Democrats' Dean Urges Superdelegates to Pick a Nominee Soon

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Democrats' Dean Urges Superdelegates to Pick a Nominee Soon Avram Goldstein
Sun Apr 6, 11:45 AM ET

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said ``disunity'' is the main threat to victory in the presidential race this year, and it would be helpful if more unpledged superdelegates would reveal their choices soon.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois leads Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in delegates needed to choose the Democratic nominee with nine states and Puerto Rico still to vote. Among all delegates, Obama is ahead of Clinton 1,635 to 1,501, according to the Associated Press, with 2,024 required to win. Most were pledged in primaries and caucuses.

The campaign is likely to be decided by the 800 so-called superdelegates, who are elected and party officials empowered to vote as they wish at the national convention. So far, 460 have declared their preferences, Dean said. The remaining 340 should make their decisions known by July 1 to avert a disastrous party convention in Denver in August, Dean said.

``The only thing that can beat us is disunity in the Democratic Party,'' Dean said today on ABC's ``This Week.'' ``I hope the superdelegates will understand that in order to keep the party together, we need a nominee.''

Many superdelegates are waiting until June, when voters will have made their choices in the last of the primaries, the Washington Post said today.

``I'm not in a hurry to do this,'' the Post quoted Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio as saying.

Senator John McCain of Arizona has already clinched the delegates necessary to win the Republican nomination.

For now, the Democrats' nomination battle is helping the party, Dean said.

`Record Turnouts'

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1. The Clintons will take this to Denver

if they can. If Obama wins Penn., Hillary may have to concede, and then the SDs may start to come forward.