In D.C. Area, a Superdelegate Tug of War
Obama's Primary Wins, Clinton's Ties Intensify Pressure for Support

By Tim Craig, John Wagner and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Maryland Democratic Party Vice Chairman Lauren Glover is fielding calls from Sen. Barack Obama. Jim Leaman, executive director of the Virginia AFL-CIO, is being inundated with personal letters and e-mails from supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. just wants to be left alone.

Pressure is mounting on the 67 Democratic superdelegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia to choose between Obama and Clinton in the most heated presidential nomination fight in a generation.

With neither Clinton nor Obama likely to win enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, the 793 superdelegates nationwide will have the final say on who will face Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP nominee. Clinton is ahead in commitments from area superdelegates, but several said they are undecided and others said they are considering switching.

Clinton (N.Y.) and Obama (Ill.), as well as their official surrogates and rank-and-file supporters, are fighting for every superdelegate vote, launching aggressive campaigns across the region to sway the outcome at the convention in August in Denver.

"This is the most stressful thing I've been through in my whole life," said Virginia Del. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond), a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton last year but is now wavering. "It was never supposed to be like this."

The superdelegates from the District, Maryland and Virginia are being cornered in grocery stores by their constituents. Some have been threatened with retribution if they vote for one candidate or the other. And many of them now dread the personal phone calls from Obama or Clinton and their surrogates.

Similar scenes are playing out across the country, but the efforts to persuade superdelegates are particularly intense in the Washington region.

Obama scored decisive victories in the Feb. 12 Potomac Primary. But Clinton leads in commitments among the area's superdelegates in part because she and her husband go back years with many of them.

In the District, she is supported by 10 of the 24 superdelegates, most of whom are longtime Clinton loyalists, including her senior strategist, Harold Ickes. Many of the superdelegates with more local ties are backing Obama.

Of the 27 superdelegates in Maryland, nine are pledged to Clinton, including Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. Of the 16 superdelegates from Virginia, six are pledged to Clinton. Her superdelegate support in Virginia includes Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. (D-Chesapeake), who, like McClellan, is African American and unsure whether he will stick with Clinton.

"I'll decide after the primaries," Spruill said last week.

Four superdelegates in the District are undecided. Anita Bonds, chairman of the D.C. Democratic Committee, said that she is in charge of shepherding the process and that she believes she should remain neutral as long as possible so as not to sway the delegates.

Thirteen remain publicly neutral in Maryland, as do six in Virginia, including Sen. James Webb and C. Richard Cranwell, state party chairman.

Early last month, the leaders of 40 county and city Democratic committees in Virginia upped the ante by strongly urging the state's superdelegates to "act now" in throwing their support behind Obama, who the party officials said is more likely than Clinton to win the state in the fall.

"It is not like it was even close in this state," said Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chairman Scott A. Surovell, one of the organizers of the effort.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, co-chairman of Obama's campaign in Maryland, is using a similar argument in his efforts to persuade that state's undeclared superdelegates.

The petition drive in Virginia offended several superdelegates committed to Clinton, who said they are supposed to base their decision on who would be a stronger nominee against McCain.

"There is something to be said about taking a look at what happened in Pennsylvania and why Barack Obama couldn't close the deal," said Susan Swecker, a Democratic National Committee member from Richmond who supports Clinton.

Swecker said, however, that she is surprised that the public is so engaged. Last week, the owner of a landfill chased her down when she was dropping off recyclables to ask her to vote for Obama.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D), an Obama supporter, is also getting heat from Clinton supporters in his district in rural southwestern Virginia, where Obama failed to get 15 percent of the vote in several counties. Boucher said that if superdelegates "were simply expected to cast their vote in accordance with the primary results, in the state they represent or the district they represent, there would really be no need for superdelegates."

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.

Clinton is trying to keep superdelegates such as McClellan from breaking ranks; the former first lady even called her last month to congratulate her on her recent engagement. But when McClellan went to Crate & Barrel a few days later to set up a wedding registry, she was stopped in the aisle by a man who asked her to support Obama.

McClellan also fielded a call from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, one of four Virginia superdelegates who have lined up behind Obama.

In the District, Thomas (Ward 5) switched from Clinton to Obama after he was inundated with e-mails and phone calls from constituents who said he should cast his vote in Denver for the candidate who won the D.C. primary.

"I knew it was a hot topic, but I didn't know how hot it would be," he said, adding that the attention interfered with his business as a council member. "I have murders in my ward. . . . I wanted to get all of the speculation out of it."

Mame Reiley, a Virginia superdelegate who supports Clinton, said Obama supporters should not be too aggressive in trying to woo superdelegates.

"Obama is going to need every single one of these Hillary people if he is to have a chance to win the general election, and vice versa," said Reiley, former chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Gregory Pecoraro, an uncommitted superdelegate from Maryland, said he has been receiving an average of three or four letters a day from people across the country trying to influence his decision. "Both campaigns check in with me every few days or so," he said.

The Westminster City Council member was invited recently to a meeting at a Capitol Hill hotel at which Clinton met with about 15 superdelegates. "Senator Clinton spent a few minutes chatting with just us," Pecoraro said. "It was very much of a soft sell."

Other superdelegates said they have made up their minds but are waiting for the moment to announce whom they plan to support.

"I'm not undecided, but I'm undeclared," said Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor, who has spoken to Obama and to Clinton staff members.

Many of the region's uncommitted superdelegates said they are in no rush to make up their minds.

Cranwell, Virginia's party chairman, said he is trying to avoid the pressure until the primaries end next month, but Obama called him recently and gave him his cellphone number.

"I told him, if I thought I was going to break the other way, I will call him and give him one last opportunity to change my mind," Cranwell said.