WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
With the final names being added to the DemConWatch Superdelegate Endorsement List, it's time to take a look at who, even at this late date, decided to forgo their duty of telling the Democratic Party who they support.
There are 98.5 superdelegate votes who have not endorsed a candidate:
THE UNSELECTED
There are 3 vacancies in the DNC, 1 from Illinois and 2 at-large. There are also 29.5 add-on superdelegates who have not been selected, for a total of 32.5 superdelegate votes that have an excuse for not making a choice.
THE EXECUTIVES
9 members of the DNC are prevented by rule from endorsing, so we'll let them off the hook:
Howard Dean, Lottie Shackleford, Susan Turnbell, Phil Murphy, Linda Chavez-Johnson, Rep. Mike Honda, Alice Germond, Andrew Tobias. Mark Brewer. We'll thrown in RBC Chairs Alexis Herman and James Roosevelt.
Update: The consensus in to the comments is to put Nancy Pelosi in this group as Chair of the convention. That's fair.
And I suppose we can throw Al Gore into this group also. Although in 2004 he was able to make an endorsement....
THE WASHINGTON WIMPS
There's obviously something more important to these folks than a simple statement saying, "we support the Democrat nominee":
Senators Joe Biden, Carl Levin
Representatives Bud Cramer, Nancy Pelosi, Jim Marshall, Nancy Boyda, Charlie Melancon, Edward Markey, John Tierney, Steny Hoyer, Collin Peterson, Gene Taylor, Charlie Wilson, Dennis Kucinich, Marcia Kaptur, Dan Boren, Tim Holden, Bart Gordon, Lincoln Davis, Nick Lampson, Don Cazayoux, Travis Childers, Allen Boyd, Tim Mahoney
Now to be fair, some of these Democrats come from relatively conservative districts where association with the national party may hurt them in their district, and Cazayoux and Childers haven't been in office for more than a couple of months. But for the rest, who knows why they stayed out of it.
AND THE REST
As they used to say on Gilligan's Island in the first season, when you're unimportant, you don't even get to be named. And we're not going to name them here. From the only Governor who stayed quiet, to a former Senate Majority Leader, to the many DNC members who are faceless and nameless most of the time, we say farewell, it's been fun Googling you the last 5 months, but it's time to move on. If you're still around in 2016, (yes, we won't care about you during Obama's reelection campaign) if you even still have a vote, then maybe we'll start this dance again...
del.icio.us
20 comments:
Brutal! I love the post.
Some of the DNC members are already not going to be around for 2012 much less 2016. Some of the battles at the state level for DNC spots are brutal to say the least. I am not sure that trying to stay above the fray (as some of the DNC members did) helps. When I have a vote at my state convetnion, I would rather support someone who endorsed early and has opinions about what the party should do then (even if I preferred a different candidate) than someone who is unwilling to take a position and goes with the flow.
p.s. If anyone is anal enough to do the research, I would love to see which of our DNC members bit the dust at their state conventions this year.
Shouldn't you add Nancy Pelosi to the "executives" have good reason to withhold endorsement, since she's going to be holding the gavel at the convention? (We all know who she supports, anyway.)
Biden, I just don't get, unless he is refraining out of personal loyalty and friendship to Hillary.
Don't you mean 2020? No one is going to run against Obama's VP. And that's assuming Obama's VP loses the general election. It could be 16 years before we see another competitive Democratic primary.
I don't think you can say that. We've only had 1 8-year Democratic VP in the television era - Al Gore - and he did have a major challenger in Bill Bradley. And George Bush had challengers in 1988. Before that I'd guess you'd have to go back to Nixon in 1960. But, bottom line, an incumbent VP will be challenged - the only question is how serious.
I agree. There are a lot of ambitious persons in the party, so assuming that they will withhold for 16 years and wait patiently is ridiculous. They will not challenge Obama's second term but 2016 primary season can turn into replica of this one.
Guess Biden's name can be scratched off the list for VP ;-)
Maybe 30 or 40 delegates are strong supporter of Clinton. They feel that they cannot endorse Clinton now - but they don't want to support Obama.
(No way? I suppose: Some of them just need a little bit more time to decide)
I don't understand why you're giving Gore a break. How is he any less able to endorse than Carter is? Pelosi seems to have a much better excuse, as Hippolytus says.
Add me to the list for giving Pelosi a waiver.... Hey, it can be the Pelosi Club part II :)
Levin is probably staying out because of the Michigan situation. It might do more harm than good for him to endorse at this point.
Biden confuses me. It's pretty clear he's on board with Obama or will be soon.
Nancy Pelosi should get a pass, for reasons already mentioned.
I'll add my voice to those who believe Pelosi deserves a pass. She said that as Convention Chair she decided to remain neutral. That's valid. I think that if she's acting as chair during the roll call, she won't actually vote unless there is a tie.
The people have spoken. Pelosi is no longer a Washington Wimp!
Superdelegate David Hardt (TX) endorsed Obama on Thursday.
http://www.yda.org/news/318/young-democrats-of-america-congratulate-obama-applaud-clinton
There may be reasons to question or criticize Dennis Kucinich for not endorsing, but I don't think lack of courage is one of them. I've seen no indication that he avoids openly taking a stand on anything. That directness and courage has cost him.
Remember that before the Iowa caucuses Kucinich asked his supporters in precincts where he would not reach viability to support Obama. If he had or has any weight to give Obama, that move was more significant than an endorsement this week would have been.
there is a very short list of folks you MAY NOT speak ill of in front of me: my mama, fdr, dr king and dennis k. if you were standing in front of me, you woulda got punched. dennis does whatever he does from a perspective of honor.
if there was a god in heaven he would be president for life, but enough of that,
Obama is the nominee, Clinton gave a nice endorsement, finally, and we are going to mop the floor with McCain and the GOP!!! So I am not going to let one idiot ruin my day!
uplandpoet: If you're referring to my post, I suggest you re-read it. The original posting put Dennis in a list titled "THE WASHINGTON WIMPS". I suggested that wasn't appropriate.
no cb, i quite agree, i mean the calling of him a wimp in the beginning....
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