Nancy Pelosi: Superdelegates Don’t Overrule The Voters
Pelosi also had a few things to say about the Michigan and Florida breaking the rules and their delegates being seated at the convention.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who may be the most super delegate of all as chair of the Democratic national convention in Denver — gave an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Al Hunt in which she laid down the law for super delegates:
Don’t veto the people’s choice.
“I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said, adding quickly, “I don’t think that will happen.”
She said the governors, lawmakers, DNC members and others picked as super delegates are chosen through a grassroots process and are accountable to the party’s voters.
“I do think that they have a respect — it’s not just following the returns, it’s also having a respect for what has been said by the people,” Pelosi said. “It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided.”
That message will be music to the ears of Barack Obama, who’s building a lead in pledged delegates and is urging the super delegates to follow the voters. He now leads 1,133 to 996 in pledged delegates, while Hillary Clinton has a 242-163 edge among super delegates, according to the latest tally by RealClearPolitics. Obama holds the overall edge, 1296-1238.
Pelosi had one more stunner in the interview: She said the Florida and Michigan delegates should not be seated if those delegates would decide the nomination.
“Well, I don’t think that any states that operated outside the rules of the party can be dispositive of who the nominee is. That is to say they can’t make the difference because then we would have no rules,” she said.
Pelosi added, “But I do think that the best outcome for us is if one of the candidates pulls ahead and this issue is disposed of long before we get to the convention. We certainly don’t want to ignore Florida and Michigan, but we can’t ignore the rules which everyone else played by.”
For a play-it-safe speaker who’s pledged to stay neutral, these are sharp words. And she will be one of key referees if this fight isn’t settled before Denver.
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February 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Looks like Hal is at it again spreading rumors and pointing fingers in the TX HD27 race. As most of you remember he’s the dem propagandist that has been spinning for Reynolds since late last year. When verified public information came out on their candidate regarding his behavior as a attorney and the concurrent running sanctions by the TX Bar association for issues involving four of his seperate clients Hal (Half-empty) went into high gear from his blog-site and Fort Bend Democratic Club clique.
They’ve spent a great deal of time deflecting this and even staged a friendly interview with a even friendly blog waiting to ask the serious questions at the end, which Mr. Reynolds claimed were not his fault but a result of a family members death and a junior partner in his firm. If this interview is true then Reynolds admission to the TX Bar is false. This further raises TRUST issues and they also failed to discuss that one of the clients has a civil suit. If you get a chance to read the complaints you will find that his admissions to the bar were correct and the subsequent interviews and deflection stories should be questioned.
One of the actions claimed by one of his former clients would even seem criminal if any of us engaged in such activity. Better check the facts before you vote in this one. The cover story is good, but it doesn’t run very deep when you scratch below the surface.
I find it amazing that Hal (half-empty) would try to counter-spin this for so long and point the finger at the incumbent (Olivo) without providing any proof, but this is the political GAMES we have been trapped into. Thanks to this individual poster and his dem club supporters.
Good luck Dora Olvio, I sure hope Reynolds is defeated and exposed. We don’t need these type of power seekers in office. Calling Dora a Craddick dem is like calling Obama a republican. Don’t be fooled by this poster (Hal). He is speaking for the Reynolds campaign and has been for sometime. IMO, Hal is the liar!
September 1st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
[...] Feb. 16, 2008, with Obama leading in delegates, Clinton in superdelegates: “I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said, adding quickly, “I don’t think that will happen.” [...]