Pelosi Says Superdelegates Should Not Overturn Primary Results
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, shown here at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 29, says it would be harmful to Democrats if superdelegates overturn the will of the voters. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it would be damaging to the Democratic party for its leaders to buck the will of national convention delegates picked in primaries and caucuses, a declaration that gives a boost to Sen. Barack Obama.
“If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what’s happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party,” Pelosi said in an interview taped Friday for broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
The California Democrat did not mention either Obama or his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, by name. But her remarks seemed to suggest she was prepared to cast her ballot at the convention in favor of the candidate who emerges from the primary season with the most pledged delegates.
Obama leads Clinton by 142 pledged delegates — those delegates picked in nomination contests to date, in The Associated Press’ count.
Barring an unlikely string of landslide victories by the former first lady in the remaining states, he will end the primary season with a delegate lead, but short of the 2025 needed to win the nomination.
That gives the balance of power to the so-called superdelegates, prominent Democrats who are automatically entitled to attend the convention because of their status as members of Congress or other leaders. Clinton leads Obama for their support in the AP count, 249-213.
Pelosi’s comments could influence other House Democrats who are neutral in the presidential race and will attend the convention as superdelegates.
In her interview, Pelosi also said that even if one candidate winds up with a larger share of the popular vote than the delegate leader, the candidate who has more delegates should prevail.
“It’s a delegate race,” she said. “The way the system works is that the delegates choose the nominee.”
More than 500 delegates remain to be picked in primaries beginning on April 22 in Pennsylvania, which has 158 at stake on April 22.
In addition, Democrats in Michigan and Florida are demanding to have their delegations seated, even though they moved up the dates of their primaries to January in defiance of Democratic National Committee rules.
Clinton said Saturday she supports an effort by Michigan Democratic leaders to hold a do-over primary in early June, but the Obama campaign has not yet said whether it will agree. A full delegation would give the state 128 pledged delegates, not counting superdelegates.
In Florida, a plan for a mail-in primary appears doomed, leaving two major possibilities if the state’s Democrats are to participate in selecting a nominee.
One is for a full-scale primary.
The other is a negotiated agreement in which Obama and Clinton split the 185 pledged delegates that would have been awarded had the Jan. 29 primary counted.
One prominent official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there have been preliminary discussions among the state’s House Democrats to see whether a compromise can be reached along those lines.
Clinton would have won 38 more delegates in the primary than Obama, had the primary results been used to award delegates, according to The Associated Press’ calculations. Merely dividing the delegates evenly would leave Obama’s delegate lead unchanged.
Obama appeared to open the door to some sort of agreement earlier this week, when he spoke of a procedure “that doesn’t advantage one candidate or another too much.”
I think Nancy should shut up and focus on the her tasks at hands.
Pelosi has broken just about every promises she made to America. She has zero credibility along with Dean who is incapable of solving the Michigan and Florida’s problems. The DNC would not even exist without the people voting to be in that party, so all these talks about the DNC has the right to punish the voters by not counting their votes are just plain stupid!
Nancy is also blatantly disregard her yet again promise to stay neutral! On top of that she is just plain wrong. If superdelegates are supposed to vote along with the pledged delegates then why do they exist in the beginning? They are supposed to make their independent decision from pledged or popularity votes.
The race is not over as obviously stated by America with the ‘dead heat’ race, it is unethical for party leaders to take side! Dean and Nancy should be congratulated for driving away democrats to another party!
Go Obama against Clinton lobbysm, favorism and deception.
Even McCain is better than the Clinton dynasty. Who’s next. Chelsea?
Nancy Pelosi needs to accept the fact Hillary WON all the big states needed to win in November. Obama won small states that usually go Republican in November. In recent days, Obama’s Pastor has spoken several inflammatory remarks regarding America that should be a concern to all voters. Since when did God Bless America become God damn American. How can you be a member of a church for 20 years and never hear the sermons of Rev. Wright?
Obama never ends a speech with God Bless America. He does not wear a flag in his lapel. He does not say the Pledge of Allegience to our beloved Flag, and he does not sing the Star Spangled Banner or place his hand over his heart. Is this the man we want to be President?????
Obama’s Pastor;s remarks, “God damn America” are very disturbing to me. I question Obama’s JUDGEMENT in supporting a Pastor like Rev. Wright. Obama belonged to this church for 20 years. He subjected his wife, and 2 young children to these inflammatory remarks. No wonder Michelle Obama stated to a rally, she has not been proud of America for most of her adult life. Michelle appears to have been programed and indoctrinated from the Pastor’s remarks. The statements regarding Hillary and Bill Clinton were contemtable. 911 America was attacked. Radical Muslims hijacked our planes and killed approximately 3000 Americans in NY. This Pastor claims “The chickens came home to roost!” How sad for the families of the victims of 911. And Obama needs to acknowledge his own Muslim background. Obama’s African grandmother said on National TV that her husband was a Muslim and took the name Hussein. Obama’s father bore that name, Huessin and passed it on to Barrick Obama. Apparently the family does not belong to the Muslim religion, however, Obama’s African grandfather joined the Muslim religion. Obama should acknowledge the statement by his paternal grandmother in Africa. He has ties to the Muslim religion.
well i believe with what happenning right now , many of the delegates will not support obama any longer , thank you to Rev wRight . the only hope for the white house is hillary because obama have to much dirt allready on him , he should quit , remenber his wife said for the fisrt time she was proud to be and american uuuum …. please post my comment
I wouldn’t follow Pelosi to the outhouse. She doesn’t even fulfill her congressional responsibilities to nominate young men and women to the US Military Academies. She is a national disgrace, a coward, and a traitor.
I am sure that most americans understand the relationship between Obama and his pastor, no one believes Obama condones the remarks made by Rev Wright. He cant be judged by what someone else say, this is just a ploy to discredit Barack. Why no comments on Senator McCain association with Jerry Farwell, Rod Parsley or the Rev Haggy, they all made inflamatory remarks and endorsed Senator McCain. Sean Hannity screams all day long about Rev Wright and Realtor Rezsko (may not have spelled his name right). Hannity mentioned nothing about Senator Clinton aquaintance with Rezsko. How about the picture taken of President Clinton and Senator Clinton with Rezsko standing between them?. They say nothing about Senator Clinton dealings with a shady realtor in Arkansas. I believe all candidates should be treaed fairly my the news media and all dirty laundry should be aired on all candidates. I believe Sean Hannity (Fox News) hates Barack Obama, he is trying his best to kill Barack politically.