Clintonites Try to Stop Poaching of Support

By Tom Precious

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is seeking to maintain a fire wall around superdelegate support in the state to help prevent any peeling off of the influential party officials to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.

The two candidates are engaging in a behind-the-scenes fight to woo superdelegates, who likely will decide the fate of the contest later this year.

Party insiders say that even if any of New York’s 45 superdelegates — who include Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, state legislators, party executives and members of Congress — were privately rethinking their support for Clinton, it is too early to do so publicly.

"They are cognizant that either she will be president or a United States senator, and there’s no upside for them to move now," said one party source.

State Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat who heads Obama’s New York campaign, has begun reaching out to superdelegates to gauge possible interest in switching to Obama’s side.

"In casual conversations, a few have said the man looks good, but I haven’t heard of any shifts yet," he said.

Clinton superdelegates last week said their backing remains steady, despite their candidate’s troubled campaign.

"I committed to her on Day One, before any primaries," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson, who knows Obama and said the Democrats have "two terrific candidates," said his loyalty to Clinton remains.

"This wasn’t an incremental endorsement. If he wins the nomination, I’m going to vote for him in November, but I didn’t endorse Sen. Clinton based on how well she was doing," he said.

.Key primaries

Spitzer, meanwhile, took his pledge of support for Clinton to Comedy Central, where he told host Stephen Colbert, "I will be with her all the way."

The Obama campaign sees some possibilities, depending on how Obama does in the upcoming round of big-state primaries. In New York’s primary two weeks ago, Obama won three congressional districts — two in Brooklyn and one in Queens. Obama backers say those congressional representatives should follow the lead of their constituents. The three members of Congress — Reps. Gregory W. Meeks, Edolphus Towns and Yvette D. Clarke — did not return repeated phone calls last week seeking to judge their support of Clinton.

Obama also came close to winning in the district that stretches from Rochester to Buffalo represented by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D- Fairport, a Clinton backer. She did not return a call seeking comment.

Clinton supporters say that all but three — some say four — of 45 superdelegates have endorsed the New York senator. And everyone knows them by name in this delicate delegate-counting game. Tompkins County Democratic Chairwoman Irene Stein, whose county went for Obama in the primary, is undecided, as is Ralph Dawson, a Manhattan lawyer. And no one is quite sure about Marianne Spraggins, an attorney, who has held fundraisers for Obama.

The three did not return calls seeking comment.

To win the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, a candidate needs 2,025 delegates. It is unlikely that either Clinton or Obama could reach that number in the primaries remaining.

Enter the superdelegates, whose ranks of nearly 800 nationwide stretch from union bosses to former President Bill Clinton, listed as an "unpledged" delegate from New York. A scenario is in place in which superdelegates would be called on to decide the contest — either before or at the convention.

Obama leads in the overall national delegate count, but Clinton leads among superdelegates.

The Clinton camp sounded unworried about the New York superdelegates.

"The superdelegates who have endorsed her are still with her," said Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson. He would not say how many superdelegates have backed her in New York or whether the campaign has been doing any outreach with them lately.

But Obama campaign operatives are working on it. They don’t expect separation of the state’s superdelegates from Clinton, at least not with the contest still close, but Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has sent an e-mail to New York supporters seeking help with a campaign to reach superdelegates.

And the Obama backers are clearly trying to make the Clinton camp nervous.

"Some are beginning to reconsider, but I don’t think they’re going to make that decision now or do it openly," said Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Bronx Democrat and Obama supporter.

Things could change, he said, if Obama does well in the primaries March 4 in Ohio and Texas or April 22 in Pennsylvania. He declined to say whom he might be reconsidering.

Superdelegates who have endorsed Clinton say they expect the outreach from Obama’s campaign, if only because people — even in politics — still like to be wooed.

"My view is we’re solid," said Dennis Mehiel, a Clinton superdelegate from Westchester County. "We’re going to remain solid for Hillary until she tells us something different."

>Much loyalty to Clinton

Of all the states, New York represents Obama’s biggest challenge to peel away superdelegates, Mehiel said.

While there are at least three uncommitted delegates, some Obama supporters have already written off the idea of attracting many longtime Clinton backers who are superdelegates.

George K. Arthur, the former Buffalo Common Council president who is active in the Obama campaign, said he expects that "reminder calls" will be placed to superdelegates such as Slaughter, whose 28th District tallied a close victory for Clinton in the primary: 32,403-31,908.

"We’ll be calling Louise to remind her," he said, "but it will be a waste of time. And that’s the problem in New York State — it’s all locked up."

Arthur said the home-state advantage Clinton enjoys means that any such outreach will rank as "courtesy calls."

Another Western New York superdelegate, Sylvia M. Tokasz of Cheektowaga, wife of Paul A. Tokasz, former Assembly majority leader and now a lobbyist, said she has been under no pressure to reassess her commitment to Clinton. And like many other New York superdelegates, she said she would not change her mind even if she did come under such pressure.

"When I look at where we are today and what we need as president, I think we need someone who can hit the ground running," she said. "Obama has been absolutely phenomenal as a great motivational speaker, but I just don’t see the experience there."

>Worry of ‘major revolt’

Democrats are increasingly worried about the internecine war that could erupt within the party if Obama is ahead in the delegate count at the end of the primaries but loses to Clinton because of superdelegates.

"If it appears that somehow the process has been fixed, there will be a major revolt, and the Democratic Party will be split," said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant in Manhattan.

For now, politicians who are superdelegates will mostly sit tight where they are: with Clinton. "No smart politician is going to show their cards for the time being," Sheinkopf said, "because they want to see what happens."

News Political Reporter Robert J. McCarthy contributed to this report.

e-mail: tprecious@buffnews.com

Originally published by NEWS ALBANY BUREAU.

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