Obama gains (4) superdelegates after trading wins with Clinton

[Melinda]

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama pocketed the support of at least four Democratic convention superdelegates on Wednesday, building on the momentum from a convincing North Carolina primary victory. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed to remain in the race "until there's a nominee."

-snip-

Obama, now the front-runner, was home in Chicago during the day as his aides spread word that he would soon begin campaigning in states likely to be pivotal in the fall campaign. They also relayed word of the four endorsements, expected to be made public later in the day. Both disclosures were meant to signal fresh confidence that the nomination was quickly coming into his possession after a grueling marathon across 15 months and nearly all 50 states.

-snip

In a memorandum to superdelegates, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe reminded them of the delegate math necessary to secure the nomination. He said Clinton would need to win 68 percent of the remaining delegates to win — an extremely unlikely scenario, made harder by her poor performance Tuesday.

"With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days," Plouffe wrote. "While those scenarios may be entertaining, they are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or millions of supporters, volunteers and donors."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/primary_rdp;_ylt=ApXzbRcPb0Bl2GxAwHN_C6qs0NUE

:toast: Gobama!!

[me b zola]

1. K&R

:kick:

[Tropics_Dude83]

2. LOL-entertaining and wildly creative indeed n/t

[psychopomp]

10. What is she going to stand on next? A plow?

Are they going to have her driving an eighteen-wheeler?

[Avalon6]

3. "At least 4"

Could be more!

[Melinda]

4. "It's Basically Over"

George Stephanopoulos: "More superdelegates will come out today for Barack Obama -- they will come three, four, five at a time, and this nomination will be locked up."

Rick Klein: "The question that is now astoundingly close to being the most urgent one in the presidential race: Does Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton see a distinction between the good of the Clintons, the good of the Democratic Party, and the good of the country?"

Ben Smith: "The campaign goes on, but the chatter today has already begun on the truce Obama appeared to offer Clinton last night with his conciliatory, forward-looking speech, and whether Clinton will more or less embrace it. There's no imperative that she actually drop out, but it now becomes hard for her to sustain a full-out, combative campaign -- to stay on offense, and to raise the money it takes to do so."

Walter Shapiro: "Tuesday night was likely Clinton's last major window of opportunity in this race -- and despite her game face and spirited spin, she undoubtedly knows that it all but slammed on her fingers."

Thomas Edsall: "In the universe of political clichés, she is on life support, her oxygen choked off, her knees buckling, unable to stanch the bleeding, down for an eight count, on the ropes, praying for the bell to ring, desperate to get her wind back."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/05/07/its_basically_over.html

:kick:!!

[bvar22]

33. Pat Buchannan: "This is the night Hillary's music died."

Tweety: "Hillary's campaign was doomed in 2002 when she cast her vote FOR the Iraq War for whatever political reasons."

Last night on MSNBC.

[Cha]

5. Does anyone know who these

SuperDelegate Morsels are?

[ej510]

7. Ed Shultz is saying that he will probably end up with 6 today and 6

tommorrow.

[Cha]

11. Thanks..anybody take

names? :)

[Melinda]

21. Here ya go: Names of the 4 SD's!!

Jerry Meek, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jeanette Council, a member of the D.N.C. from North Carolina, Inola Henry, a member of the D.N.C. from California, and Jennifer McClellan (VA Assembly member) who has switched from Clinton to Obama.

Yeah!!

[Cha]

35. Melinda, Thank you!

Very much appreciated..I like me some names to go with these, obviously, well informed SuperDees!

[JMDEM]

38. A switch is a two vote turnaround!

+1 Obama, -1 Hillary = 2 vote difference.

[anonymous171]

6. K&R

:kick:

[Coexist]

8. knr

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. kickie........

:kick:

[Melinda]

12. Shameless.....

:kick:!!

[4_Legs_Good]

13. w00t! Keep 'em coming

I wanna see a lot of these today!

GOBAMA!!!!

David

[PoliticalAmazon]

14. The exodus has begun. Obama was supposed to meet face-to-face with....

individual SDs today. It will be interesting to see how many he gets.

[NYDem Observer]

15. Definitely music to my ears

[last1standing]

16. This might be bad news, really.

It may mean that Hillary really is going to try to keep running in earnest. If the two camps were in active discussions on the best way to wind this down then Obama would have asked the SDs to not announce as a gesture to the losing candidate.

Instead, this looks like a shot across the bow to Hillary. Either she comes to the table to discuss the terms of surrender or he will sink her. Sadly, it may be his only choice.

[Melinda]

18. And maybe the SD's are autonomous.

Dunno. :shrug:

[last1standing]

22. I have to think that at this point Obama's in charge.

All the SDs now know that Obama is going to win so he has all the power and control in that respect. At this point he's orchestrating things.

[Melinda]

23. Okay, accepting that what you say is true (and it's a reasonable assertion)

How is it bad news?

[last1standing]

24. It would be better for everyone if the two camps were negotiating terms.

Instead it looks as though Hillary is in no surrender mode. That means Obama will have no choice but to crush her with delegates and force her out of the running in a way that will not only humiliate her and anger her supporters but also cost time and money that could be better spent against McCain.

I'm not saying that this is what is happening, of course. I'm saying that it certainly looks that way if the SDs start coming out for Obama before Hillary concedes. There could be machinations (read probably) that I'm not aware of in the works.

[Melinda]

28. But if he wanted to "crush her", why not roll them all out now if he has them?

And if he has control over their decisions? It's all so confusing in my mind. ;)

[last1standing]

29. These are likely warning shots. Especially the one that flipped from Hillary.

It's a way of giving her a last chance to see reason before the onslaught begins. He may roll out a few each day over the course of the rest of the week then hit her with a massive dump on Monday if she continues.

He could also be in the process of collecting SDs who are calling and moving to his side so an effective dump may not be possible as yet.

But then, like everyone else who prognosticates these things, I could just be blowing smoke. I'm not sure but it looks like standard procedure at this point.


Edited to note: Also, he doesn't WANT to crush her. That would be a last resort if he absolutely needs to do it. It's far better if they come to an agreement where he assumes her debt and let's her suggest some prospects for his short list of VPs. Then he gets unity in the party and has a peaceful convention.

[Melinda]

30. I knew I should have read Sun Zsu's "Art of War"

Thank goodness there are people like you that know about this stuff and are around to explain it to people like me; thanks! ;)

[last1standing]

32. I'll take the compliment.

No matter how little I deserve it. :)

Thanks.

[cyndensco]

17. As of 1 hour ago, MSNBC was reporting HRC picked up one SD.

They made no mention of Obama's.

[Hope And Change]

19. Obama gains (4) superdelegates after trading wins with Clinton

Three Superdelegates Endorse Obama; Delegate Countdown - 170 To Go


by Sam Graham-FelsenWednesday, May 07, 2008 at 08:51 PM

Chicago, IL – The day after Barack Obama’s commanding victory in North Carolina and tight finish in Indiana, three superdelegates today endorsed Barack Obama.

The three previously uncommitted superdelegates endorsing Obama are North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina DNC member Jeanette Council, and California DNC member Inola Henry.

These endorsements brings the total number of superdelegates to endorse Obama to 261. Senator Obama is 170 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Chairman Meek said, “Over the past year, I’ve watched as Barack Obama has drawn countless new people to the political process. Although my position as State Chair has led me to remain neutral through the primary, I’ve quietly celebrated as Barack Obama offered new hope to millions of Americans who have lost faith in the American dream after years of disastrous Republican policies. Rarely does a public servant emerge with Barack Obama’s ability to unite our country and produce real change. With Barack Obama as our nominee, North Carolina can deliver its electoral votes to a Democrat and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot will benefit. Barack Obama offers the best chance to take back the White House, elect countless democrats down-ballot, and breathe new life into the Democratic Party.”

Jeanette Council said, “I am pleased today to be endorsing Barack Obama as he continues to unite Americans for change. This election is a unique opportunity for all Americans and Barack Obama’s campaign has inspired and changed the entire face of our country. His campaign has mobilized new people and welcomed people of all ages, races, backgrounds, attracted everyone from first time voters to voters who have participated their entire adult lives. The way he has built a campaign that reflects his message of hope and change and brought all different communities to the table is unlike any campaign I have ever seen.”

Council added, “I am first and foremost a Democrat and the Democratic Party is truly the party of the people, the party of inclusion that wants to engage all people in the political process. This is what Barack Obama has done. Seeing this happen, especially here in North Carolina, has changed me forever and given me hope that we can change this country. I put much thought, consideration and most importantly prayer into this decision, and today I know I am backing a candidate who can put our country on the right path. I’m proud to endorse him today.”

Let's keep building the momentum. It's up to us to make sure this movement continues to grow...

Donate------->https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/standard?source=HQBlog


http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGCNGg

A flip to Obama


Virginia's state representative and DNC member http://www.jennifermcclellan.com/">Jennifer McClellan has flipped from Clinton to Obama, the http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_el_pr/superdelegates_1">AP reports.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/A_flip_to_Obama.html">Link

[Hope And Change]

20. Kick!

[DangerousRhythm]

31. Friendswood, AWESOME!

I'm about 10 minutes from there. I'd thank the guy personally, haha.

[Hope And Change]

34. Patrick endorsed a while ago so I therefore edited my post.Sorry.

[book_worm]

25. I wonder who they are?

[Melinda]

26. New Obama SD's:

Jerry Meek, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jeanette Council, a member of the D.N.C. from North Carolina, Inola Henry, a member of the D.N.C. from California, and Jennifer McClellan (VA Assembly member) who has switched from Clinton to Obama.

[Hope And Change]

27. Read my post above!

[TragedyandHope]

36. Great news!

:kick:

[TheDonkey]

37. very good, but Obama needs to get more SDs locked up. Let's get a lead in SD and the gates will ope

n