At least according to this NYT article tonight. I know they have moving toward Obama, but I did not realize this many people were actually actively working on this.
The article begins with mention of a Montana superdelegate who is planning to endorse Obama, I gather tomorrow.
Tough Math for ClintonMargaret Campbell, a Montana state legislator, plans to declare her support for Senator Obama, of Illinois. She becomes the 69th superdelegate he has picked up since the Feb. 5 coast-to-coast string of primary elections and caucus votes.
Then it mentions the uphill battle Clinton is fighting to get enough superdelegates to win.
Mrs. Clinton tried again this weekend to stem the erosion, speaking to Ms. Campbell on a campaign swing through Montana. But Ms. Campbell declined to hold out any longer, saying, “Senator Obama reminds me of why I’m a Democrat.”
Even if Mrs. Clinton narrows Mr. Obama’s delegate lead to 100, and if no further superdelegates make commitments through the end of the primaries, she’d wake up June 4 needing to win over two-thirds of the still- uncommitted superdelegates.
Here is the stunning part though, that caught my eye. Harold Ickes has a staff of ten working on these superdelegates.
Aides said time was actually in Mr. Obama’s favor. The longer he demonstrates he can withstand the heat of a national campaign, they say, the more willing party leaders seem to be to embrace him. “What we’re seeing now is a trickle of people making that final decision to publicly commit,” says Jeffrey Berman, Mr. Obama’s chief delegate tracker.
His counterpart for Mrs. Clinton, Harold Ickes, directs 10 staffers working full time to forestall further defections. Mr. Ickes says the campaign can preserve a large enough pool of holdouts for her to rally before the Denver convention.
“Based on what we’re seeing,” Mr. Ickes said, “most of them are waiting and watching and holding their powder.”
And of course the article has to quote that rising star, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Two of her statements are outrageous spins. See if you can guess.
Especially in some of the states that have yet to vote, the Wright affair “is a big vulnerability,” said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a Clinton superdelegate. And “all of this delegate stuff is artificial,” she added, alongside the reality that the party’s nominee must be able to carry big states like hers, where Mrs. Clinton won a disputed victory; Ohio, where she triumphed last month; and Pennsylvania, where she leads in polls.
There she goes again...pushing the Jeremiah Wright controversy and saying that "delegate stuff is artificial."
That all reminds of how people are pretending Florida had such pure motives in moving up the primary. That they were guiltless, they were bullied by the GOP.
But lest anyone really choose to think that, contemplate once again the famous words of the Democrat who introduced the bill.
"If the choice is Florida is relevant and has no delegates versus being irrelevant and having delegates, I'd choose being relevant with no delegates," Ring said. "We did this so 18 million Floridians could take part in the presidential primaries, not so a few hundred people can go to a party in Denver."We blew up the primary system Someone tell the Clinton campaign about this fellow. He also said no one fooled him. He wanted this from the beginning.
“If you turn on the left wing liberal radio down in Broward, I am public enemy number one,” said Ring, who actually campaigned in 2006 on the need for an early primary and makes no apologies for his leading the effort. “I hear that a lot, that I was duped by the Republicans. No one duped me.”
See, he wanted it all along. The rest went along and voted for it 115 to 1.
He said more. He said "
"My hope is we've blown up the whole primary system," Ring said. "It would be the biggest legacy we'll get from this legislation."The Clinton campaign is using FL and MI as tools. The two states are allowing themselves to be used. It is no longer a joke, it is her road to the convention....a road that will be paved with anger and combativeness.
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