big surprise. O is forcing the delegates to write their votes from the hotel. This is against everything Democracy stands for with an Open Vote. Not to mention it is completely illegal according to the rules:

DNC RULES, ARTICLE 8, SECTION F1: “NO SECRET BALLOT SHALL BE PERMITTED AT ANY STAGE OF THE CONVENTION OR ITS COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS.”
SECTION 8F3: “VOTING SHALL BE BY VOICE VOTE, OR WHEN PRESCRIBED BY THESE RULES, BY ROLL CALL VOTE."

The wound is being ripped back open - why is he so afraid of a VOTE? That would have healed everything!

[BCubedReg]

Cite your source.

[lvdragonlady]

Be offended by what I am about to write, but it is the truth.
The women that backed hrc but are not voting for Obama are going to COST the Dems the election.
Everyone take note, if Mc is elected you can turn to ANY female in America and blame them for 4 more years of Bush.
Carvelle and the PUMA's will be the reason Obama loses. Never NOT have enough guts to stand behind your choice when she has asked you to support Obama...............

shame on you puma's
shame on you carvelle(weasel)
shame on you feminists who were only backing hrc because she was a female and not for what her policies were.

shame shame

[Tropiholic]

If only carville still had any power, he MIGHT pose a threat. Mr Matalin's 15 minutes are over now, he needs to look for a job.

[FirstShirt]

The only reason you don't see this in the republicans is the Old John was never supported by the Neocons and right wing extremists. He was a maverick who worked with democrats frequently on a variety of programs. Hillary calls him her friend. And, he is doing it his way. He is not an unknown, like Obama. He is what he is. And about 50% of americans seem to be saying they have no choice between him and Obama. One is known and the other is an unknown.

[NJ13]

Yes, "known" with policies that will keep the American people in the financial constraints they are in right now and possibly worse. If Americans want to continue to struggle with their finances, end up having their homes foreclosed and be without jobs, then by all means they should continue to vote for McCain.

At the end fo the day I beleive the American people are more concerned with how they are going to be able to eat and maintian shelter then they are with overcomitting troops to an illegal war. McCain has experience, experience in keeping the working class poor and under the thumbs of the wealthy.

[nmabry]

I have to admit that I am very impressed with your ability as a McCain supporter to copy and paste. Congratulations!

[BCubedReg]

If you still say Obama is "unkown" then you are actively taking a position not to know... and so are your 50%. Or maybe it's you just won't vote for a black guy no matter what crisis befalls you.

Stop your lies.

[mredder4]

"Still, despite their differences, the Hillary and Obama delegates agreed on one thing: the media has over-hyped the division between the two camps."

Come on, people, THIS should be the news. THIS should be what is commented on.

To those in all camps: No one cares that you're still offended that Obama won. Even less people care that you're still offended that Clinton ran (because being offended about that is AS PETTY as Clinton supporters threatening to vote for McCain). The primary ended MONTHS AGO. We have a nominee, or will within a few days.

That the media can still come up with these stories is OUR FAULT. We are doing this to ourselves.

So why fight each other when the media is just sitting by the side with a big old grin on their faces, laughing at our disagreement? Now's the time for the fight to come to an immediate end, and for both sides to take a long hard look at the media in amazement and disgust, and do our best to fight them instead of each other.

[JJeff88]

The Convention moves on.

Many, many media personalities must continue to scurry around finding new things to say in order to justify their paychecks and expense vouchers. Most fertile ground is Democratic disunity and the Clintons.

Gov. Warner gave one helluva keynote speech. Klobucher's wasn't too shabby either. Their comments were dwarfed by the media-manufactured Clinton soap opera.

I thought Sen. Clinton did a better-than-decent job of making the logical case for supporting Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain, but failed to make the emotional case. But I don't think it was because she didn't try; Hillary Clinton is who she is. There was a lot of "I" in that speech; reflecting a bottomless hunger for praise for "look what Iaccomplished.". She can't help it; it's part of her DNA.

Either her supporters will "get" Hillary's message or they won't. For the life of me, I will never understand why otherwise bright people would be willing to throw themselves over the cliff with regard to Roe, Equal Pay and other womens' issues - in order to continue showing the flag.

Instead of mistakenly rationalizing that Hillary was somehow jobbed out of the nomination, has it occurred to those diehards that they may have simply run into a train wreck in the form of an extraordinary opponent?

Go figure. And move onward.

[FirstShirt]

Like Biden, Hillary is being supportive while keeping her options open for the future.

Biden is so confident that he is running for the Senate while he is also the VP candidate. Not thats confidence!!!

[politicojunkie]

I don't blame him for that. Is America ready for a black president?

[politicojunkie]

"There was a lot of "I" in that speech; reflecting a bottomless hunger for praise for "look what Iaccomplished." She can't help it; it's part of her DNA."

I am in complete agreement. This was exactly what I said to my daughter as we were watching her speech last night. I'm just happy to get her speech behind us. Now, what will Bill say? We won't know until he says it. The Clinton soap opera continues . . . . .

[cbates]

I find it interesting that Hillary's supporters will not vote for Barack in some cases even though John's agenda is not in support of them. They are sucking energy and focus away from the main thing in this process, which is to elect Barack or at least position him to run an effective campaign.
Please reveiw the words John McCain used on Jay Leno. Jay Leno asked why all the negative ads and Johns answer basically was "because Barack did not agree to do the town hall meetings". Now if you translate that into what if a nation, friendly or not, did not agree with his outloook he would launch an unwarranted assault. Where is the media analyst on this basic statement that reflects Johns outlook and style?

[DaOne]

1) Thank you Mrs. Clinton, we knew you had this in you.

2) YES they will.

[Senella]

We Obama supporters need to do what we are telling Hillary supporters to do, MOVE ON! We need to realize it is what it is. There are a lot of people who are not going to vote for Obama just because. So we must work harder to register people and turn out the vote like never before. Hillary did a great speech, but it was not a home run for me. If by chance Obama does not win, Hillary's legacy will be she and her husband divided the party and caused the Democrats the election. I WILL NOT FORGET IN 2012!

[unkone2]

One of the things no one has mentioned is the fact that if Hillary were to run again in 2012, meaning Obama's has lost in the race this year. Do you really think that all those people supporting Obama, would turn around and support Hillary? I mean get real, it's a two lane highway and why would they support someone who for the most part has prove herself to only care about herself and all her supporters have showed for the most part they are just like her putting self interest in front of country. Also after the race is over it's over for everyone but the winner. There is no more rally, for whatever the cause, there is only trying to survive in whatever their district race is. The big boys deal with the winner not the loser and if Obama is the winner they will deal with him. If McCain is the winner, Obama can come back and all he has to do is acat like he really wants the job and not be such a sissy and what do you think will happen. If he loses, he knows that his higher road (sissy) stuff needs meat and do you think he will make the same mistake again?

[BCubedReg]

"Sissy"... do people still use that word?

You are definitely a republican.

[controversy101]

What amazes me most is how MSNBC's and other news outlets have found the few thousands of people who are staging boycotts over a presidential election, yet no one could find one of the hundreds of thousands people boycotting for human rights during the Olmpics.


Interesting.

[lady49]

My sentiments exactly!

[politicojunkie]

Right on!!

[messy]

NO. The roll call is off the schedule. At least that's what today's schedule says. There will NO nominating speeches, no votes at all for president or vice president. NO NOTHING.

I could be wrong and there might be SOMETHING formal, but we might not even see it on C-SPAN.

[pupbayer]

I guess that's the Party under BO, uh?

Will someone remind me again where the change and hope is?

[lady49]

You don't even know if that"post" is true...
yet you have something negative to say..
who are you trying to be? BOZO maybe?

If you can't look at your check book and see how your balance keeps dropping, and the fact that someone in your family is loosing their home due to rampant-"deregualtion" in the stock market, mortgage guarantee and assurance market, and the number of people at your own family reunion without adequate healthcare...
then you are "HOPELESSLY" lost....
Wake up!

[NorVaGal]

Pupbayer: Your post is extremely ugly. Have you even verified that rumor before you denigrate Sen. Obama? Your comment only reflects negatively on yourself.

[NorVaGal]

Hmmm....just checked on MSNBC and their ticker shows Roll Call still scheduled along with Bill's speech. Seems a Roll Call cancellation would be blasting as breaking news, if that were actually the case.

[BCubedReg]

Cite your source... stop making things up.

[messy]

They didn't schedule the roll-call until after I posted the above. The source was the convention website BTW

[amazinggrace]

I am SO TIRED of what the Hill delegates might or might not do. If they do not vote for Obama so be it. He will be the nominee and those still bitter Hill people will go home. It will prove that they were in it for Hillary not for the soldier, cancer stricken Mom etc she talked about.

I plan to keep registering voters here in Ohio, working the phones, getting out the message. The delegates will no longer matter and all of this talk about catharsis will be over.

Notice that being a Dem improves your vocabulary? Bet that CATHARSIS had people running to their online dictionaries (*-*)

[politicojunkie]

Same here in Michigan. I've had enough of the bickering and back & forth. I will continue to support Obama in anyway I can, but I refuse to beg democratic voters to vote for the democratic nominee. They have the right to vote for whomever they wish, and they have to live with the consequences of their decision.

[Bftsplk]

It's amazing how so many people can be fooled repeatedly. Voting for McCain would be another example of blindly believing a person rather than logically thinking about what is said. McCain's ads about Obama's lack of experience is the same type of mentality that I ran into during over thirty years working for the USG: bashing your competition to make yourself look good as there is nothing in your portfolio worthy enough to elevate yourself over them. Experience is gained by working on the job. How many people have run into rejection due to "lack of experience" while applying for a job? A good leader will use the expertise and knowledge of the numerous professionals in the many agencies in the USG. A good leader is one who can make informed decisions based on reliable information provided by his/her advisors. A good leader is not necessarily one who has experience, that comes after you get the job. McCain has not elaborated what "experience" he has that would qualify him over Obama's leadership, which is evident by having come this far in his early career. That people would vote for McCain just to "punish" Obama is like cutting your nose to spite your face.

[Senella]

I agree!! But, the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[BCubedReg]

True, but if it's stupid but works.. it isn't stupid. The republicans are not stupid their voters are.