Promoting this from a comment in another thread as this story is getting curiouser and curiouser. I just finished talking to a friend who works in Congressman Lewis' office and he referred me to the original NYT article and that all Lewis' said was what was directly quoted, which didn't state he switched:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/us/politics/15clinton.html?hp
UPDATE: Rep. Lewis: Report of delegate switch to Obama 'not accurate', from AJC
Comments (5)
It sounds like he is maintaining his endorsement of Clinton but simply saying that if the vote at the convention is close, he will vote for Obama as the candidate who won his district.
I think the press jumped the gun in presuming it meant a change in endorsement, rather than an unwillingness to vote in closely contested nomination for someone who did not win a majority of Lewis' constitutents.
he is implying that he's switching his "support" if he feels like it at the convention.
It's all spin trap, and the damage, such as it is, is done.
The news stories this is lumped in with are about other legislators actually switching their endorsements, so I wouldn't worry about this one. We've already voted.
Rep. Lewis' influence is greater than our state, and there are still other huge states coming up....
This is crazy.
It is crazy. I can't imagine the pressure he's now getting from supporters of both sides.
But it appears to me that he's [1] a man principled enough to make his endorsement publicly *before* his constituents voted, and [2] one of those rare politicians who seems to truly care about the meaning of his title, "Representative."