Most 'superdelegates' remain uncommitted

[tekisui]

WASHINGTON - New Hampshire and Iowa will have to wait.
The nation's first presidential primary, for Democrats anyway, is being waged among hundreds of party insiders — superdelegates who could play a big part in selecting the nominee at next summer's national convention.

So far, most of them still haven't been sold on any of the candidates.

The Associated Press contacted 90 percent of the 765 superdelegates, mostly elected officials and other party officers, who are free to support anyone they choose at the convention, regardless of what happens in the primaries.

Hillary Rodham Clinton leads Barack Obama by more than a 2-1 margin among those who have endorsed a candidate. But a little more than half of those contacted — 365 — said they haven't settled on a Democratic standard bearer.

"The fact that under half have publicly committed shows me how open the Democratic race still is," said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any campaign. "It's a sign that the race isn't totally done in many people's minds."

Clinton has the endorsement of 169 superdelegates. She is followed by Obama, 63; John Edwards, 34; Bill Richardson, 25; Chris Dodd, 17; Joe Biden, 8, and Dennis Kucinich, 2.


(snip)

They all, however, have more superdelegates than Kucinich, who has only one not named Kucinich.

Jon Ausman, a DNC member from Tallahassee, Fla., said he likes the congressman from Cleveland because of his steadfast opposition to the war in Iraq, his support for universal health care and his opposition to NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

And, Ausman said, his mom lives in Cleveland, and Kucinich's staff helped her when she had a problem with her Medicare benefits.

"He saved my mom's life." Ausman said. "He gets my vote."

Ausman's vote might not count because the national party has stripped Florida of all of its delegates for holding its Jan. 29 primary before Feb. 5.

That would leave Kucinich with just one superdelegate so far — himself.

more at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071202/ap_on_el_pr/superdelegates

The article says that most of the superdelegates are holding out to see how Iowa and NH go. If Clinton takes them, the superdelegates will flock to her.

The Florida punishment takes Kucinich's only superdelegate that isn't him.

[liberalnurse]

1. Hillary has many, many more than

what has been acknowledged. For example, Ohio had Governor Ted Strickland who already has endorsed Hillary. Many such as Sherrod Brown have not announced but trust me, he is in Hillary's camp............

[Gman]

2. 90% of the undecided delegates at this time

will ultimately commit to whoever wraps up the nomination before the convention which will likely be Hillary. This is because the last thing you want to do as someone that has superdelegate status because of his/her office/position is be on the losing side. EVeryone wants to be perceived as supporting the winner way back before the winner was the winner and to have done their part to make the winner the winner. It's a lot like before an election you're never really sure if someone will vote for you or not. After you win an election it's hard to find anyone that didn't vote for you.

[Blackhatjack]

3. At this point Superdelegates are like Athletes who verbally committed but not signed yet...

THey can and often do CHANGE THEIR MIND.