Monday, April 14, 2008
Report: Clinton to pick up 2 NJ add-ons
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
Two more to follow the state winner?
Hillary Clinton is slated to pick up two additional unpledged add-on delegates when the Democratic State Committee meets later this week to choose add-on and alternate delegates. Sources say that former Governors Brendan Byrne and Jim Florio will be chosen as the two add-on superdelegates. According to a Clinton press release, both endorsed Hillary Clinton last year. Clinton defeated Obama in the New Jersey primary by 54%-44%. – Blue Jersey
We’ll have the official selections here on Thursday.
Posted by Matt at 11:24 PM 
Interesting that the poster overlooked Brendan Byrne’s affiliation with Obama For America:
http://www.nndb.com/people/057/000116706/
which links to
http://www.nndb.com/org/684/000167183/
The link to HRC’s website is more than a year old (dated 4/2/07). It looks to me like the add-ons split evenly, as one would expect given how close the primary was.
Byrne is a Clinton supporter. From the NY Times, Feb. 3 of this year:
Former Gov. Brendan Byrne noted that in this election, more than any other he has been through, voters seem to be guided largely by visceral responses to the candidates.
“I haven’t talked to anybody who said because of the issue of immigration or the issue of social security, I’m for this one or that one,” he said. “It’s more personal and emotional.”
Mr. Byrne, who is supporting Mrs. Clinton, is not alone in citing how personal this election has become.
——————————–
His son, also called Brendan Byrne, is supporting Obama, and that may have caused some of the confusion.
The only evidence in the NY Times article is this:
[Mr. Byrne, who is supporting Mrs. Clinton, is not alone in citing how personal this election has become.]
The quote sounds very ambiguous. How do we know that the Times was not relying on an old endorsement or a presumption? Their information isn’t always precise.
I can’t find a quote that supports NNDB’s list and the site does not mention when it was created or last updated. Nonetheless, their list of ‘Obama for America’ members describes Brendan T. Byrne as the Governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982 and his birthday as April 1, 1924. Now, this could all be just an elaborate April Fools joke, but I think there’s a legitimate reason to investigate the contradiction. I’ve already asked the site manager at NNDB to explain. Anybody else have a recent quote that could put this to rest?