2008.03.28: March 28, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Brazil: Politics: State Government: Denver Post: Uncommitted Superdelegate Pat Waak, head of the Colorado Democratic Party, said voters need the chance to weigh in first
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2008.03.28: March 28, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Brazil: Politics: State Government: Denver Post: Uncommitted Superdelegate Pat Waak, head of the Colorado Democratic Party, said voters need the chance to weigh in first
Uncommitted Superdelegate Pat Waak, head of the Colorado Democratic Party, said voters need the chance to weigh in first
"It's very disingenuous to be speculating about what would happen next," Waak said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they (superdelegates) all shifted to the leader and it's over with." Pat Waak, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Colorado, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil in the 1960's.
Uncommitted Superdelegate Pat Waak, head of the Colorado Democratic Party, said voters need the chance to weigh in first
Governor urges superdelegates to make decision
Bredesen of Tennessee says a Democratic gathering in June would stop discontent from worsening.
By Jessica Fender
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 03/28/2008 01:58:29 AM MDT
Tennessee's governor wants undecided Democratic superdelegates — himself included — to get on with it and end the bickering about the presidential nominee that he says threatens the party's momentum.
Gov. Phil Bredesen has proposed a superdelegate mini convention in early June that would force a decision and allow either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama to start wooing the other's supporters and campaigning for November.
A recent Gallup poll shows that sizeable chunks of both the Obama's and Clinton's camps would rather vote Republican than switch Democratic candidates. Bredesen said discontent will worsen if the increasingly contentious race stretches to the August convention in Denver.
"The party is . . . getting more divided," he said Thursday. "We're all creatures of deadlines, whether it's college students with a paper or superdelegates. At the moment, the deadline is the convention."
Critics say that the party's undecided power brokers will pledge their allegiance without an expensive gathering as upcoming primaries show a more clear frontrunner in popular votes, states won and pledged delegate counts.
Pat Waak, head of the Colorado Democratic Party, said voters need the chance to weigh in first.
"It's very disingenuous to be speculating about what would happen next," Waak said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they (superdelegates) all shifted to the leader and it's over with."
The June event would follow the last state primary — currently June 3 contests in Montana and South Dakota. It would give both candidates a chance to make a final pitch before the 793 superdelegates, about 40 percent of whom are undecided, publicly pledge their support.
Neither campaign has dismissed the idea, and it was well-received among Obama backers, Bredesen said. Both campaigns declined to comment on the record.
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee also declined to comment, though Bredesen said chairman Howard Dean was not warm to the idea.
A mini-convention would need the support of the party, and it might tilt the scales toward Sen. Obama, D-Ill., by shortening the time underdog Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., has to court superdelegates, political analysts say.
Obama has claimed more regular delegates through primaries and caucuses, while Clinton leads in the superdelegate count.
Neither can yet claim victory, and that is not likely to change after primaries in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina in late April and early May, said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
"The sooner the Democrats resolve the matter, the quicker they can get to ensuring they have a successful convention — a public-relations, balloon-dropping convention," Sabato said.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
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