Pages

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Wavering African-American Superdelegates in Virginia

State Delegates (and convention superdelegates) Lionell Spruill(D-Chesapeake) and Jennifer McClellan(D-Richmond) are wavering in their endorsements of Senator Hillary Clinton for president.

The pressure being put on African American superdelegates who support Clinton, such as McClellan and Spruill, appears to be having an effect.

Raymond H. Boone, editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press, the city's African American newspaper, said McClellan and Spruill "are opening the door to trouble" in their next election if they do not support Obama.

"I think there is going to be heavy retaliation against both of them," said Boone, whose newspaper endorsed Obama.

McClellan is struggling to balance her constituents' wishes with her support for Clinton, who helped her get started in politics. "I'm being asked to go back on my word," she said.


That's true, you are being asked to go back on your word. But you are also being asked to respect the wishes of the people who, you know, GAVE you your start in politics by electing you to office, in addition to not overruling your state's (and almost certainly your country's) elected delegates.

Per my tallies, Obama won McClellan's district 77.3%-21.9% and Spruill's district 82.4%-17.0%

But in addition, Boone is likely correct. Their primaries for re-election are in mid-2009, less than a year after the Democratic convention. Given the Clinton's campaign's success in turning the black community against them and the fact that a Clinton nomination will require the superdelegates to overturn the pledged delegates, that could certainly spell serious trouble should an ambitious younger Obama supporter in the district take advantage of it.