Ohio's Democratic super delegates in key role; few commit

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1202549553323080.xml&coll=2

Saturday, February 09, 2008
Stephen Koff and Karen Sandstrom
Plain Dealer Reporters

Bill Clinton doesn't pick up the phone to call people at home just any day, but last weekend wasn't just any weekend - and the people he called mattered deeply.

One was Enid Goubeaux, a member of the Ohio Democratic Party's executive committee who lives in Greenville, in western Ohio. The other was Sherrod Brown, a U.S. senator from Lorain County. Both are so-called super delegates, with growing clout in the high-stakes game of picking the next Democratic presidential nominee...

"My first concern is, who's going to help the Cleveland area," said U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, who was engaged in his own run for the White House until recently.

"We're going to need a lot of help from the next president." ...



http://blog.cleveland.com.nyud.net:8080/plaindealer/2008/02/superdelegates.jpg

Clinton or Obama? Obama or Clinton?

http://blog.cleveland.com/plaindealer/2008/02/clinton_or_obama_obama_or_clin.html

16 of Ohio's 20 super delegates. (Click to enlarge) Top row, from left: Sen. Sherrod Brown, Avon; Gov. Ted Strickland, Columbus; Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Cleveland; Rep. Tim Ryan, Niles; Rep. Zack Space, Dover; Rep. Betty Sutton, Copley Township; Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Toledo; Bottom row, from left: Chris Redfern, party chairman, Catawba Island; Rhine McLin, Dayton mayor; Bull Burga, ex-president Ohio AFL-CIO, Westerville; Enid Goubeaux, ex-Darke County party chairwoman, Greenville; Sonny Nardi, Ohio Teamsters, Broadview Heights; State Rep. Joyce Beatty, Columbus; Rep. Charlie Wilson, St. Clairsville; Mark Mallory, Cincinnati mayor




Why super delegates get to choose

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1202549672323080.xml&coll=2

Saturday, February 09, 2008


...Hillary Clinton has 1,055 delegates, including about 190 super delegates.
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Barack Obama has 998 delegates, including about 100 super delegates...

Up for grabs in the remaining primaries are about 1,500 regular, or "unpledged" delegates. Assuming Clinton and Obama split those fairly evenly, neither would have enough to reach 2,025.

Of the 796 total super delegates, about 500 have not committed to a candidate, so the candidate who can woo more of those can win the nomination.



Super delegates can vote for anyone

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1202549457323080.xml&coll=2

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Regular delegates, also known as "pledged" delegates, are usually ordinary citizens who love politics and decide to support specific candidates.

Each candidate running for president has a group of these delegates supporting him or her.

Super delegates are a different class of Democratic delegates. They get to be delegates because they are members of Congress and governors, and in other cases, such as mayors or political organizers, because their state party picked them for this honor.
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Like regular delegates, super delegates each have one vote at the convention, and their votes are counted toward the 2,025 threshold needed for a presidential nomination. But unlike regular delegates, super delegates can vote for any candidate they like.

-- Stephen Koff, Plain Dealer Washington Bureau


Howard Dean's dilemma



http://blog.cleveland.com.nyud.net:8080/pdopinion/2008/02/_dreams_may_come_true.html

Posted by Joe Frolik February 08, 2008 16:05PM
Categories: Opinion

Dreams may come true . . . for political junkies longing to see a convention actually decide something again. Super Tuesday's dead-heat and the upcoming schedule make it possible neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will have 2,025 votes when the Democrats convene in Denver on Aug. 25. That would put intense pressure on the 796 "super-delegates" who are bound only by their word. It's also possible that rival delegations could show up from Michigan and Florida -- whose early primaries elected no delegates because they violated party rules -- and the convention would have to decide which, if any, to seat.
ASSOCIATED PRESSHoward Dean

Truce, anyone? . . . All that sounds terrible to Democratic pros who know the party that settles its nomination first usually has a leg up in the fall. That's why Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is saying if there's no resolution by early spring, "we're going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement. " Good luck getting either Clinton or Obama to fold if they think they have any shot.

Here's a factoid that illustrates why Dean wants a winner sooner rather than later: There are roughly 80 days between the last primary (in Puerto Rico) and the Democratic National Convention. When the convention ends there will be barely 60 days left until Election Day.

Handicapping Ohio . . . Even Obama's strategists give Clinton an early edge because of her establishment support and Ohio's demographics. But John McCain's emergence as the likely GOP nominee might give Obama a boost: Independents who otherwise might have voted Republican to help McCain now may take a Democratic ballot. Unaffiliated voters have been critical in states Obama's won.





http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1202549421323080.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

Boehner's bane:

Politicians are used to name-calling, but from a computer? U.S. Rep. John Boehner's office noticed Friday that when news stories were read by a computer on Cleveland.com's "AudioNewstand," the computer butchered his name embarrassingly. It's pronounced "BAY-ner." You can imagine how the computer said it. The audio reader has been reprogrammed to say the name correctly.

[liberalnurse]

1. I'm in on this ...........

Hillary all the way!

[liberalnurse]

2. Kick.

This is the key to the Presidency! Ohio will crown the winner.

[JPZenger]

3. PA. Superdelegates

Here's information about Pennsylvania's superdelegates.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=175x13575

By the way, the Clinton campaign is telling their people to call them "Automatic Delegates" not superdelegates. The term superdelegates makes it seem like each of their votes might be worth more than 20,000 Democratic primary voters, and we wouldn't want that appearance, now would we?