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Democratic lawmakers from caucus states are agitated by the Clinton campaign’s attempts to dismiss Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) victories in their home states.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and her campaign surrogates have tried to marginalize Obama’s caucus wins by saying the process is unfair because it limits participation. In a televised interview earlier this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D), a top Clinton supporter, went as far as to call the caucus process “undemocratic.”
In interviews, a host of superdelegates supportive of the caucus system pushed back against that criticism, and said the attacks reflect hardball tactics by a Clinton campaign trying to diminish Obama’s overwhelming success in caucus states.
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), an uncommitted superdelegate whose state and district were won by Obama, said the Clinton campaign’s attack on the caucus system is a “cause for concern” in evaluating her candidacy and one of a number of factors he’ll consider in making his endorsement.
He said his home state’s January caucuses “were one of the most democratic processes we’ve ever seen.”
“If you had seen what I saw in my precinct caucus, and the overwhelming number of first-time caucus attendees, including my two older children, I think that it would put to rest all of this nonsense about caucuses being an undemocratic process,” Braley said.
Braley’s concerns were echoed by superdelegates from Washington state, where Obama also won.
“The first thing I would say to any national leader, whoever they are, is, ‘Don’t boss around states and tell them how to select their delegates,’ ” said Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), who, like Braley, has not picked a candidate to support in the race.
The attacks by the Clinton campaign, which makes the pitch that she is the most electable Democratic candidate because of her success in large states with primaries, risks alienating lawmakers and other superdelegates who are expected to determine the outcome of the nomination battle.
Neither Obama nor Clinton is likely to clinch the nomination after the last primaries are held in early June, so the candidates are taking their case directly to 795 superdelegates — the members of Congress, governors, Democratic National Committee members and other local officials whose backing might determine the outcome of the race. At least 50, or more than 15 percent, of the uncommitted superdelegates come from the 13 states that hold caucuses.
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