Saturday, March 08, 2008
Democrats take IL-14
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
Huge victory for the Democrats tonight, as they take Denny Hastert’s old seat, IL-14. The winner is Bill Foster, and, of course, he becomes our 795th superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. And yes, he’s supporting his fellow Illinoisan Obama.
This is a red district. Former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert represented this district since 1987, winning reelection by huge margins.
This district includes the city of Dixon, which is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. This is a district that President Bush won twice, and in 2004 he received 56% of the vote. The NRCC poured over $1 million here to hold onto this seat — nearly a third of its cash on hand….Republicans fought tooth and nail to keep this district, and they lost.
Update: Some have questioned whether there’s a March 1 deadline to certify the superdelegates. There is, but changes can be made up until the convention starts. From the Call to the Convention, IV(c)(2)(a):
Members of Congress and Democratic Governors shall not be entitled to name a replacement. In the event of any changes or vacancies in a state’s Democratic congressional delegation following the official confirmation and prior to the commencement of the National Convention, the Secretary shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by the Democratic Caucus of the United States House of Representatives or the Democratic Conference of the United States Senate. In the event of a change or vacancy in a state’s office of Governor following the official confirmation and prior to the commencement of the National Convention, the Secretary shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by the Democratic Governors’ Association.
As long as he (or any other new Democratic congressman) is sworn in before the convention starts, they’ll be superdelegates.
Posted by Matt at 9:38 PM 
Yes, we can!!
Congratulations, Matt!
Don’t congratulate me. I didn’t win anything tonight…
Speaking of new superdelegates, Arkansas named their unpledged add-on today: State Land Commisioner Mark Wilcox. I haven’t found out yet if he’s officially endorsed although I would be shocked if he didn’t support Clinton.
We added Wilcox to our list earlier. He’s officially uncommitted, for now, but I think that will end in a few days once he comes back from his vacation.
Matt, I might have missed it but I was wondering if you had reported on the correction of the California delegate count.
Is it true that the final official tally awarded Clinton four less delegates? If so, is that reflected in your count?
Hellmut, DCW uses the pledged delegate numbers from AP (here, I think), and unfortunately it seems they haven’t updated their California count.
Thanks, kcindc!
Here is the Daily Kos diary that reports the California correction: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/6/18441/19312/64/470801
It contains all the relevant links to footnote the claim that Clinton lost and Obama gained four delegates, which seems to be an important story.
Hillary hates that.