Political Insider has the story.
In the Democratic blogosphere, there's been some chatter about a provision in the Georgia Code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-196) that requires delegates to political conventions to stick with the candidates what got them there for two votes, or until the said candidate gets less than 35 percent in a round of voting, or until said candidate releases delegates from their pledge.Between the PUMAs and Team Obama, I don't envy our beleaguered Clinton Delegates.Delegates sign an oath, by the way, that is on file with Secretary of State Karen Handel. The statute requiring the pledge dates back at least to the mid-1970s.
Last week, an inquiry was sent the way of Attorney General Thurbert Baker, complaining that the Barack Obama campaign had been pressuring Georgia delegates pledged to other candidates to switch their votes. Baker, you'll recall, was a Hillary Clinton supporter during the Democratic primary.
Comments (9)
Or someone could just be making some noise. I'd prefer if some Clinton delegates addressed this story.
Most of the ones I know are currently heading to Denver in an RV.
My guess is this isn't an organized program from Obama's campaign, but just some over zealous gerbils getting on a few people's last nerve.
It all depends on what "releases" means. HRC has encouraged her "supporters" to back Obama, but I'm not sure if she has uttered the word "released" specifically in relation to the delegates. Maybe she'll do it on Tuesday when she speaks.
That would be pretty dramatic.
Too bad it won't cause any pledged delegates to jump ship.
Page described the traditional process to me a few weeks ago. On the first day of convention, there will be a meeting between Hillary and her pledged delegates, during which she will formally release them to support Obama on the second ballot. There might also be an organized effort to include universal healthcare to the platform, but the last rumor I heard was that Obama's people are resisting this.
Whatever the process, I'm sure our intrepid HRC Delegates will help us follow the action.
MelGX: The proprietor of VernonJonesforSenate.blogspot.com asked me why BforD won't show VJforS any love.
To which I say: seriously.
This is interesting. I seem to remember HRC and her people telling pledged delegates that they didn't have to vote for the person they were pledged to during the entire freakin' primary...
I don't know of anyone in the Obama delegation that is pressuring any Clinton delegate on their vote.
I'm lifting this from Joblanski's post on PI
"The US Supreme Court decided more than 20 years ago that national party delegate selection rules trump state statutes governing delegates to a national convention. Democratic Party v. La Follette, 450 U.S. 107 (1981) and Cousins v. Wigoda, 419 U.S. 477 (1974)
.”In the selection of candidates for national office, a National Party Convention serves the pervasive national interest, which is paramount to any interest of a State in protecting the integrity of its electoral process, and the Circuit Court erred in issuing an injunction that abridged the associational rights of petitioners and their Party and the Party’s right to determine the composition of its National Convention in accordance with Party standards.” Wigoda, 419 U. S. 487-491.
National party rules clearly state, “No delegate at any level of the delegate selection process shall be mandated by law or Party rule to vote contrary to that person’s presidential choice as expressed at the time the delegate is elected.” DNC Delegate Selection Rules, 12 I."
Good Grief people what more do you want her to say?
August 22, 2008
Stumping for Obama, Hillary Clinton calls for unity
She asks her supporters to stop grieving and work for a Democratic win
By Mark Hollis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
BOCA RATON - Hillary Clinton appealed in person Thursday to hundreds of her staunchest South Florida supporters to end grieving about her lost presidential bid and help send Barack Obama to the White House.
"Anyone who supported me has much more in common with Senator Obama than with Sen. McCain," Clinton told about 1,500 supporters at the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University. "We need every Democrat to rally around Senator Obama's candidacy."
Clinton's first visit to Florida since suspending her presidential campaign in June came on the cusp of an expected announcement naming Obama's running mate and just days before the Democratic Party begins its presidential nominating convention in Denver.
"This is his decision. He gets to choose who he wants," Clinton said to reporters, batting away questions about Obama's running mate decision.
Thursday's campaigning was as much a thank you to local backers as it was a thinly veiled attempt to paint the Democratic Party as united behind Obama.
But in repeatedly characterizing her party as steadfast for Obama, Clinton came across to some of her supporters as overly optimistic. Several said after Clinton's speech that they know many local Democrats and independents who aren't convinced Obama has the credentials they demand in a president.
"I understand the reluctance [to back Obama]," said Marjorie Shields, 81, of Boca Raton, a fervent Clinton loyalist. "I felt his resume was very thin."
New polls show the race between Obama and John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential pick, extremely close in Florida and nationally. Clinton told reporters that the glacial pace some likely voters are taking in getting enthused about Obama will begin to pick up after the convention.
"People make up their minds in different ways," Clinton said, adding that "elections have a rhythm" and by November, support will be there for Obama.
Clinton on Thursday also addressed residents of a Broward County retirement community, Kings Point, in Tamarac. Earlier, she visited Orlando and was expected to finish the day in the Miami area conducting a private fundraiser.
The challenge Clinton came here to confront on Obama's behalf was to get the attention of people like Teri Takahashi, a self-described political independent who attended the rally at FAU and said she's been tuning out the presidential race.
"I still don't know much about him," Takahashi said of Obama. "He's OK. But I still want to see how [the candidates] are going to improve the economy and offer something that I can believe will actually happen, and I'm not sure what that is."
To heal festering Democratic divisions is a complex task that won't come quickly, said Jack Sadow of Lake Worth, a longtime local Democratic Party activist. He and other Democrats here said some are reluctant to back Obama because of his race.
"There are many people in many parts of the country that aren't ready for [a black man] in the White House," he said.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a longtime Clinton backer, said it's also about gender. "A lot of these senior citizens felt it was the last shot in their lifetime to have a woman president," Aaronson said.
Clinton's roughly 30-minute speech appeared directed at party activists rather than a general audience. It's those people that her supporters say will be key to healing bruises from the divisive Democratic primaries.
"I know how hard you worked for me," Clinton told them. "And now I'm asking that you work just as hard for Senator Obama."
From above:
National party rules clearly state, “No delegate at any level of the delegate selection process shall be mandated by law or Party rule to vote contrary to that person’s presidential choice as expressed at the time the delegate is elected.” DNC Delegate Selection Rules, 12 I."
note the time frame "as expressed when the delegate is elected". That says that no State law or party rule can force say, Hillary 's delegates to vote for Obama, not the other way around.