Howard Dean Calls for Superdelegate Decision by July 1
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean (AP Photo)
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, hoping to avoid a divisive fight on the convention floor, weighed in on the Clinton-Obama battle Friday by calling on all party superdelegates to declare whom they support by July 1.
The 800 or so Democratic superdelegates will almost certainly decide the presidential candidate, because it’s unlikely either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will gain enough pledged delegates in the remaining primary contests to win the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination outright.
Dean, appearing on CBS’ “Early Show” Friday morning, was asked about the prospects of a vote among the superdelegates before the convention, an idea floated as a way to settle the still undecided Democratic race.
“Well, I think the superdelegates have already been weighing in. I think there’s 800 of them and 450 of them have already said who they’re for,” Dean said. “I’d like the other 350 to say who they’re on between now and the first of July so we don’t have to take this into the convention.”
Dean was not asked to elaborate on his remarks during the interview.
In a separate interview with The Associated Press, Dean warned against “demoralizing” Democrats with a drawn-out fistfight between Clinton and Obama.
“You do not want to demoralize the base of the Democratic Party by having the Democrats attack each other. … Let the media and the Republicans and the talking heads on cable television attack and carry on, fulminate at the mouth. The supporters should keep their mouths shut about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential victory of a Democrat,” Dean told the AP.
Dean’s comments follow an increasingly bitter and widening battle over the Democratic nomination. On Thursday, the deep-pocketed liberal organization MoveOn jumped into the fray, calling on its members to sign a petition rebuking a group of Clinton fund-raisers.
MoveOn’s action was prompted when the Clinton supporters sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, threatening to dial back their gift-giving if Pelosi maintains her position that superdelegates should follow the will of primary and caucus voters.
The Clinton campaign and its supporters — seeking to gain an edge in superdelegates — have argued that superdelegates are not bound by primary voting trends and were established under party rules to be independent.
Pelosi did not back down Thursday.
Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said Pelosi “believes it would do great harm to the Democratic Party if superdelegates are perceived to overturn the will of the voters. This has been her position throughout this primary season, regardless of who was ahead at any particular point in delegates or votes.
Democrats also are battling over how to handle the delegations from Michigan and Florida. The party stripped the two states of their delegates to the convention when they decided to hold their primaries before party rules allowed.
I, too, am an OUTRAGED DEMOCRAT! My ancestors will wonder HOW I could vote for McCain , from the ‘other team’. Well, if they were around it would be an easy explanation…this Obama from PlanetWHERE? being crammed down our throats like we are stupid, his incredible conceit, and the embarassing display to the world how ‘the party’ and the ridiculous biased media treats the Clintons, equating some small remark about Bosnia..at least she went…to the pastor disaster when he ‘discovered’ God twenty years ago…What religion was he before then? And he sat there for twenty years listening to such slander to “typical white people” when he is half-white….The entire campaign has been an embarrassment to anyone with half a brain…the “Hillary should quit” is the straw that broke my back…nice attitude so called “Democrats”…yeah, let’s ignore Michigan and Forida…good idea….The world thinks we are FOOLS to allow such a sham to go on in America….if they cram Obama at us….McCain will get my vote and my ancestors would be proud of me. We may as well be ‘voting’ in Russia.
Short of my vote in a primary for Floridian, Dean is talking to the wind. If his superdelegates made the decision, the constitution mandated for me, I will vote for the Republican candidate, whoever she or he will be. I have contributed to Hillary’s candidacy which I never did before in my life because my faith in what she can deliver. As for Obama, his time is coming, but not now. He has a lot to learn and to experience before he can convince me that he can deliver as well as Hillary.
The members of the Obama camp and the DNC are pressuring Clinton, so they can skirt the issue of Fl. and Mi.
If Obama could win outright, it wouldn’t matter if Clinton stayed in!
It is a scam to not have to explain to millions of Americans in Florida and Michigan why they think they can silence them.
If it is allowed in those two states this year, they won’t have to include “any” states next election if the DNC chooses not to!
44 states followed the DNC’s “rules” not 48! Only two states got their votes stripped!
The DNC’s rules also state the unpledged delegates, (superdelegates), are to make their final decision “At The Convention”!
“The rules are the rules”!
Howard Dean should have to stick to the rules too!
Don’t quit Hillary. This race is so close - Obama has outspent you 3-1 and you are still running so close. The race is rigged. These Democrats want to keep spinning everything in Obama’s favor and then crying that you are the one going negative. Obama and his supporters are negative. They are the ones that have been calling you to drop out of the race since he won small caucus states, denying the other half of the country their right to vote. How can people be so stupid and fall for this. Does anyone really believe the caucus system was that democratic? I would love to hear from people who participated in them to let the rest of us know what actually happened. There were some horror stories coming out but I’m sure the media squashed them.
Obama is an unknown and what we are learning is becoming even more disturbing. He is too far to the left for most people, just like the far right Moral Majority was out of the mainstream. Think smart, don’t let others take away your rights and don’t let the media bias sway you.
I find it laughable that he wants each super delegate to declare whom he or she will support by July 1. For whom the super delegates or any American will spend their votes is should not be influenced.
Having nullified the delegates of Florida and Michigan seems to have backfired, and now has placed the chairperson in a very unenviable position; and casting out delegates seems
a little like throwing out the baby with the bath water, which incidentally drives two questions:
1. Which or what is the more important aim: when a primary or caucus actually takes place, or the purpose that the primary or caucuses serve.
2. Should the power to nullify the results of an event that is intrinsic and necessary to the election process be in the hands of a quasi-political organization?
So, after giving thought to these questions, after having been a life-long democrat, Mr. McCain gets my vote in November; why? Regardless of what shortcomings plague the Republican Party, the Republican leadership seem to have their priorities straight. They appear to strengthen as opposed to diluting their party’s position; they also seem far more adept at playing a winning hand; and finally, Republicans seem much, much smarter about unifying the electorate than the Democrats.