{"id":3170,"date":"2008-05-01T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T22:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/its-tough-to-be-an-uncommitted-superdelegate\/"},"modified":"2008-05-01T16:38:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-01T22:38:00","slug":"its-tough-to-be-an-uncommitted-superdelegate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/its-tough-to-be-an-uncommitted-superdelegate\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s tough to be an uncommitted superdelegate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Democratic presidential primary is getting more contentious every day. Barack Obama\u2019s<\/a> inability to close the deal and knock Hillary Clinton<\/a> out of the race has given her an opening to finish strong and argue to uncommitted superdelegates that she\u2019s the more formidable candidate. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the same time, the math is on Obama\u2019s side, and he is picking up the support of more superdelegates each week. Because of that, the Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> campaign is having to fight harder and harder to stay alive.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Uncommitted superdelegates are being bombarded with pressure to pick a side. Loyalty is being questioned. There\u2019s controversy over how superdelegates should decide which candidate to support. Do they go with the will of voters? Do they vote with their consciences? Do they consider other factors?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Democratic Party is divided.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Democratic National Committee<\/a> Chairman Howard Dean and others are pressuring superdelegates to make their decisions public by June so the party can unite and focus on defeating Republican nominee John McCain<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In New Mexico<\/st1:state>, six superdelegates have pledged allegiance to Clinton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, three have announced their support of Obama, and three remain uncommitted \u2013 U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a>, state party Chair Brian Col\u00f3n and activist Laurie Weahkee.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a little overwhelming because I\u2019m not a party insider and so I wasn\u2019t expecting it,\u201d Weahkee said of the \u201clevel of people calling and coming out of the blue\u201d to try to convince her to support one candidate or the other since she became a superdelegate on Saturday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She said she remains undecided because she hasn\u2019t heard either candidate satisfactorily address issues American Indians face. She said she\u2019s also concerned about social and environmental issues, but issues related to native people are her primary concern.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m taking this very seriously,\u201d Weahkee told me. \u201cI just think it\u2019s an excellent chance to push a little more to ensure that our voice is heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hesitant to talk<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While Weahkee was willing to answer questions about the situation, Col\u00f3n hasn\u2019t responded to an e-mail I sent on Monday or a cell-phone message I left this morning. Udall was also unwilling to answer questions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cTom Udall remains uncommitted,\u201d is the only statement I could get out of Udall spokeswoman Marissa Padilla. I pressed: What factors should superdelegates consider when deciding who to support? Does this primary need to wrap up by June? Can you even give me a generic quote of some sort beyond saying Udall is uncommitted?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Nope. And Udall isn\u2019t answering similar questions from any national or state media outlet.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s because uncommitted superdelegates are in a delicate situation. Many, including Udall, are choosing to not say anything that could come back to bite them later.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Like one of Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> statements came back to bite him. He took criticism for endorsing Obama after telling the New York Times<\/a> that superdelegates should support the choice of their constituents. New Mexico<\/st1:state> went, albeit narrowly, to Clinton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A controversial selection<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While they haven\u2019t made contradictory statements like Richardson\u2019s, Col\u00f3n and Weahkee are caught in their own controversy over Weahkee\u2019s selection as the twelfth and final superdelegate from New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. Several supporters of Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u2013 including superdelegates Mary Gail Gwaltney, Annadelle Sanchez, Raymond Sanchez and Christine Trujillo \u2013 have protested Weahkee\u2019s selection. You can read their letter to Col\u00f3n by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

They\u2019re accusing Col\u00f3n of breaking the delegate selection rules. Col\u00f3n has the authority to nominate candidates for the state\u2019s final superdelegate. At this weekend\u2019s convention, he nominated two, including Weahkee. Both said they weren\u2019t committed to either candidate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Clinton<\/st1:city> supporters tried to nominate their own candidate \u2013 a Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> backer \u2013 but the chairman said party rules prohibit it. Many Clinton backers voted for their candidate anyway, but Weahkee still won by five votes. The Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> supporters now say Col\u00f3n was supposed to meet with the state party\u2019s executive committee before making his nominations, but Col\u00f3n told the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> that he abided by the rules. The party\u2019s executive director, Josh Geise, said that\u2019s the end of it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see about that, but in the meantime, Weahkee said she\u2019s proceeding with making a decision, and while she\u2019s taking the input of others seriously, she doesn\u2019t plan to cave to pressure. She said she\u2019s hopeful that the primary process will wrap up \u201csooner rather than later,\u201d but said it\u2019s difficult to commit to a timeframe because the race is so \u201cfluid.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point I just feel like I need to make my decision when I believe it\u2019s appropriate to do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic presidential primary is getting more contentious every day. Barack Obama\u2019s inability to close the deal and knock Hillary Clinton out of the race has given her an opening to finish strong and argue to uncommitted superdelegates that she\u2019s the more formidable candidate. At the same time, the math is on Obama\u2019s side, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}