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-- snip --Here's a rule I would like every political reporter, campaign official, TV talking head, and politician in the United States to follow. Go ahead and say, if you like, that Hillary Clinton retains a serious chance of winning the Democratic nomination. If you say this, however, you must describe a set of circumstances whereby this could happen. Try not to make it sound like a fairy tale...

Maryland Democratic Party Vice Chairman Lauren Glover is fielding calls from Sen. Barack Obama. Jim Leaman, executive director of the Virginia AFL-CIO, is being inundated with personal letters and e-mails from supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. just wants be left alone. Pressure is mounting on the 67 Democratic superdelegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia to choose between Obama and Clinton in the most heated presidential nomination fight in a generation. With neither Clinton nor Obama likely to win enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, the 793 superdelegates nationwide will have...

Polls show voters drift to Clinton ahead of next primaries By STEVEN R. HURST – 1 hour ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Polls showed voters drifting toward Hillary Rodham Clinton before crucial Democratic primary votes next week, but the all-important party superdelegates — whose backing is now essential for the nomination — were falling increasingly in line behind Barack Obama. Despite the momentum building behind Clinton after her win in Pennsylvania, it still appeared mathematically impossible for her to overcome Obama's delegate lead for the party nomination. In the past two months, Obama has whittled Clinton's superdelegate lead by half, a...

Despite the recent show of strength by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the odds against_her_winning the Democratic presidential nomination are as imposing as ever—and probably worse. There was a time when one of the stronger arguments in favor of nominating Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was that he was more electable than Clinton. The thinking at the time was that Clinton was so polarizing, she could get close to winning a general election but would have difficulty getting over the top. Now, about the only plausible argument that Obama is more electable is to claim that Clinton’s backers would probably get_over...

RUSH: You superdelegates in the Democrat Party, you're worried about denying Obama the nomination because you fear that your black voters will abandon you permanently? Come, come! Review your history with me once again. You Democrats have already done far worse to black voters than yanking the nomination away from Barack Obama. Have no fear, superdelegates. Be confident. Blacks will stay with you. So will Jesse Jackson, so will Al Sharpton

Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) sharp denunciation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright this week has superdelegates moving in his direction. While the reverend’s controversial remarks and his widely panned appearance at the National Press Club caused many pundits to wonder if superdelegates would be frozen into indecision, those who moved into Obama’s column this week cited the Illinois senator’s reaction as one of their reasons for backing him. Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Joe Andrew was perhaps the biggest jewel of the week for Obama. Until Thursday, Andrew had supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). He was appointed DNC chairman...

Hillary Rodham Clinton was jolted Thursday by the defection of one of her longtime superdelegate supporters, a former national party chairman who urged fellow Democrats to "reject the old negative politics" and unify behind Barack Obama. "A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue" a long, self-destructive Democratic campaign, Joe Andrew added in a letter designed to have an impact on the turbulent race nationally as well as in his home state of Indiana, site of a primary next week. "A vote to continue this process is a vote that assists John McCain," Andrew wrote. (Mr. Andrew agrees...

The Democratic Party is not democratic. It has devised a system of nominating a presidential candidate that is elitist and will result in patronage. It is abundantly clear that the party that claims to trace its roots to Thomas Jefferson is deluding itself and the American public. We have witnessed a three-month period of hard-fought primaries or caucuses in which the people in 42 states and four territories have voted to select the delegates who presumably will nominate the Democratic presidential candidate. But it is all a ruse. Democracy has gone out the window because of the elitist policy of...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON (AP) — A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama and is encouraging fellow Democrats to "heal the rift in our party" and unite behind the Illinois senator. Joe Andrew, who was Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, planned a news conference Thursday in his hometown of Indianapolis to urge other Hoosiers to support Obama in Tuesday's primary, perhaps the most important contest left in the White House race. He also has written a lengthy letter explaining his decision that he plans to send to other superdelegates. "I am...

Barack Obama is closing in on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's advantage among superdelegates, building on his lead in the primary race even as he faces troubled times. Party leaders are encouraging superdelegates to pick a side by late June to prevent the fight from going to the national convention in August, and it seems some are listening as the race enters its final five weeks of voting. Chelsea Clinton got a superdelegate for her mom while campaigning in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, just as Obama press secretary Bill Burton sent out a statement announcing the support of Rep....

YOUTUBE SING ALONG --- the Superdelates will sc*** Obama for Hillary

Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton. While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate have yet to state their preferences in the race for the Democratic nomination, sources said Tuesday that most of them have already made up their minds and have told the campaigns where they stand. “The majority of superdelegates I’ve talked to are committed, but it is a matter of timing,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “They’re just preferring to make their...

An apparent rejection of her black rival would also do more to harm Hillary Clinton than help her campaign. A candidacy against the background of angry youth or even burning barricades would be of little value. Thus, it is not Obama himself who now offers the strongest argument for his nomination, but the history of his ancestors. In fact, with his history standing at his side, Obama hardly needs to try any longer. This history peers into the present, sadly and silently, from a time we commonly call the past. And yet this is a past that America cannot seem...

While Hillary Clinton snagged the biggest-name backer of the day, Barack Obama has reportedly added two more superdelegates to his fold. Richard Machaceck, a Democratic National Committee member from Iowa, has declared for Obama after the Illinois senator won 16 of the 29 national convention delegates at stake in congressional district conventions over the weekend, the Des Moines Register is reporting. And the Associated Press says US Representative Ben Chandler of Kentucky, grandson of a former two-time governor of the Bluegrass state, is supporting Obama as well. Clinton is hoping that the endorsement of North Carolina Governor Mike Easley might...

Pressure Mounts on Obama After Reverend's Reappearance -- It's crunch time on the campaign trail, and candidates can't afford any mistakes or for any controversial friends to suddenly reappear. Will the Rev. Jeremiah Wright drag the Illinois senator's campaign down? Some speculate the re-emergence of Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is turning off white voters. Democratic sources tell ABC News that Wright is unquestionably worrying superdelegates about Obama's electability. On Monday at the National Press Club, Wright was defiant, embracing some of the most controversial items he has said. "Jesus said, You cannot do terrorism on...

Despite his loss in Pennsylvania and other campaign bumps, Barack Obama is heavily favored to win what will be the final and decisive contest for the Democratic presidential nomination -- the "invisible primary" for the convention votes of party leaders. The reasons say a lot about these superdelegates' calculations for the November elections -- the presidential one, or their own. The 795 superdelegates, who can vote for any nominee, fall into one of two groups -- the elected and the unelected. Sen. Obama has taken the lead among elected officials, and Monday got the endorsement of New Mexico Sen. Jeff...

WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama must drop out of the Democratic presidential race after the June primaries in order to unify the party by the convention and win the election in November. But Dean didn't say which candidate should drop out, only that it should happen after primary voters have been to the polls. "We want the voters to have their say. That's over on June 3," Dean said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." Dean also said that while the party rules say Democratic superdelegates...

HERE IS THE PLAN.....HERE IS HOW HILLARY WILL DO IT

The identity of this superdelegate is being withheld for obvious reasons. We believe he/she expresses the thoughts and feelings of many of his/her colleagues during these difficult day: I’m upset and nervous and I’m not going to take it any more. This is not what I expected when they made me a superdelegate. I thought that being a king/queen-maker would be a lot more fun. It’s become a real drag. I realize I’m uncomfortable about the whole idea of “superdelegates”. It seems un-democratic, at least un-Democratic. Even the name bothers me. It makes me think of Superman and “fighting for...

If you were a fashion photographer back in the 1990s, you may have known what a superdel was: a high-priced “supermodel,” the word clipped to superdel by fashionistas. That meaning has since been overwhelmed by a usage booming through the U.S. political world: superdelegates, who may or may not decide the next Democratic nominee for president. But that 14-letter word is too long for newspaper headlines, and five syllables is too many for fast-talking heads on telecasts, podcasts, Webcasts or IMcasts. Result: the name of the graying gang of glitterati on whom the multimedia spotlight now shines has been shortened...

Let's begin with one paramount fact: The superdelegates will determine the Democratic nomination. Neither candidate will capture enough pledged delegates to win without them. The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be settled by purely democratic means. The common misconception is that superdelegates are basically like jurors: They listen to each side's case and then apply a specific set of instructions and a strict legal framework to make their evaluation. But superdelegates don't work that way. They're more like the College of Cardinals: They decide by feeling their way through moral and political, not legal, claims....

Jeanne Lemire Dahlman, a Montana superdelegate and rancher, has declared her allegiance to Senator Barack Obama. But she said voters in her state, whose primary is June 3, are thrilled by the unresolved Democratic nominating fight, which gives them a potential voice in a nominating process that has usually bypassed them. “A part of me would like to wrap this up,” she acknowledged. “But I think Senator Clinton should continue, unless she tanks in Indiana.” The Pennsylvania primary was supposed to help clarify the picture for the 795 Democratic superdelegates, but Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s strong victory there on Tuesday...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton, capitalizing on her Pennsylvania primary victory, reached out this week to uncommitted Democratic superdelegates. "Her pitch was that she had just had a substantial victory in Pennsylvania and her campaign had raised quite a bit of money because of it," said Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma. "There wasn't a hard push or a hard sell. She asked me what are some of the things she needs to be talking about. I just told her the No. 1 issue is the economy." Boren remains uncommitted but noted "it's really important to me how my district...

[Debra Kozikowski, an undecided superdelegate from Massachusetts, has started a blog inviting supporters of Clinton and Obama to make their case for her vote, "with civility and grace."] FROM: ImUrGrrl TO: DebraKozikowski@MassDem.Net Ms. Kozikowski: I just read the story about you, an undecided superdelegate from Chicopee, soliciting blog postings from Democrats in support of their candidates. I see that you’ve received hundreds of comments from supporters of Sen. Clinton and her opponent. As a fellow woman - dare I say “Sister”? - I think your innovative idea demonstrates the kind of fresh leadership that a strong woman can bring to...

HILLARY Clinton, buoyed by her win in the Pennsylvania primary, has piled pressure on top Democratic Party officials who hold the key to her gripping White House feud with Barack Obama. The "superdelegates" who can vote how they like at the party's August convention came under a glaring spotlight after Senator Clinton defied Senator Obama's latest bid to bundle her out of the contest with a 10-point triumph in yesterday's vote. Though Senator Clinton trails Senator Obama by every metric in the race, the result gave the former first lady more time to raise doubts among party members that her...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many of the Democratic superdelegates who are still undecided say the most important factor in their decision is simple — they just want a winner in November. Problem is, after nearly four months of primaries and caucuses in 46 states, territories and the District of Columbia, they still aren't sure who that is, don't seem be in any hurry to make up their minds and aren't interested in any artificial process that might force them to choose between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Most of the more than 100 undecided superdelegates who discussed their decision-making with...

WASHINGTON — Nancy Larson's most difficult conversation was, by far, the one with Chelsea Clinton. "It was just heartbreaking," said Larson, a Democratic National Committee member from Minnesota and more to the point, a superdelegate who initially had pledged herself to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. This was April 12, after the former first daughter learned Larson would be shifting her allegiance to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. "She is a delightful young woman who loves her mother very much," Larson said. "She was really pushing me. She kept asking me why I was doing this. She just kept asking, 'Why? Why?'...

If, as Hillary Rodham Clinton has suggested, her campaign takes the fight to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations all the way to the Democratic National Convention this summer, the fate of her challenge is all but certain to hinge on 25 individuals appointed to the Credentials Committee by party Chairman Howard Dean. The Credentials Committee, which also includes 161 members selected from the states based on primary and caucus results, is the 186-member body that will help determine whether to seat the two rogue delegations. Since it appears virtually impossible for Clinton to win enough of the 161 members...

After issuing a warning to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that negative campaigning threatens to tear their party apart, Democratic Party chair Howard Dean said the candidates need to keep their tone focused on winning the White House in November. In a Friday interview on "Good Morning America," Dean cited record turnout but noted "some personal criticism" between the candidates. "We have to keep our mind focused on the idea that at the end of the day we really need change in these country," Dean told ABC's Diane Sawyer. "One of these two candidates needs to win. We're going to...

Last Thursday, about a year too late, I read the "2008 Delegate Selection Rules for the Democratic National Convention." Not a fun read, I must add, which may be the reason Sen. Hillary Clinton, or her people, and most of the press, did not read or understand its 25 dense pages. Sen. Obama, or his people, obviously studied the thing, and that is the reason he will probably be his party's nominee for president of the United States. The document, adopted by the Democratic National Committee on Aug. 19, 2006, is filled with the kind of fairness rhetoric the party...

Throughout their contentious debate on Wednesday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton tried again and again to put Senator Barack Obama on the defensive in a pointed effort, her advisers say, to raise doubts about his electability among a small but powerful audience: the uncommitted superdelegates who will most likely determine the nomination. But although Clinton gave it her best shot in what might have been their final debate, interviews on Thursday with a cross-section of these superdelegates — members of Congress, elected officials and party leaders — showed that none had been persuaded much by her attacks on Obama's strength as...

Howard Dean was on Wolf Blitzer's show yesterday, and Drudge picked up his admonition to the superdelegates with the splashy headline: "Dean To Delegates: Decide Now." In the interview, Dean says that he wants the superdelegates to begin "voting" now. "We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time," he said. "We've got to know who our nominee is." Unfortunately for the party, Dean is in no position to tell the superdelegates when to decide. The reason? The chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee carries with it very little political power - certainly not enough...

Top Hillary Fundraisers Rip Into Howard Dean For Saying Super-Dels Should Announce Support "Starting Now" By Greg Sargent - April 18, 2008, 2:27PM Two of Hillary Clinton's most prominent fundraisers tore into Howard Dean in interviews with me today, sharply criticizing the DNC chair for saying yesterday that super-delegates should say which Dem candidate they support "starting now." "Governor Dean should do what he has said he will do -- refrain from injecting himself into the primary process, as millions of Democrats have yet to cast their votes," Hillary national finance chair Hassan Nemazee, one of the most influential fundraisers...

Some superdelegates say they are being bombarded by requests to back one of the Democratic U.S. presidential hopefuls before the party's convention in August. As a superdelegate, Debra Kozikowski, the vice chairwoman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, is among nearly 800 Democratic Party leaders and elected officials likely to decide whether Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will be at the top of the party's ticket, USA Today reported Friday. "Until America has (its) say, I'm going to wait to have mine," she said. "I don't want voters ... to feel as though superdelegates are sweeping down and making the decision...

WASHINGTON - Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who now trails Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes. Compounding Clinton's woes, Obama appears on track to finish the primary campaign fewer than 100 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to win. Clinton argues to Democratic officialdom that other factors should count, an unprovable assertion that she's more electable chief among them. But she undercut her own claim in Wednesday night's debate, answering "yes, yes, yes" when asked whether her rival could win the White House. There's little if...

WASHINGTON - Some female superdelegates backing Sen. Barack Obama are having their "sisterhood" questioned, just as some black Democrats have been challenged for their endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. No one has actually accused Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., of betraying her gender in supporting Obama over Clinton in the race for the party's nomination, but they've let her know they're disappointed. The reason some give: If Clinton does not win the White House this year, no woman will reach that goal in their lifetimes. Klobuchar gets it; her mother, 80, is one of these women. The senator's 12-year-old daughter,...

(CNN)— An increasingly firm Howard Dean told CNN again Thursday that he needs superdelegates to say who they’re for – and “I need them to say who they’re for starting now.” “We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time,” the Democratic National Committee Chairman told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We’ve got to know who our nominee is.” After facing criticism for a mostly hands-off leadership style during much of the primary season, Dean has been steadily raising the rhetorical pressure on superdelegates. He said Thursday that roughly 65 percent of them have made their preference...

An increasingly firm Howard Dean told CNN again Thursday that he needs superdelegates to say who they’re for – and “I need them to say who they’re for starting now.” “We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time,” the Democratic National Committee Chairman told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We’ve got to know who our nominee is.”

There are only two ways she can win the nomination now. Either she must overcome Obama’s lead in pledged delegates to overturn the verdict of the party rank-and-file. For her to do that, she will have to persuade a majority of the superdelegates (or a majority of them must reach the conclusion on their own) that Obama cannot win in the general election against John McCain. For one thing, she demonstrated again that she can’t attack Obama on any front without opening herself up to similar charges. When she tried to exploit Obama’s connection to William Ayers, a former leader...

LOS ANGELES—Facing a backlash from supporters, Barack Obama's campaign reversed course Thursday and reinstated hundreds of people to lists of prospective California delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The campaign's decision this week to block approximately 900 people from trying win seats to the convention as Obama delegates set off a deluge of criticism that reached Web sites, newspaper headlines and party offices, shaking a campaign known for galvanizing the party's grass roots. Campaign manager David Plouffe said in a letter to potential delegates that all names would be restored to ballots that will be used Sunday to elect delegates,...

Hillary Clinton has added three superdelegates... One... is Sophie Masloff, the former mayor of Pittsburgh. The other two, are Rep. Jackie Speier of California...Bill Burga of Ohio, an AFL-CIO poobah.

Organizers for the Democratic National Convention say they now expect some 50,000 people to come to Denver for the event this August. That number is more than 40% higher than the original estimates.A spokeswoman for the Democratic Nationals Convention Committee says overwhelming interest in the potentially historic event has driven up the expected participation.City officials say they are relying on convention organizers for the estimated number of participants, but they hope the increase will mean a larger economic boon for Denver and Colorado than they first anticipated. Estimates for the region's financial gain exceed $150 million.Katherine Archuleta, the mayor's convention...

The campaigns for Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are purging potential California delegates in a bid to ensure that only their loyalists travel to the national convention in August. Locked in a race with an uncertain outcome, representatives for both camps directed the California Democratic Party this week to knock dozens of names off lists of potential delegates who will be elected Sunday in party caucuses.

Transcript: HH: It’s Thursday, that means we begin as we do most Thursdays when we are lucky with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn. You can read all of Mark’s work at www.steynonline.com. Mark, when does America Alone come out in paperback? MS: It comes out on Monday, in fact, Hugh, so you catch me right on the eve of getting ready for the big paperback launch. HH: Do they make you go flog it on a second book tour? MS: Yeah, well, they’re having a kind of, I would say a kind of modified mini-relaunch of it. I’m going...

WASHINGTON - Some of those presidential superdelegates Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are pursuing are more super than others. One delegate, one vote doesn't apply to them. These prominent Democrats can name additional superdelegates, giving them control over multiple convention votes, and that could be the difference in a race that may not be decided until the August convention. The clout of the nearly 800 superdelegates is unprecedented in this year's race because neither Obama nor Clinton can clinch the nomination with only the delegates won in state primaries and caucuses. Largely overlooked in the arcane process, though,...

WASHINGTON -- Nearly three weeks remain before the next Democratic primary, but the results are rolling in from another part of the presidential contest -- and they signify trouble for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Democratic Party officials and insiders known as superdelegates are jumping to Barack Obama's camp or signaling that's where they are headed, including such prominent figures as former President Jimmy Carter. Some superdelegates who back Clinton have begun laying out scenarios under which they would abandon her for Obama. "My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama," Carter told a Nigerian newspaper during a...

(CNN) – In a campaign season growing more heated by the day, one word keeps making an appearance: chill. This morning, Sen. Tom Harkin — an undeclared superdelegate — became the latest politician to call for a cooldown, telling reporters on a conference call reported by Radio Iowa that former President Bill Clinton needs to “chill out.” A local journalist asked about a report of an alleged Clinton “meltdown” during a private meeting with California superdelegates, and asked whether he was doing his wife Hillary Clinton's campaign more harm than good. "I'm not going to judge that," responded Harkin. "I...

Hillary Clinton must be channeling Winston Churchill. How often does she tell herself - paraphrasing the great leader - to never, never, never give up? One gets the feeling she is waiting patiently in hopes that Barack Obama will have a "macaca" moment. This isn't unreasonable. For most of '06, Virginia Sen. George Allen was heading to re-election and deemed a potential leading GOP '08 presidential contender. Then his campaign was brought down by a young volunteer with a minicam and YouTube, floundering over Allen's use of the word "macaca" (monkey) to refer to an American of Indian descent.

Per NBC’s Tom Winter, Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton superdelegate, just said on CNBC's Squawk Box that he reserves the right to change his vote from Hillary Clinton if she doesn't have the popular vote. -snip- Sen. Maria Cantwell, another Clinton super, has said similar things regarding the popular vote.

Table 1. Current and Projected Delegate Support for Democratic Candidates Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Current Pledged Delegates 1247 1414 Current Superdelegates 246 200 Total Current Delegates 1493 1614 Projected Additional Pledged Delegates 303 289 Projected Total Delegates 1796 1903 Additional Superdelegates Needed to Win 229 122 How likely is it that Hillary Clinton would be able to win the support of 66 percent of the remaining uncommitted superdelegates? This would require a substantial improvement on the 55 percent support level that she currently enjoys among superdelegates who have made an endorsement. Moreover, the data in Table 2 shows that 53...