Freshman Lawmakers Who Are Superdelegates Play It Cool

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Freshman Lawmakers Who Are Superdelegates Play It Cool
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
April 10, 2008; Page A6

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A third of Democratic House and Senate members haven't announced whom they support.. the 2006 Democratic wave swept dozens of new members into the House, including 20 from districts that gave wide electoral margins to President Bush. With their own re-elections now at stake, many see little advantage in getting involved in the national race.

(snip)

Getting behind one of the two Democratic presidential hopefuls risks alienating the other's supporters and could hurt with fund raising. Many representatives don't want to call attention to their superdelegate votes, which have the potential to overturn the popular vote.

(snip)

A few freshmen in Republican districts also aren't eager to highlight their party affiliation by endorsing a candidate. They "don't have the luxury of just motivating the Democratic base and getting some independents to win. They need some Republicans, too," said Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Report, which tracks congressional campaigns... Their reluctance complicates Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's hopes of settling the nomination soon and preventing a convention brawl. His plan for resolving the dispute leans heavily on superdelegates.

(snip)

But Mr. Dean hasn't any power to force superdelegates to announce their votes, and many may not see any advantage in making a decision soon. "When it comes down to self preservation, a lot of undecided superdelegates don't want to isolate themselves from the eventual candidate," says Jay Campbell, vice president of Hart Research.


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120779058820003633.html (subscription)


Examples provided in the story:

Nick Lampson from Texas
Jim Marshall from GA