Sunday, April 20, 2008

Three Hawaii superdelegates still to be named

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

Hawaii has a special present for the superdelegate trackers: Not just an add-on, but 3 new superdelegates are coming from Hawaii:

Local Obama and Clinton supporters have been quietly doing outreach behind the scenes. Many activists are also trying to influence delegates to the state convention, where the party chair, vice chair and an unpledged add-on superdelegate will be selected.
Other states have had or will have new elections for party chairs and vice-chairs, but those terms start after the convention. Not so in Hawaii.

And Obama seems to have the inside track on at least one of the spots:
Brian Schatz, a former Makiki state representative and local volunteer for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, announced yesterday he is running for chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawai'i. Schatz is the only candidate so far and, if elected at the party's state convention in May, he would give the Obama another superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August.
...
If selected at the May 23-25 state Democratic Convention as chairman, his position will automatically make him one of nine superdelegates to the national convention in August, Schatz said. As head of the Hawai'i-born Obama's local campaign for president, Schatz said he's made it known that he is an Obama supporter..."I will vote for Obama in August at the national convention as a superdelegate, if I'm chosen to lead the party in Hawai'i," Schatz said.
We're going to remove the current Hawaii Chair and Vice-Chair, Beverly Withington and Joshua Wisch, from the superdelegate list, and as they're both Uncommitted, the overall numbers will not change at this time.