Superdelegates facing reelection consider their own fate, struggle to make choice

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Some Democratic delegates consider their own fate
Lawmakers facing reelection weigh their options as they struggle to make a choice that can affect them politically: whom to endorse for the party's nomination.
By Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 7, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jason Altmire, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania, is in a pickle. He wants to stay in sync with his constituents, who he expects will vote for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in his state's April 22 Democratic presidential primary. But he fears her nomination could mobilize conservative Republicans who loathe her -- which might make his own reelection more difficult in the fall. No wonder he is undecided about whether to endorse her or her party rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Altmire is part of a unique and influential constituency in the stretch drive of the Democratic presidential race: members of Congress -- who make up more than a third of superdelegates-- who are poised to decide whether Clinton or Obama will be the party's nominee. This group is a particularly sensitive bellwether as Democrats weigh their options because, unlike the average voter, lawmakers up for reelection also have their own political self-interest at stake in who ascends to the top of the ticket. The party's nominee can provide either coattails or head winds for lawmakers such as Altmire, who won his seat in an upset with only 52% of the vote.

"The key decision for superdelegates, especially elected officials, is job preservation: 'What is the best thing for me and my reelection?'" said Jenny Backus, a political consultant and a former spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee....

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A groundswell of congressional endorsements for Obama in recent weeks has given him fresh momentum and has helped bolster his argument that he is the stronger candidate for the party. But Clinton forces are pushing back to convince superdelegates on Capitol Hill that Obama will have a harder time winning a bruising general election campaign against Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee. Her allies argue that Obama is untested and will be dogged by controversies including the inflammatory comments of his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr....

***

...dozens of lawmakers are still undeclared, and the importance of capturing their loyalty has turned Capitol Hill into a swirling political bazaar....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-delegates7apr07,0,4493698,full.story

[no_hypocrisy]

1. And the funding of said campaigns come both from the DLC and the DNC.

So much for independent choice.