For Clinton, a Key Group Didn’t Hold

[dkf]

By mid-March, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign knew it had a problem with what it had once assumed was a reliable firewall — its support among superdelegates.

The fight for pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination was essentially over. Senator Barack Obama was ahead, after winning a series of caucuses in states that Mrs. Clinton virtually ignored.

Still, it became apparent that neither he nor Mrs. Clinton could claim the presidential nomination with pledged delegates alone, and the two would need superdelegates — elected officials and party activists — to fill the gap.

For Mrs. Clinton in particular, that signaled danger. The commanding lead she had held in superdelegates at the start of the contests — she was about 100 ahead of Mr. Obama — had dwindled by mid-March, to 12.

And superdelegates were showing an independence that the Clinton campaign had not counted on, not quite buying her argument that she was more electable than Mr. Obama.

The break in Mrs. Clinton’s supposed firewall turned out to be one of the most important factors in her campaign.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/politics/05superdelegates.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Further down, the article discusses Bill's impact on superdelegates. It sounds like he was a little too much for them.

[breakaleg]

1. This all sounds pretty ugly. Another example of why change is needed.

[CreekDog]

2. and Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are now in the Gulf of Mexico

:crazy:

[grantcart]

3. For all those who think that superdelegates are a bad idea let me ask you one

question: do you think the the Republicans wish they had superdelegates right about now?

[whatchamacallit]

4. Hm... never thought of it that way - good point. (eom)

[K Gardner]

5. Look at the reports of harassment they're just now starting to report..

It won't be long until we hear more stories like these and those of Rep. Clyburn. Its certainly NOT pretty.


After switching to Mr. Obama two weeks ago, the Clinton campaign bombarded her with dozens of calls, she said. “You can’t imagine how stressful this has been,” Ms. Arceneaux said. “It had gotten to where my life had just been taken over by this.”

Debbie Marquez, a superdelegate from Colorado, said she had made up her mind to shift to Mr. Obama, largely because he opposed the Iraq war from the start. The ex-president called and talked for 45 minutes, she said.

“When people talk about the finger wagging and lecturing in his speeches, I kind of felt that was going on over the phone,” Ms. Marquez said.

In the end, she was not swayed.