Lobby your Superdelegate

If you look at the delegate counts on news sites like CNN, it looks like Hillary Clinton is kickin' ass. Seems kind of odd, considering that she keeps basically tying for first with Barak Obama. Well, it turns out the disparity all comes down to superdelegates. I doubt the majority of voters, even primary voters, really understand how these superdelegates work. Here's a primer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdelegates

Now, unless I'm horribly mistaken, none of these committed superdelegates have signed any formal agreement (well, except in blood, standing over a steaming brazier of smoldering sparrow bones). It's not too late to lobby them and tell them to knock it off.

Below is a pro-Obama (or Edwards) letter for anyone who, like me, is unfortunate enough to have voted for a superdelegate who is in the Clinton camp (not sure if you did? check here) :. Feel free to copy and paste.


Dear [Superdelegate Title & Name],

I am writing to urge you to reconsider your superdelegate support for Senator Clinton. Although I am a great fan of former President Bill Clinton, and appreciate the many fine qualities of his administration, and though the senator's qualifications are impressive, I believe her two main opponents for the nomination, Senator Obama and former Senator Edwards, are more deserving of the nomination and of your support.

Though I believe all three candidates to be equally qualified, Senator Clinton's refusal to renounce her Iraq war vote disqualifies her from serious consideration. Of all the innumerable sins of the current administration, none is more grave than the arrogance and and stubbornness that have accompanied every policy and decision. This country cannot afford another president who puts her pride before the truth, who cannot admit a mistake, accept responsibility for her own failure, and seek a better path.

But perhaps an even more unsettling resemblance to the Bush administration, has been the senator's recent resort to republican fear tactics. Her repeated allusions to Gordon Brown and the London bombings are evidence that manipulating the base fears of Americans is not beneath her in achieving political aims. I believe, as do many of my neighbors and colleagues, that a politician must appeal to the best in our nature, not the worst.

I do not lightly dismiss the symbolism of political office being held by women. That a woman, especially such a qualified woman, should hold the highest office in the country, is simply long overdue. However, there are greater ills that plague these times than gender inequality, and more important principles on which we need to stand. In these times, the symbol of a "Barak Hussein Obama" simply means more than the symbol a "Hillary Rodham Clinton".

We voted for you, and rejoiced when you and your colleagues took the house from a crooked and bereft party. However, we did not vote for you simply because you were better than what was there (any number of crooks would have fit that bill). We voted for you because we expected you to reject, and not emulate, the sins of your opposition, to move the nation forward with integrity and honesty into a new era. In accepting your post, you have accepted the responsibility of making hard choices, even politically unpalatable choices.

Thank you,

XXXXXX