VA Superdelegates: Hang tough!

Last Friday, I was forwarded the email and accompanying letter that was sent out to some super delegates in Virginia, urging them to support Barack Obama. I decided to ignore it. But now that it’s out there, let me add my two cents.

First of all, it seems that these so-called “leaders” want to circumvent the system that the party has in place. Let me remind you: the superdelegates are not rubber-stamps for the public vote. To say otherwise is to ignore the reason why they exist. Don’t go trying to change the rules in the middle of the game.

Second, I would love to know how many of those chairs polled their membership before using those titles to speak on their behalf. Or are they, in fact, speaking for themselves? I think it’s probably the latter.

(Oh – and those chairs from the 9th – how about the fact that Hillary won your CD? Are you intending to ask your SD to vote for her? After all, that’s the will of the people, right?)

Finally, a big shout out to Jim Webb for recognizing the purpose of the superdelegates.

Uncommitted superdelegate Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said this morning that superdelegates should be able to overturn the will of the people. “If they didn’t want the superdelegates to have independent judgment, they wouldn’t have created them,” Webb said in an exclusive “This Week” interview.

I was watching his interview and thought that maybe, just maybe, all of those folks who wholeheartedly supported his candidacy might pick up on his stance on this issue and make it their own.

Naw. That would be too hard.

Anyway – to the Virginia SDs – I urge you to do what you think is best.

UPDATE: Here’s what SD Susan Swecker has to say on the matter:

Dear Peter and Scott,

I received your thoughtful letter by email on Saturday afternoon and came home this evening to write a response.

I was surprised that I was not given the courtesy to respond to you before it was posted sometime today on Raising Kaine.

Rest assured that I take my responsibility as an automatic delegate very seriously and it is something that I think about every day. Once it became apparent that we were going to be in this nomination period for a much longer time than anticipated (sometime after the NH primary) I did some extensive research on the role of “superdelegates”, how they came to be in existence and what is expected of them.

Senator Jim Webb is correct when he said on This Week with George Stephanopolus yesterday that if the national party “didn’t want superdelegates to have independent judgment they wouldn’t have created them”. That is why they were created by the Hunt Commission (headed by former Governor Jim Hunt of NC) in 1982 and why they still exist today. As I see my role, it is to support the candidate who I believe, using my best judgment, will make the strongest commander in chief and get our economy at home back on track. In my opinion, that is Senator Hillary Clinton.

There is nothing – anywhere – that remotely indicates that the superdelegate should follow the will of the democratic voters of that state. However, if that is your premise, then please encourage Congressman Rick Boucher (whose 9^th Congressional District went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton) to switch his support from Obama to Clinton. And please encourage Senators Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Governors DuVal Patrick, Bill Richardson, Janet Napalitano….. the list goes on ….. to do the same.

With all due respect, I have done my national Democratic math as well. To date, more than 27 million Americans have cast a ballot for Senators Clinton and Obama.

Of that 27 million, less than 1% separate the two Democrats in the 2008 campaign for the White House. (if the roles were reversed and Senator Obama was behind by less than 1%, you would not expect the race to be over).

By my count, Senator Obama leads with 130 delegates, but 887 delegates still remain to be committed to any candidate.

What is wrong with making sure that states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and others to have a chance to say who they want for their nominee.

And making sure that Florida and Michigan are resolved fairly? Lord only knows we don’t need to disenfranchise any more Florida voters!

I believe this race is good for our Party; at least for right now. States that have never participated before are getting a chance to have their say and we are getting to know who our voters are. This is a good roadmap for victory not only for this year – but to build the Party in the years to come. If you don’t believe me, ask Governor Kaine how important he felt the 2004 Presidential Primary was to his gubernatorial victory in 2005.

I do hear your concerns about the race going into August. I do believe it will be and should be decided by then. But I feel just as strongly that the rest of the states need to vote and Florida and Michigan need to be resolved fairly – and then focus turns to the superdelegates. I hope that we as a group and individually will be able to bring this nomination process to a close and begin the process of uniting behind our nominee. While we may now differ on who that nominee should be, I will tell you that I will be the first Virginia Democrat to sign up for Obama for President if he is the nominee.

I will continue to listen to Virginians and continue to closely follow this historical competitive race.

Best

Susan

Yeah. What she said.