The New York Times has an interesting article today which seems to indicate that the remaining uncommitted superdelegates are worried about the prospects of a long nomination fight:
WASHINGTON — Lacking a clear route to the selection of a Democratic presidential nominee, the party’s uncommitted superdelegates say they are growing increasingly concerned about the risks of a prolonged fight between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, and perplexed about how to resolve the conflict.
Interviews with dozens of undecided superdelegates — the elected officials and party leaders who could hold the balance of power for the nomination — found them uncertain about who, if anyone, would step in to fill a leadership vacuum and help guide the contest to a conclusion that would not weaken the Democratic ticket in the general election.
At the same time, there seems to be some indication that the uncommitted delegates are leaning toward an argument that the Obama campaign has been making:
While many superdelegates said they intended to keep their options open as the race continued to play out over the next three months, the interviews suggested that the playing field was tilting slightly toward Mr. Obama in one potentially vital respect. Many of them said that in deciding whom to support, they would adopt what Mr. Obama’s campaign has advocated as the essential principle: reflecting the will of the voters.
(…)
“If we get to the end and Senator Obama has won more states, has more delegates and more popular vote,” said Representative Jason Altmire, Democrat of Pennsylvania, who is undecided, “I would need some sort of rationale for why at that point any superdelegate would go the other way, seeing that the people have spoken.”
Mr. Altmire said he was repeating an argument that he made to Mrs. Clinton during a session at her house in Washington on Thursday night with uncommitted superdelegates.
While this would seem to be good news for the Obama campaign, it doesn’t preclude the possibility that, from June until August, we will be subjected to reports of repeated behind-the-scenes maneuvering by both campaigns as they try to convince the superdelegates to back them.
The idea that some savior is going to step in at the last minute and stop this train wreck, though, seems largely absurd. Who is going to do ? Howard Dean doesn’t seem to be a candidate:
David Parker, a superdelegate from North Carolina, was not about to give much deference to any political leader in a contest that was of such consequence. “I don’t think too many people are going to listen to Howard Dean unless he appointed them,” Mr. Parker said. “The D.N.C. is not some monolithic group that is going to move as a body.”
That leaves Al Gore and the rest of the Congressional leadership are a possibility, but the idea of the nomination being resolved in this manner isn’t likely to please the supporters of the losing side any more than a nomination decided by the superdelegates.
Some of the superdelegates seem to be hoping for some solution that will relieve them of their responsibility:
“Every day that this continues, people can surmise that this is going to the convention in Colorado and it could be decided by the superdelegates,” said Gov. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the head of the Democratic Governors Association. “There is not a superdelegate that I have spoken to who wants that to happen.”
Unfortunately, Governor Manchin, that’s exactly what’s likely to happen, either at Denver or before hand. Mathematically, there’s simply no way for either candidate to get enough pledged delegates to put them over the top.
Superdelegates, the decision is in your hands whether you like it or not.
