More

James Freedman

James Freedman

Posted: February 17, 2008 07:37 PM

DNC-Appointed Superdelegates Support Clinton 3-1


Hillary Clinton currently leads Barack Obama by a wide margin among superdelegates appointed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Clinton maintains an approximately 3-1 lead among these DNC superdelegates, although Barack Obama has recently surpassed her in pledged delegates and gained eleven superdelegates in the past week.

Superdelegates appointed by the DNC are party officials, like Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, as well as current and former elected officeholders at the local and state level. These superdelegates are not chosen on the basis of candidate support, and are considered unpledged until they cast their votes. Still, about a third of them have already come out in support of either Obama or Clinton. Superdelegates appointed by the DNC make up close to half of all superdelegates, which all together will have 20 percent of the total votes at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. The rest of the superdelegates are high elected officials, who automatically get superdelegate status, such as members of Congress.

DNC-appointed superdelegates who've pledged support for Clinton include Patti Higgins, chairwoman of the Alaska Democratic Party, and Rhett Ruggerio, a national committeeman for the Delaware Democratic Party who was listed as a member of Clinton's Delaware steering committee. There are nearly 100 in all, and they come from more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, including three from Arkansas, 10 from New York and one from Illinois.

Obama's supporters among the DNC-appointed superdelegates only number around 30, including seven from Illinois and none from Arkansas or New York. They come from close to 30 states, as well as D.C. Martha Fuller Clark, a state senator from New Hampshire, is one of Obama's supporters, and was listed as a member of his New Hampshire Environmentalists for Obama Steering Committee.

More than 200 of these DNC superdelegates have yet to come out in favor of either candidate, a voting group large enough to perhaps have a serious impact at the Convention in August, while the more than 100 who have come out in support of a candidate are still free to change their minds.

Hillary Clinton currently leads Barack Obama by a wide margin among superdelegates appointed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Clinton maintains an approximately 3-1 lead among these DNC sup...
Hillary Clinton currently leads Barack Obama by a wide margin among superdelegates appointed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Clinton maintains an approximately 3-1 lead among these DNC sup...
 
 
  • Comments
  • 27
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Recency  | 
Popularity
06:56 AM on 02/22/2008
Mmmm!!! Hillary has 3-1 of the Democratic National Committee delegates (= Obama has a
third of them).

The DNC appoints HALF of the Superdelegates.

My math is not as good as when I won the "math
and science" prize in my little high school,
but I suspect that the headline is much more
than misleading.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Hellooo
05:58 AM on 02/21/2008
How can you make the 3 to 1 statement without giving us total numbers?
07:04 AM on 02/19/2008
i hope the count is tied so the superdelegates have to decide...the democraPs deserve that....
03:23 AM on 02/19/2008
Well, the GOP are just praying for a run against Hillary and they may just get it...the GOP attack machine has all the ammo they need to swiftboat the hell out of her. Many of us Independants are tired of a dynastic tradition in the WH and, at the same time, don't want McMummy anywhere the near the button or the Supreme Court...

I may just vote against all Dem incumbents and vote Obama just to risk that the change we can't predict is better than the one we are being sold.

Personally, if she couldn't take a day from campaigning to represent her constituents and vote on the telecome immunity matter I have no confidence that she will do any differently when she is faced with the last two years of her presidential term, should she manage to win over McMummy.... Her electability has been far more important to her than principles and her sorry list of authored bills, mainly to name libraries and such is hardly the "experience" and the vision I think this country needs...

But the Dems are really good at taking a sure thing and screwing it up....
07:06 AM on 02/22/2008
Lungfish, get real !!!

Your only worthwhile point is to oppose GOP
swiftboat attacks which in this year's variety
focus on the name Hussein attached to Obama's
name (is that our one-time CIA employee. chosen
by the CIA and funded as well???).

Nasty!

The swiftboat attacks in addition to
pure racism imply (or state) that only supporters
of John McCain and the GOP are patriotic.
If you are for peace, oppose having people getting
their heads blown to pieces (US snd others)
you fail the patriotism test.
09:49 PM on 02/18/2008
Obama is only up 2.8% right now in the popular vote--2% if you count in the 1.7 million Dems who voted in Florida. And this is before the large states of Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania where Hilary is supposed to do well. And he has more than 2.8% of the elected delegates because of districting, etc. which doesn't exactly correspond. So in terms of actual popular votes, it's very close.

Go Hillary!
07:09 AM on 02/22/2008
"Hope springs eternal..." etc.

I doubt that HRC will win all three (TX, Ohio,
Penn) in a landslide.

If I were HRC, I would love to have fans like
you. However, you would be making her feel
good, not telling her the true picture.
09:31 PM on 02/18/2008
The Democrats more often than makes good sense end up nominating somebody who simply cannot win because Democrats somehow believe that it's that person's time or something as ridiculous as they are "owed" the nomination. I suggest unless Democrats want another 4 years of Bush's legacy... the superdelegates who seem to have as little forsight as the Clintons better get off their duffs and realize the Republicans want Hillary Clinton like a wayward husband loves a thong. Rough, sure, but this sense of a presumptive nominee stinks to the high heavens!
08:27 PM on 02/18/2008
I vote for the candidate... not the party.
I do not vote for "war machines".
I do not vote for dynasties.
I don't want bill doing his thing in the WH for the next 4 years.
I don't trust Hillary.
McCain will beat Hillary.
Obama will beat Mccain...
You pick.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
NoahVail
...a curmudgeon from So. Arizona
01:47 AM on 02/19/2008
I am really afraid that Hill & Bill will place their co-lust for power ahead of both party and country.
07:13 AM on 02/22/2008
In the US we do vote for the candidate. That is
perhaps unfortunate.

The rest of the world (where there is voting)
chooses a party. (That party has selected
its head...in undemocratic nations like
the UK, the Scandinavian nations,France,
Germany, Italy. Japan and so forth.)
photo
speakingtruth2power
Not motivated by fear & loathing
08:19 PM on 02/18/2008
I will not put up with another Chicago 1968 and back another Hubert Humphrey!
07:06 PM on 02/18/2008
Now there is the one thing that gives us all hope and the knowing these same "super delegates" can absolutely change their freaking minds to support Barack when the public and the delegates he wins pile on! I do hope the super delegates do go away when this election is done as we have learned the hard way the supers can steal the election just like the supreme courts.
07:54 PM on 02/18/2008
The responsibility of the super delegates is to help ensure that an empty suit is not nominated in the heat of the moment--you know people swept up by the words of others. The PARTY picks the candidates based upon a number of issues. It is not simply who got elected by the Obaama driven media machine (see Joke in the Morning and others). The super delegates vote their conscience for the good of the USA and the party. If it were simply a matter of voting according to the voters (who include Repugs who vote for Obaama simply to derail Clinton, but who will NEVER vote for Obaama against McCain) the Dems would not need delegates.
09:55 PM on 02/18/2008
Yes, Tsunami, it's the responsibility of the superdelegates to insure that little voters don't get carried away by a candidate they actually want to vote for. Otherwise, the party might win in November, destroying its longstanding tradition of legislating nothing, initiating nothing and fighting nothing.
12:34 AM on 02/19/2008
I hope the superdelegates wake up to the fact that popular wisdom dictates that Hillary can not beat McCain. Obama can.
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
EspritDeVoltaire
K Street PR firm board member
06:15 PM on 02/18/2008
This is why the Clintonistas are hanging tough. Me the People believes that she can win with her wall of party hacks voting for her in Denver and then the rest of us be cowed into line, voting for her in November.

Personally, I doubt many rank and file Democrats are that stupid, but only time will tell how many of them will defect and stay home or vote McCain. She will have only raised her standing as the most hated politician in America as a result.
09:11 AM on 02/19/2008
How can you possibly call her the most hated when you have Chimpy and Tricky Dicky in the wings. My vote goes to Chimpy...closely followed by Darth Cheney.
07:21 AM on 02/22/2008
If HRC is nominated by superdelegates alone she
will be unelectable.

She would have been electable had she maintained
her double-digit lead. That is the way she
anticipated it.

HRC has the grace and dignity to support O and
other Democratic aspirants (House,Senate).
I would respect her courage and guts. She would
remain a respected and vibrant voice in the
nation and the world.

John Edwards could not become President.

HRC canot become President.

Both have skills and we need these skills.

Let us join hands and heal our Democratic Party.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
DavidMG
OWS Senior Citizen
05:52 PM on 02/18/2008
If the DuperDs decide against the popular vote the Dems are fu*ked once again.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
butchie65
07:45 PM on 02/19/2008
That's when the Dem loose my vote forever.
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
mrJJ
05:08 PM on 02/18/2008
Let these elites get up and vote publicly at the convention.

The peon voters weighted 80% of the power to nominate would have already cast their votes. Let these superdelegates with a weighted 20% of the power vote the way they want.

Then & only then can we the peon voters get to see the wisdom of the elites. We can decide to stay and fight the good fight or vote with our feet and leave. Rally to the Dem nominee will be the candidates cry to their supporters...

"My party right or wrong"... sorry I'm not a card carrying member. I'll hold off on my decision till after the convention.

http://www.superdelegates.org/
http://www.fec.gov/disclosure.shtml
http://www.opensecrets.org
04:49 PM on 02/18/2008
I simply cannot wait to hear the stories come out now from registered Democrats who voted overwhelmingly for Clinton learning that their superdelegate has stated that it's about the "voters" and then turn around and not represent the party members.

Whoa nellie......watch the hate mail fly!

LOL*

Some of these super delegates are in for a bit of a surprise.

Their normally quiet, reasonable party members are just about to become vocal is my guess.

A talk show host yesterday invited people who were fed up with the Obama zealotry to call in. It was the funniest show of the day. The stories?

A LOT of people who normally don't speak out about this stuff are fed up.

Enough is enough of Obamamania. This is actually an election here. Not a circus or reality TV show.
06:30 PM on 02/18/2008
"This is actually an election here. Not a circus or reality TV show."

You mean, like the Clintons are running with their campaign? The headliner today is that Obama PLAGIARIZED from his FRIEND! Way to stick with the issues, there.

Of course, Clinton seemed to have forgotten that she just recently said, "You campaign in poetry - you govern in prose," which she lifted from Cuomo, who probably lifted it from somewhere else.

And "Obama zealotry"? Its definitely matched by all the Clinton zealotry who are hellbent on having the 1st Woman President, no matter how unqualified she is.

She's losing to what you call a "zealot", and she even had to loan herself $5M just to stay even. I can't wait until she has to deal with the "zealots" in the Republican Party, and loan the rest of her assets to bail out the US economy. "Ready on Day 1"? Her cheap words say "yes," but the way she is running her campaign says NO.
06:55 PM on 02/18/2008
Do you want to know why there is Obamamania?

WE ARE SO SICK OF THE CLINTONS!

Sorry- the Clinton's are too mired in the past, in too deep with lobbyists and special interests and just so desparate to win- who knows what kind of deals they will make to pull it off.