Patterico's Pontifications

2/7/2008

Keeping track of how Democratic SuperDelegates will vote

Filed under: 2008 Election — Justin Levine @ 4:48 am



[posted by Justin Levine]

As Patterico has already said, the Democratic nominee for President will be picked by a cadre of party elities – not common voters.

With that in mind, here is an informative website that tracks which SuperDelegates have already publicly pledged to support a specific candidate.

Admittedly, SuperDelegates can always change their mind right  up until the last minute, but its still interesting to see which way the wind is blowing.

After perusing the SuperDelegate website, I noted a few interesting items from the California delegation of Democratic SuperDelegates –

In case you already missed the news, Obama’s skin color apparently has not prevented race-baiting Congresswoman Maxine Waters from pledging her support for Hillary.

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is supporting Hillary, but her sister Linda is supporting Obama. There was a lot of press about the schism in the Kennedy family over who to support. Haven’t heard much about the schism in the Sanchez family.

Senator Diane Feinstein has already endorsed Hillary. Apparently no word yet from Senator Barbara Boxer.

18 Responses to “Keeping track of how Democratic SuperDelegates will vote”

  1. The Sanchez sisters were on the Today show discussing the subject. The segment was kinda giggly.

    Pablo (99243e)

  2. This is a bit overblown. If Obama has a clear lead over Hillary the superdelegates are more likely than not to switch to Obama rather than tear the party apart. A lot of party elites actually resent the Clintons and will put the party’s interests over theirs in the end.

    A more likely source of undemocratic shenanigans at the convention is the issue of seating the MI and FL delegates.

    Vergil (444e9b)

  3. George Will has something to say about that and he thinks the fight will be entertaining. Picking Clinton is about the only way the Democrats will be able to lose.

    Mike K (86bddb)

  4. Strangely enough, nobody seems bothered that the “Party of the Peepul” has an “elite”…

    Cognitive dissonance again.

    mojo (8096f2)

  5. Haven’t heard much about the schism in the Sanchez family.

    As Pablo alludes to in comment 1, the Sanchez sisters are considered kind of dim and are probably consigned to climb no higher politically than their current office. I have a friend in Loretta’s district who actually votes for her, but admits that she would be reluctant to support her for any statewide office. I think that’s why it isn’t that big a story that they have endorsed different candidates; no one sees them as a Latina version of the Kennedy brothers.

    JVW (b03dfa)

  6. BTW, isn’t the thing about super delegates that they are finger-in-the-wind supporters of candidates and likely to change their votes based upon power politics? A lot of these elected officials backed Hillary because they bought into the “inevitable” talk. If we get to the Democrat’s convention without this matter being decided, I’m sure a lot of them would love nothing more than to stab her in the back by defecting to Obama, especially he matches-up better with McCain.

    JVW (b03dfa)

  7. I can see two scenarios where the super delegates matter
    1. it’s about a 50/50 split between the front runners. In which case why NOT let the party elite cast the tie breaker? Many of them will have to run with the candidate. Seems like a better choice than suing over votes, or flipping a coin.
    2. it’s not a 50/50 split but it’s JUST close enough that the elite can turn things around. In that case it really does seem like a shitty thing to do.

    joe (33ce8e)

  8. To my mind, it would be foolish for the Democrats to allow the superdelegates to decide in any way that would be perceived as unfair, especially by all the new young and African-American voters Obama has brought in. Those folks would feel betrayed and would most likely stay home in November. Now, that might be a good scenario for Republicans.

    JayHub (0a6237)

  9. There was actually an interesting article about the Sanchez schism. Loretta basically called her naive and uninformed, because she wasn’t even alive when Kennedy was President. I really don’t want to take sides, but if Lorette “Hope your Holidays are Smokin’!” Sanchez ever called ME ignorant, my head would probably explode.

    Sean P (e57269)

  10. How do you spell super delegate?
    Ans: a smoke filled room.

    Nothing under the sun changes.

    The elites in both parties are squashing thelittle guys.

    Don L (2b4e7c)

  11. How do you spell super delegate?
    Ans: a smoke filled room.

    I say, “Bring back the smoke-filled room!” At least those days turned out nominees who represented some faction in their party. The beauty-contest primaries just turn out candidates who only want to be President, but don’t really represent anything.

    Steverino (e00589)

  12. Howard Dean is going to start lining up Super Delegates to pledge to vote for whoever wins the pledged delegate total.

    There are nearly 800 Super Delegates, including Bill Clinton and Tom Daschle.

    Obama supporters aren’t going to be pleased if these are the people pushing Clinton over the top.

    wt (ca1cea)

  13. Senator Diane Feinstein has already endorsed Hillary.

    If she were a Republican this would be a sure sign she is a racist.

    Perfect Sense (b6ec8c)

  14. This is just another way for the “Clinton Machine” to pave their way back into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – stack the deck in your favor and then take care of your “friends” just like Slick did before he left office…and they won’t give a tinker’s damn about Obama or his supporters.

    Memo to Maverick – if you’re the GOP candidate (and it looks like he is), find a good VP to unite the party and ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK Shillery.

    fmfnavydoc (affdec)

  15. Senator Boxer will endorse a candidate if she can ever learn to spell one of their names.

    Ken Hahn (7742d5)

  16. Ken…
    More than a few of us are still waiting for Sen. Bouncer, D-NSF, to learn how to add/subtract. Spelling might be a Bridge Too Far.

    Another Drew (8018ee)

  17. I think it’s a road to success for McCain. The Democrat insiders coronate Hillary over the choice of their own primary voters. Every Republican turns out, even McCain haters because they hate Hillary more (Ann Coulter excepted), and lots of Democrats stay home, feeling betrayed by their Party. I can see that happening.

    JayHub (0a6237)

  18. If they allow Hillary to steal the nomination I’m not staying home. I’m voting for McCain. They they say he’s a Democrat in Republican clothing anyway.

    Jamie (56a0a8)


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