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State's Democratic delegates poised to fight - or unite
By Peter Hecht - phecht@sacbee.com
Last Updated 12:17 am PDT Monday, May 19, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3
California Democratic delegate Taylor Honrath, center, pores over information about August's national convention during a meeting of delegates Sunday in Sacramento. The meeting profivded an overview of what delegates can expect at the Denver convention. Carl Costas / ccostas@sacbee.com
His candidate is refusing to give up in her bid for the Democratic nomination. So John Emerson, California delegate selection committee chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, was playing two very different political games Sunday.
On one hand, Emerson was readying Clinton's California delegation to fight – if needed – all the way to the Democratic National Convention. On the other, he was eagerly reaching out to supporters of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, hoping to unite the party.
Meeting in Sacramento, California Democrats on Sunday finished selecting their roster of 370 pledged delegates and named five new superdelegates for the party's national nominating convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28.
Based on the Feb. 5 California primary, 204 pledged delegates will go to Clinton and 166 to Obama, and state party officials also named three new Clinton superdelegates and two for Obama. The California superdelegate count stands at 34 for Clinton, 22 for Obama and 15 undeclared.
Clinton, who trails nationally, still hopes to pull off a victory with four states and Puerto Rico left to vote. But with Obama widely expected to win the nomination, California party Chairman Art Torres and officials for the Obama and Clinton teams called on Democrats to put aside their differences. They downplayed fears of a lasting divide.
"I'm happy about the energy of this primary campaign," Torres said Sunday, crediting the tight race for fueling a surge in Democratic voter registration in California and nationally. "We'll come together as we always do."
Emerson said the Clinton campaign named as its delegates "strong advocates" of the New York senator "who would help us win if we got to the convention." Yet he said Clinton officials also met with Obama officials to negotiate a final state delegation "in the smoothest process ever."
The two campaigns traded names to complete a combined delegation that met state party demands for diversity based on age, ethnicity, gender, physical challenges and sexual orientation. Party officials said 11.1 percent of delegates are younger than 30 – the highest state total since 1972.
"You have never seen such cooperation between two campaigns," said Steve Westly, a delegate and California campaign co-chairman for Obama. "Why? Because we want the White House back."
About the writer:
- Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.
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