super delegates

(Via CNN.com.)

The drawn out Democratic presidential race is producing “negative dividends in terms of strife within the party,” said a key Senate supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.

A day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries bolstered Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California and a superdelegate, said she wants to talk to Clinton to “see what her view is on the rest of the race. What the strategy is.”

Feinstein, who described herself as “very loyal” to Clinton, said “the question comes whether she can get the delegates that she needs and I’d like to know what the strategy is to do that.”

Superdelegates — made up of governors, senators, House members and various other party officials or members — are also known as unpledged delegates. They are free to choose the candidate they like, while pledged delegates are assigned in primaries and caucuses.

Full story here.

(Via Newsweek Politics.)

Barack Obama not only nearly clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday night. He also answered a big question about the fall campaign. The glass jaw that Hillary Clinton and John McCain thought they saw turned out to be an illusion. In the jingle of the old Timex watch ads, he took a licking and kept on ticking.

Oh what a difference a week makes. April 28 was only last week but it feels like six months ago. That was the day Obama got hit by a one-two punch. First, his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, dominated the airwaves with his offensive rant. The same day brought news that Hillary had decided to join McCain in calling for a summer gas tax holiday, sure to be popular with voters angry about high costs at the pump.

For the first time since February, Clinton seemed to have a real shot at the nomination. Still reeling from his big loss in Pennsylvania, Obama was battered by charges of elitism and disconnected from a big chunk of the Democratic Party. From bad bowling to “bitter” to arugula-eater to disciple of an America-hater, he seemed to be floundering.

May 6 looked ominous. With African-Americans making up only nine percent of Indiana Democratic voters, Obama was in deep trouble there, behind in the polls and slipping. North Carolina was also headed in the wrong direction, with some surveys showing only a five-point Obama lead. In most earlier primaries, including those he won, Obama slipped further on the last weekend. Even his closest aides thought Indiana and North Carolina would be no different.

Last week, not a soul in politics would have predicted that Obama would win North Carolina by 14 points and virtually tie in Indiana. But through a combination of luck and smarts, the campaign ended on the theme that Obama ran on: Old politics vs. new politics.

By conventional standards, Clinton was in the groove, focusing on bread-and-butter issues and pummeling Obama for being out-of-touch with angry motorists. Many pundits reported that “the working girl” was “on fire” and on the move.

Full story here.

(Via MyDD.)

The upshot is that there is no way to spin away what happened tonight: Senator Clinton had a really bad night and Senator Obama had a phenomenal one. It’s impossible to overstate the significance of what he accomplished, not only considering what he’s overcome over the past three weeks but also considering how decisively he denied Clinton what she needed to continue to have a credible path to the nomination. To put it plainly, tonight was her final shot and she needed to win Indiana by 8-10% and to lose NC by 1-3%; in other words she needed to do about 10% better in each state than she did in order to keep Michigan and Florida relevant and the popular vote in play for superdelegates. Unfortunately, she was unable to do either. Zogby was right this time and Survey USA…and I…were wrong.

Which leads me to the conclusion, sadly, that I no longer see a real path to victory for Hillary Clinton and I now believe Barack Obama will be the nominee of our party.

Full story here.

(Via Reuters.)

Barack Obama is gaining steadily on Hillary Clinton among Democratic superdelegates, nearly erasing her last advantage in a presidential race where those party insiders could be the ultimate kingmakers.

In a danger sign for Clinton, Obama over the past few months has sharply cut her lead among superdelegates — nearly 800 elected officials and party leaders free to back any candidate.

“Obama has won more delegates, he’s won more votes, he’s raised more money, and now you see it happening with superdelegates too,” said Simon Rosenberg, head of the Democratic advocacy group NDN.

Neither Obama nor Clinton is likely to win enough pledged delegates in state contests to clinch the hard-fought battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, leaving superdelegates to decide the race. The Democratic nominee will face Republican John McCain in the November election.

Despite heavy courting by Clinton, most of the superdelegates who made up their minds since January backed Obama. Clinton’s superdelegate lead dwindled to about 30 from 100 in that time.

A count by MSNBC gives Clinton 256 superdelegates to Obama’s 225. Obama, an Illinois senator, has gained steam in the past month, winning more than two dozen new commitments, compared with a handful for Clinton, a New York senator.

“It has been a drip, drip, drip toward Obama,” said Steven Schier, a political analyst at Carleton College in Minnesota.

“Superdelegates can see Obama’s advantages growing, and it’s pretty clear it’s going to be very hard for Clinton to catch him,” he said. “If Obama notches a few more victories, it could become a stampede.”

Full story here.

Tags: obama, clinton, primaries, super delegates

(Via The Huffington Post | Full News Feed.)

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she favors a reduction in the number of superdelegates _ and their oversized influence _ in choosing the Democratic Party’s nominee.

Superdelegates such as Pelosi have bemoaned the protracted fight between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for the nomination. Neither candidate can win the nod based solely on pledged delegates. Rather the nearly 800 superdelegates _ members of Congress, election officials and party elders who aren’t bound by state results _ will decide the nomination.

(Via Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire.)

Sen. Barack Obama picked up the support of another superdelegate today, reports Time.

Over at Political Insider, I discuss Sen. Hillary Clinton’s increasingly urgent superdelegate problem.

(Via NY Times.)

Barack Obama has gained the support of about 60 superdelegates in the last month while Hillary Rodham Clinton added more than half as many.

(Via Newsvine - democrats.)

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has scored another superdelegate from Georgia.

Democratic National Committee member Mary Long told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she will back the senator from Illinois in his quest for the Democratic nomination for president.

(Via Newsvine - democrats.)

Hillary Rodham Clinton won’t catch Barack Obama in the race for Democratic delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses, even if she wins every remaining contest.