Saturday, May 17, 2008
Superdelegate endorsements for Saturday May 17th
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
Obama leads so far today with 3 superdelegates:
Maryland DNC member Greg Pecoraro endorsed Obama
“Today, I am very excited to join the large majority of Maryland Democrats who expressed their enthusiasm for Senator Obama’s candidacy in our state’s presidential primary. Like them, I believe Barack Obama is the right leader for our time. With Barack Obama as our nominee and as our President, we have real hope that a new way of governing the nation is at hand. I strongly believe that Senator Obama offers us the best opportunity we have had for many years to turn away from the politics of division and despair, and look towards an America of opportunity and progress.”
Kansas Democrats picked their add-on superdelegate, Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson. Parkinson, who endorsed Obama in February, said today:
“I have endorsed Barack Obama, and I look forward to voting for him in August,” Parkinson said. “We have to make some major changes in the direction of the country, and I’m completely convinced that he is the person who can bring the country together and lead us to that change.” – Fort Mill Times
Update: Parkinson’s got a very interesting history. From Wikipedia:
Parkinson entered Kansas politics as a Republican in 1990. He served in the Kansas state house from 1991-1992 and the senate from 1993-1997. From 1999-2003 he was Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party.
On May 31, 2006, Governor Kathleen Sebelius announced that Parkinson had switched parties and was her running mate for her reelection campaign
He was the Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party. Now he’s a possible Democratic candidate for Governor in two years. One of a number of former Kansas Republicans who have left the party.
Colorado Democrats have picked, as expected, Federico Pena as their add-on superdelegate.
“Every delegate count is important for the national convention in August,” said Pena. “We’re fighting for every delegate. This has always been about delegates. That’s what this primary campaign has been about, so my election this afternoon is important. It adds another one to the column.”
Pena is a national co-chairman for Obama.
Posted by Oreo at 11:15 AM 
Brick by little brick the house of the Clinton’s is being brought down. I am sure that Hillary’s only intention is to inflict as much damage she can on Obama so that she can make another run again in 2012. Just as she did not campaign for John Kerry in 2004. The world will be a better place when the Clinton’s go back to their library in Arkansas and cloistered there.
It looks like some pro-Obama changes with PLEDGED delegates in Nevada this weekend.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/17/16724/0446/299/490922
I don’t think Clinton wants to hurt Obama at this late stage in the game. She realizes that she has next to no chance of winning anymore. So, she’s taking this time to change her adversary rhetoric to one of party unity. While Clinton still insists that she is the better candidate, she also encourages her constituency to envision Obama as being better than McCain.
Also, Clinton now discourages the anti-American perception of Obama that she had encouraged during the Rev Wright scandal. She did this pretty clearly in her response to the Hamas association that Wolf Blitzer posed to her in her recent interview on CNN.
Ultimately, we want Clinton to stay in the race and to continue this healing process until her constituency supports Obama. Once Clinton drops out of the race, some of her disenfranchised supporters will turn off the TV. Whatever Clinton says after she drops out of the race won’t reach the most disenfranchised of her supporters.
This also means that Obama has to woo working-class voters before Clinton drops out of the race.
Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson picked as Kansas add-on. Definite Obama.
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/167123.html
In 3 hours (5PM PT) NV will pick-up an add-on. Obama secured 14-11 split so far (due to good turnout PLEOs go 2-1 Obama) and he will probably get the add-on too. Another hit to Hillary’s hopes – her supporters deserted her…
Not that I am selfish, but 2 months ago I wrote a post here that Obama’s better organization will bring him NV. He has improved his performance with 3-5% on each step of the state caucus! That man and his team can really organize things!
And another super… this time, another flipper!
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/05/superdelegate_jack_evans_switc.html?hpid=topnews
Brad, he is not super, check the list 🙂
Live blogging from the Colorado State Convention.
Kansas add-on for Obama:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hY742M_s1ttD_ycf2Zusn1o1fD3QD90NKR600
Ok, Brad he is not super, but he is the only at-large pledged to Clinton delegate in DC! That is pledged switch #2, again vetted by the camapign and chosen statewide! One more prove Hillary’s staff is incompetent!
Any moment the election of add-on in CO will be official and we will add one more for Obama! And this started as a very lazy day! But what is the summary:
Obama +4 supers, +2 pledged
Clinton 0 supers, -2 pledged!
Net gain +8
What are the four supers we officially have as of now.
I only know of:
-KS add-on
-MD DNC
Are you counting Nevada and Colorado add-ons?
Yes, I am counting the 2 unofficial add-ons, they are 100% Obama. CO add-on is let’s say known – there was a special post for him and he is Obama’s. In NV Obama has 55% of the delegates at the convention – no way to miss the add-on spot!
Matt and Oreo must be asleep. WAKE UP… we have new supers!haha:)
I would like to see a page which explains the reason why the total delegate count differs by the Obama campaign and others compared to DCW count. You have part of the answer with the on going media count with CNN and MSNBC. But, no one claims to have the official numbers because there is no official count. It would be nice if everyone would agree on the total count for each and could publish them. And if not, publish how they differ as to why or by who with super-Ds. (I don’t call them SD because of the state SD.)
Reddwarf – differences in the pledged count have been explained in the comments on the Ultimate Tracker page. Differences in the superdelegate count can not be explained because the Obama campaign has not released their list of superdelegates, and neither has NBC or CNN.
As expected, Frederico Pena was chosen as the Colorado add-on superdelegate.
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6566469&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
It appears that not even Bill Clinton could sway things in Hillary’s favor at the Nevada state convention…
http://ap.google.com/
article/
ALeqM5hY742M_s1ttD_ycf
2Zusn1o1fD3QD90NL1700
Unless we have a name for the Nevada add-on, it is premature to count it in the bag. State politics sometimes trump national politics in the choice of add-on. I know Nevada has a couple of congressional candidates (I think both are female) that they might be considering as add-ons to get them those 10 seconds of free airtime at the convention.