Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Deval Patrick to switch endorsements from Obama to Clinton?

[MethuenProgressive]

Are Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Deval Patrick soon to switch endorsements from Obama to Clinton?
Since these superdelegates represent voters who rejected their endorsement of Obama and voted for Clinton, when will these superdelegates follow the lead of John Lewis and announce they'll vote for the candidate supported by the the people they represent?

[ProSense]

1. They have better sense than to do that! Lewis is considering a switch, it's just not a done deal n/t

[jasmine621]

4. Any switch by Lewis will be to reflect the will of his constituents, the voters.

Kennedy and Kerry should do the same.

[ProSense]

14. Let democracy rule! n/t

[Hill_YesWeWill]

31. Then ALL the superdelegates should do the same, not just the

few Clinton wants

can't have your cake and eat it too,

there's a basic word for this in normal society, it's called fairness, or equality if you'd like

[karynnj]

40. Kerry has said the superdelegates will not go against the national winner - whoever it is

This is a silly HRC gotcha game - There was never a winner take all at the staet level for superdelegates.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

42. Yes Kennedy and Kerry should do the same.

[jackson_dem]

39. And we now know the Obama campaign is playing the race card to pressure black Hillary supporters

Guess who wants to be the "black candidate" now? http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/2/14/225232/180

-snip-

And the behavior of Obama campaign co-chairman Jesse Jackson, Jr. is a big part of the problem:

In an interview, Cleaver offered a glimpse of private conversations.

He said Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois had recently asked him "if it comes down to the last day and you're the only superdelegate? ... Do you want to go down in history as the one to prevent a black from winning the White House?

[Alter Ego]

2. In that case, can we have Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Yes, Please Take Them nt

[Orangepeel]

30. plus, Barbara Mikulski and Martin O'Malley

Obama won MD by a much larger percentage than Clinton won MA (as far as I know, Ben Cardin hasn't committed)

[bigtree]

5. great question

(me muttering: 'god damned superdelegate crap')

[MethuenProgressive]

9. I agree with the mutter.

The whole thing should be secret ballots, with only Democrats voting, with the nominee selected by winning the most votes.

[MethuenProgressive]

43. ..

[MaineDem]

6. Our primaries are not winner-take-all

Should all superdelegates switch to the winner of their primaries? That seems like winner-take-all to me.

[MethuenProgressive]

7. So... only 70% of John Lewis should switch from Clinton to Obama?

I really like John Lewis, he's a true American Hero - but even for a hero that'd be quite a trick!

[MaineDem]

13. That's just silly

:shrug:

[Kittycat]

21. Maybe Lewis realized that not only do HRCs policies/goals support that of

his constituents, but his as well.

[rox63]

8. With all the states Obama has won, you'd probably end up regretting that decision n/t

[Perky]

12. Yeah... you really do not want to go to far down that path,

Congress people voting as their district did and state wide delgate voting like the state did...not a good plan there MP

[MethuenProgressive]

20. John Lewis started down that path. And DU went wild with approval.

[Perky]

10. The differencs is that Lewis's District went 80% for Obama

In the case of stete wide delegatesn MA it was a much closer 55/45decision...
That gives these three guys ample political cover

[angie_love]

11. I think if they all reflected the will of the voters including Kerry and Kennedy than Obama still

wins so why not? Why can't they just say yes they'll vote for who the voters in their constituencies vote for?

[elixir]

35. Good point.

[NoBorders]

15. I think the SD's should simply have their voting rights stripped, now.

This is a clusterf*ck and they only way to resolve it is to eliminate their votes and go with the pledged delegates.

[LiberalFighter]

18. How do you propose doing that?

Are you a DNC member?
Are you a precinct committee chair?
Are you a state convention delegate?
Are you planning to be a national convention delegate?
Do you attend monthly county Democratic Party meetings?

[NoBorders]

19. None of the above

It's just what I think.

[LiberalFighter]

22. Then why should you have a say in the Democratic Party's rules?

[NoBorders]

33. I don't. Nor did I say that I do.

Am I not allowed to express an opinion? I honestly don't get your point.

[LiberalFighter]

37. You want the "super delegates" the right to decide who they want to be the nominee.

These "super delegates" are involved in the working operations of the party at different levels.

They are an organization that can make their own rules and the rules are voted on by the members from each state. They receive input from their members who have served in different capacities from local campaigns to major campaigns. Even the pledged delegates are for the most part actively involved more directly in their local Democratic Party organization. Few if any are outsiders. If the DNC committee members want to change the rules they can do so. If they wanted to make all state, district, county party officers delegates they could do that too. But they don't. Only two members of the state party generally the chair and vice are automatic delegates. If they had every officer as a delegate the result would be at least 368 delegates here in Indiana. And they only provide slots to Congressional members, Governors and some major cities as automatic. Again, that could result in a potential 96 delegates instead of the 6 that we receive. It appears at this point that votes these super delegates have shouldn't be as big an issue.

Unless, they are breaking the law which they aren't in this case they don't have to consider your opinion. They could decide that the only individuals that would be entitle to vote on the nominee would be members of the Democratic Party. Possibly if they used caucuses that only permitted bonafide Democrats they might give all votes "equal weight". I'm sure that they gave serious consideration to this issue and was discussed at length along the lines of the previous paragraph.

The super delegates are also a good representation of those living in their state. State DNC members are generally elected by state convention delegates. Those state convention delegates are individuals that vote for national convention delegates for their congressional districts. State party chairs and vices are elected or approve the top elected leader of the party. If elected it is by district chairs and vices who were elected by county chairs and vices in their districts. And those county chairs and vices are elected by precinct chairs and vices that are either elected or appointed that live in the voting locations. The only exception would be that not every state has 2 Democratic Senators or a Democratic Governor or a Democratic Representative in every congressional district. But that this is suppose to be a Democratic Party organization and if those areas don't elect Democrats representation is reduced.

The problem is that the nomination process has been extended to the general public in some degree. And because of that the public has the expectation that they are entitled to decide everything.

The other problem is that people are making a big to do about nothing. The key about super delegates is that their endorsement of a candidate is not permanent. They can change it over and over and over until they vote. Even then they can change their mind if none of the candidates receives the requisite number of votes.

[Zueda]

16. Kennedy and Kerry are safe from repurcussion...

John Lewis' district went 80% for Obama and he's considered a champion of the civil rights movement.

Very different circumstances.

[Maribelle]

17. I read an article from an Obama supporter this morning ...

regarding this stuff.


http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/2/14/225232/180

[theboss]

23. I'm actually fine with this if everyone follows the same pattern

If all the SuperDelegates were winner take all for the states they "represent," I'd probably be okay with it.

[Jennicut]

24. Superdelgegates should not exist period.

Whose dumb stupid ridiculous idiotic idea was this in the first place?? Talk about taking democracy away from the people. This is expected of rethugs, but Democrats. Sigh....Stupidist idea EVER. Dan Abrams is right. All superdelegates should step out of the way and not vote at all for either candidate. That is the fairest thing to do. I think who gets the most pledged delegates should win the nomination regardless if its Hillary or Barack. If they don't "get" to the exact amounbt to win the nomination so be it. That is who should get the nomination and that should be changed right now and for the future. Ban superdelegates! For Christsakes, Bill Clinton is a superdelegate. If that is not fair, I don't know what is. And Barack has good friends who are superdelegates as well. Stupidist idea EVER people! Whoever thought this idea up in 1982 or whenever it was was obviously high on something.

[MaineDem]

25. "Barack has good friends who are superdelegates"

Barack IS a superdelegate.

[Jennicut]

26. He is?

My God, its worse than I thought. Just shoot me now. I can't take anymore of this.

Edit

I looked up the superdelegates list and you are right, it has a list of Sentators on it. Hillary and Obama are superdelegates, for themselves. Ugggg.

[Honeycombe8]

46. True. It's undemocratic. A "we don't trust the ignorant little people to vote for the right person

HOw arrogant. How undemocratic.

Superdelegates should be done away with. Period.

[stillcool]

27. Pssst...Massachusetts has 26...

Super Delegates.

Raymond Jordan MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
Elaine C. Kamarck MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Debra Kozikowski MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
David M. O'Brien MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
James Roosevelt Jr. MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Diane Saxe MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
Alan Solomont MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
John Walsh MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
Margaret D. Xifaras MASSACHUSETTS DNC MEMBER
Deval Patrick
Democratic Governor
Edward M. Kennedy
U.S. Senate
John Kerry
Michael Capuano
U.S. House of Representatives
William Delahunt
Barney Frank
Stephen Lynch
Edward Markey
James McGovern
Richard Neal
Tsongas Niki
John Olver
John Tierney
Debra DeLee FORMER DNC CHAIRMAN
Distinguished Party Leader Leadership Position
Steve Grossman FORMER DNC CHAIRMAN
Paul G. Kirk Jr. FORMER DNC CHAIRMAN
State's Total Unpledged PLEO Delegate Votes: 26

see who each is supporting so far:
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

[MethuenProgressive]

28. Pssst! How many does Georgia have?

It's sad the MA list thinks Tsongas is a first name...

[stillcool]

36. pssst...you could look it up...

Georgia has 14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/superdeleg.pdf

[MethuenProgressive]

41. ...

[RunningFromCongress]

29. They can vote for hillary but that doesn't mean they have to endorse her...now that would be a

strong move and a strong statement. "I will cast my vote to represent the people who've elected me, but I will strongly campaign for the candidate I feel is best suited for the job"

[mrmx9]

44. All superdelegates at the convention should obstain!

The candidate with the most pledged (elected) delegates should win (i.e. almost certainly now Obama even allowing for the seating of MI and FL).

[Jennicut]

32. A full list is available on superdelegates.org NT

[Cameron27]

34. John Lewis denied the rumor

however, Kennedy, Kerry and Patrick should follow Obama's advice, and switch their support to reflect the will of the people :-)

[MethuenProgressive]

38. I read that on MSNBC First Read. The Obamabots are going to go nuts when they find out.

:hi:

[Honeycombe8]

45. Lewis didn't say what you report. Check your sources. What he said was....

that he was feeling pressure (from within himself) to change his endorsement. He did not actually change his endorsement.

But to answer your question, there are 2 valid choices for superdelegates, in my view:

Superdelegates should endorse the way their constituency voted (this could be their state, their district, their city, whatever....they are not all elected officials, so they don't all have a defined constituency).

Superdelegates should endorse in accordance with whoever the voters in the country as a whole decided should win the primary.

Kennedy, etc., are endorsing in accordance with the 2nd thought process. Lewis is not endorsing in accordance with EITHER. In other words, Lewis and others are going against BOTH who their conwstituency wants AND who the voters as a whole in the country want. That is the problem, as I see it.