Obama And Hillary Using High Profile Supporters To Woo Superdelegates
The New York Times has a useful overview of the extent to which the two campaigns are wooing the undecided super-delegates who may end up deciding who wins this thing in the end.
The piece delves a bit into the ways both have enlisted their highest-profile supporters to work behind the scenes to win over the these much-prized potential tie-breakers:
The Clinton campaign has established a system, overseen by one of the party’s most seasoned behind-the-scenes operators, Harold Ickes, to have superdelegates contacted by carefully chosen friends and local supporters, as well as by big-name figures like Madeleine K. Albright, a former secretary of state. For particularly tough sells, the campaign has former President Bill Clinton or Chelsea Clinton make the call.Mr. Obama has enlisted Tom Daschle, the popular former Senate majority leader, as well as Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee.
“You know there is something interesting going on when you pick up your cellphone and see all those out-of-state phone numbers,” said Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who reported getting calls from Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Daschle.
The Times also crunched some numbers and found that of the 796 super-delegates, 204 are for Hillary and 99 for Obama. Other calculations favor Obama more, but if The Times is right, our handy Election Central calculator tells us that this means that there are a startling 493 super-delegates that are undecided -- yet another indication of just how up in the air this contest is.
Late Update: The Obama campaign is disputing The Times's account, sending over this:
The NY Times is wrong. There are 182 superdelegates supporting us -- as NBC reports. The AP reports that the number is 156.




















Comments (28)