I’m writing this from inside a time warp—from a moment that
occurred shortly before the Super Tuesday results came in, but
more than a day before the paper you’re holding came out. Got that? I’m
not even sure I do.
But I know this much: Washington’s Democratic caucuses are likely to
be very important this year, and the more important our Democratic
caucuses become, the more important it becomes for liberal voters to
understand a facet of the nomination fight that happens completely
outside the caucus process: the race for superdelegate
endorsements.
Washington will send 97 delegates to this fall’s Democratic National
Convention in Denver. However, only 80 of those delegates will be
chosen through our caucuses on February 9. The other 17 delegates are
so-called superdelegates, elected officials or party functionaries who
get an automatic spot at the convention and whose votes are tied to
nothing but their own whims and convictions.
If the race for the Democratic nomination is not decided by the
results of Super Tuesday or after the subsequent 14 primary days
through June 7 (delegate rich Ohio and Pennsylvania come in March and
April, for example), then superdelegates are
going to emerge as
key players in the
nomination fight.
Nationally, there are 796 superdelgates (as opposed to more than
3,200 normal delegates). In Washington, as mentioned above, there are
17. So which way are our state’s superdelegates leaning? Right
now Clinton has the superdelegate lead, with five of them committed to
supporting her campaign: Sen. Maria Cantwell, former House Speaker Tom
Foley, Rep. Jay Inslee, Sen. Patty Murray, and King County Executive
Ron Sims. Obama has only two: Democratic National Committee member Pat
Notter and Rep. Adam Smith.
But 10 Washington superdelegates remain undecided, which means
winning the superdelegate vote in our state is still a possibility for
either side. As we head into the Washington caucuses, two
fence-sitting superdelegates are of particular interest: Gov.
Christine Gregoire, who has promised to make her decision before the
caucuses, and Rep. Jim McDermott, who has not. Not only do these two
have the potential to tilt the superdelegate tally, but they may have
the ability to sway the decisions of caucus-goers. Which way will they
go? Stay tuned—or, if you’re really fired up, give their offices
a call and bend their ears. They’re elected officials, after all.
