Reid hints at pushing superdelegates to make a choice

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that three of the party’s most influential figures might join to convince Democratic superdelegates to make up their minds on which presidential candidate to support.

Reid said he, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean might write a joint letter, or individual letters, to superdelegates after the last primaries in early June, “unless something comes up.”

Reid rejected suggestions that the nominating fight may extend to the Democratic Convention in August, and expected superdelegates to make up their minds before the beginning of July.

“I’ve said for several weeks now that this matter will be over by sometime in June, or no later than the first of July. I still believe that that’s the case,” he told reporters.

At a closed-door meeting Wednesday, Reid said “seven or eight” or “maybe even more than that” of his Senate chairmen indicated they had not yet made up their minds on whom to support, adding that one chairman planned to make a decision “pretty soon.”

“So people are in the process of making a decision,” Reid said. “I think people will have plenty of opportunity after the last primaries to make a decision.”

Despite the length and nature of the race, Reid said he “feels comfortable where we are” because of Democratic voter registration, which is “rising rapidly.”

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