Allegiance of California delegates also in play?

The Feb. 5 primary votes have long been counted and the delegates awarded, so there's no question that California winner Hillary Clinton will receive 204 pledged delegates and Barack Obama 166 from our state, right?

Not necessarily.

Democratic National Committee rules say pledged delegates "shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them," but that does not bind them legally to choose the candidate for which they have been designated.

In interviews last month, Clinton, who trails Obama by more than 100 pledged delegates nationally, surprised some when she said so-called pledged delegates are up for grabs even though they are initially awarded on the basis of primary and caucus results.

"And also remember that pledged delegates in most states are not pledged," she told the Philadelphia Daily News. "You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They're just like superdelegates."

While attention has been focused on superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who can vote for whomever they want at the August convention, Clinton's recent comments make clear that even pledged delegates could be in play.

It's fueling some suspicion at the local level, where Sacramento volunteers for Obama have questioned whether those running to be delegates in his name may be inclined to switch at the convention if they haven't backed Obama from the beginning.

Kim Mack, chair of Sacramento for Obama and a delegate candidate, said she didn't recognize most of the people running as Obama delegates locally.

"I don't know what their motivation is," Mack said. "I'd like to trust that it's pure. We just want to make sure we work as hard as we can to have rock-solid support for Obama."

Longtime Democrats and political historians doubt many pledged delegates will switch candidates before the convention.

"I think it is unlikely that we will see a significant amount of switching on the part of pledged delegates as long as both candidates remain active," said David Karol, a University of California, Berkeley, political science professor, in an e-mail response. "In the recent past switching has not been very important and has chiefly taken the form of delegates moving from defunct campaigns to the camp of the prospective nominee."

Democrats statewide will choose 241 local-level delegates April 13 in caucus meetings in each congressional district. An estimated 2,500 Democrats are running for these slots, and they have designated themselves as either Clinton or Obama backers in their applications.

The state party will choose another 129 pledged delegates in May, which includes elected officials, supporters and donors nominated by the candidates.

Under party rules, each campaign can block any local-level delegate aspirant it deems unworthy by a Monday deadline. Volunteers for both candidates say campaign officials are reviewing donor lists to make sure ardent Clinton supporters aren't running to become Obama delegates and vice versa.

"We're going to make sure that people who are pledged to be Hillary delegates are Hillary supporters without applying any sort of purity test … just like the people running as Obama delegates (should) support Sen. Obama," said Chris Lavery, Clinton's California political director. "We don't believe that anyone should try to beat the system."

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor added that "our focus is on making sure that our supporters know where to be and when to be there."

California Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland said it would be rare to block someone from running as a delegate, though not unusual if a campaign spotted a hopeful who donated a few hundred dollars to the other campaign without a good reason.

"I think it has happened in other states and in the past where a campaign spotted a LaRouchie," Mulholland said, referring to supporters of controversial political figure Lyndon LaRouche. "The campaigns will make the appropriate decisions. They might say, 'Hey, you're listed by the (Federal Election Commission) giving 200 bucks to the other guy, what are you doing running for one of our delegate seats?'"

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• Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.