Many of us are (unfortunately) familiar with Harold Ickes, who is in charge of managing superdelegates for the Clinton camp. His counterpart in the Obama campaign appears to be Representative Melissa Bean, 8th district, Illinois. Representative Bean is one of the top superdelegate hunters for Obama, and, as such, is in daily talks with superdelegates. She shared some interesting insights with Greg Sargent of Talking Points Memo in a phone interview earlier today.
For weeks Obama has been rumored to have a sizeable block of superdelegates ready to be activated to help bring the campaign to an end. The number floated varies (sometimes 50, sometimes 20, lately 30), but the rumor persists. In fact, the candidate has enjoyed a slow (excruciatingly so), steady stream of superdelegate support for several weeks.
While Obama supporters would like to see the pace pick up a bit, Representative Bean dropped two nuggets of info that should ease a bit of our anxiety.
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First, she predicted that it was "entirely possible" that Obama could pull even with Hillary in super-delegates by next week -- and predicted that at the end of the process Obama would have more super-del support than Hillary.
And second, she insisted that many super-dels who are publicly uncommitted actually are privately backing Obama but won't say so right now.
"They're uncommitted, but it doesn't mean they're undecided," said Bean, who speaks to super-dels daily. Why go public, she asked, "if it's unnecessary and will alienate a portion of your base? You're gonna see more quietly let him know, and some already have, that they're in his column," Bean said.
Bean goes on to say that we could see Obama pull even with Hillary Clinton in superdelegate endorsements as soon as next week. This means, of course, that the delegate difference between the two at that point would be entirely made up of pledged delegates, which reflect the popular vote.
Let's say that again: the delegate difference between the two would be entirely made up of pledged delegates, which reflect the popular vote.
What was really intriguing was when Sargent followed up later with her about Reverend Wright.
He wanted to know what Bean was hearing any worry from superdelegates regarding Reverend Wright or Obama's problem winning that 'hard-working white vote'. Here's her response:
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How often do super-dels raise concerns about Reverend Wright, or about Hillary's claim that Obama struggles with blue collar whites?
Here's the answer that was sent back, from Bean herself:
"I have not heard that as a reservation from anybody. I only
heard about Reverend Wright in the context of people saying
it made them decide to step forward sooner to declare their
support for Senator Obama."
So, to sum it up, polls show that voters are moving on. Election results indicate that voters are moving on. Superdelegates indicate that they are satisfied with how Obama has handled the Wright issue. Sargent says it much better:
This seems like a reference to Obama's handling of the Wright affair. Either way, it's a striking claim indeed from Bean, who talks to the super-dels every day, and obviously runs counter to virtually all of the roar of punditry we've heard on the topic.
Indeed.