Jason Rae

[HelenWheels]

Did anyone else see Jason on Dan Abrams last night? He was terrific. He sure impressed Abrams--and me too. Now Randi Rhodes is talking about him on Air America.

[dragonlady]

1. He's quite a guy

Didn't see him on Abrams, but Jason comes to the Milwaukee Dems meetings and other meetings and takes his DNC work very seriously. All that and pursuing a double major at Marquette. He's one to watch.

:dem:

[MessiahRp]

2. I voted for him 2004...

Although I was really disappointed that he was unable to see the idiocy of the entire Super-Delegate process. He may be only 21 but he seemed a little too in tune with the whole insider bullshit that the State and National Party pulls behind the scenes.

I know he's supposed to represent us and was supposed to represent young people but he seemed pretty solid on the whole good ol' boy network and supporting how the POS flawed system works. That to me was disappointing.

Also, I got from that whole thing that he enjoys the attention of the Clintons and everyone courting him and that the only reason he hasn't endorsed is so he continues to receive that. Or at least that's how it seemed to me. Very wishy-washy.

The last thing the Democratic Party needs is an incapable of committing, word-parsing, spineless centrist and I have fears that he's headed in that direction.

Rp

[orleans]

3. i was listening to randi today, she was playing clips from abrams show

with this kid

here is a link to the show
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23119805#23119805

and from randi's website:

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/
"Dan Abrams found a 21 year old SUPER DELEGATE in Wisconsin, who has NEVER VOTED for President. This kid has gotten calls from Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and has gotten calls for Barack Obama from Senator John Kerry.


"Chelsea Clinton has breakfast with this young super delegate, Jason Rae, and tried to sway him for his vote for Hillary.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=4273078

"Super-delegates can either echo the voice of the people or screw everything up!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-hench/my-representative-the-su_b_86133.html

"If you would like to contact the Democratic National Committee in Washington, call 202.863.8000.

my understanding is that randi is totally against this superdelegate business--and the more i think about it the more i think it's pretty fucked up. when will it be time to make our votes worth a shit? (personally, i don't believe i ever elected someone to have 9,500 more votes than myself--i don't remember electing someone to pick a president for me)

[tanglefoot]

6. I feel the same way about him

It's terribly disappointing. I know when you're young you're more easily influenced. Look at how Wineke wraps the college Dems around his little finger. He says zieg, they say heil. But I had hoped for more out of Mr. Rae. He's a very intelligent young man and capable of so much more.

And you're right that the "last thing the Democratic Party needs is an incapable of committing, word-parsing, spineless centrist and I have fears that he's headed in that direction."

Perhaps, since he represents us as a DNC delegate, we should all call him and ask him to cast his superdelegate vote in keeping with the state Dem primary vote. If we don't counter the presidential candidates, will he even see this is the right option?

[goddess40]

4. While I'm impressed with Jason, he's confused on his votes importance

He insisted that his vote was the same as any other delegate but he's wrong. Regular delegates one vote represent thousands of our individual votes whereas super delegates vote only represents themselves.

I believe the idea of super delegates was conceived for two reasons. One, to reward active party members and give a role at the convention for elected officials. Two, to make sure in a close vote the Democratic powers that be get to choose the candidate. Reason two bothers me more then a little and if our super delegates don't want to mess it up for themselves they better have their votes mirror their home states choices. I e-mailed Jason and explained just that to him.

[BeaverDem]

5. I agree goddess

I have always seen their role as more akin to the Electoral College in the general election. That is to say that if the voters choose in their estimation a "total nut-job" they can overturn that decision and vote for someone else.
The problem is that the voters, ultimately, are smarter than most people give them credit for and as a result the whole super delegate & electoral college thing strikes me as undemocratic.
I think I will be disappointed if Hillary loses the pledge delegates but manages to win with super delegates.
However, I still have faith that we as "small d" democrats will put enough pressure on the super delegates that they will in the end pledge support to the person that the voters decide is in the lead.

The real issue for me is the way the DNC handled Florida and Michigan, I can't believe that the Republicans handled that more fairly than we did.

[ThisIsMyCountry]

7. CNN

I saw him on a repeat of Anderson Cooper on CNN. Quite impressive for such a young age. Does anyone know the real story behind his superdelegate status, besides his explanation that he is a DNC member? Was it because his family gave lots of money to the party?

[sybylla]

8. Nope - nothing to do with money

He's just a very energetic, well-spoken young man who won over the Wisconsin delegates to the convention. At 18, he was a very impressive candidate and someone who many wanted to support. They elected him as a DNC delegate by majority vote. He won more votes than a union firefighter, IIRC.

[ThisIsMyCountry]

9. Email Response

Oh, so do the unions hate him then?

I emailed him regarding the delegate process and this is what I got back:

I appreciate your request to vote with the Wisconsin primary preference, but I'll be honest with you that I just cannot commit to that at this point in time. I think that all delegates should decide for themselves who they want to support. Each person who runs for a regular delegate spot (like a CD delegate) is running to represent the candidate of his/her choice and I feel that as a superdelegate, I should be also be given an opportunity to support the candidate of my choice.

Now then the argument is brought up whether the superdelegates will decide this election. I don't think this will be the case at all. It has not happened since superdelegates were created and I don't think it will. I am expecting a party nominee by April 22.

I hope you can understand my reasoning. I just think that all delegates should be able to support the person they most believe in and the person they believe would lead the country and party forward the best.

-Jason

I don't know him, but maybe he isn't as sucked into the party. I thought it was a pretty valid reason. I guess I would want to decide for myself if I was in his spot. Maybe I'm missing something. Are people just upset that he might go with Hillary? If an Obama endorsment happened, would that be okay?

[dragonlady]

10. Jason endorses Obama

"He cited Obama’s support from an overwhelming majority of young voters as the major reason for his decision."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/21/superdelegate-schmoozed-by-chelsea-backs-obama/

I seem to remember that the UW-Madison students went about 90% for Obama. It wouldn't be surprising if the College Democrats vice president, who is a UW-Madison student, also gives his delegate vote to Obama.

[tanglefoot]

11. Saw that

Good news IMHO.

[ThisIsMyCountry]

12. Same

Good news to me too. Obama got my vote on Tuesday. Just don't like Clinton.

Did he give any indiction if he was doing it because of the voters or just because he wanted to?