Sunday, April 13, 2008
News
Dems to choose delegates on April 19
Hillary Clinton gets a kiss from Elton John on April 9 in New York during a fundraising concert.
CREDIT: Andrew Theodorakis/AFP/Getty Images
Who are Georgia’s Superdelegates?
All Democrats from Georgia in Congress:
- Sanford Bishop
- Hank Johnson
- John Lewis
- Jim Marshall
- John Barrow
- David Scott
- Democratic Party of Georgia Chair and Vice-Chair:
- Jane Kidd, Chair
- Michael Thurmond, Vice-Chair
- Former Presidents or Vice-Presidents who reside in Georgia:
- President Jimmy Carter
- Georgia’s members of the Democratic National Committee:
- Carole Dabbs
- Mary Long
- Lonnie Plott
- Richard Ray
SOURCE: The Democratic Party of Georgia
By Stephanie Ramage
Some residents of the Fifth Congressional District—that’s Congressman John Lewis’ bailiwick—may have been a bit surprised to recently get a party e-vite from Spelman College history professor, Jelani Cobb.
A click to view the invitation reveals Cobb’s real intent:
“Jelani’s Party ... is your party too if you are registered to vote in the Fifth Congressional District. I am running to be a delegate to the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado and I’m humbly requesting your support. As we know this is a historic election and we need delegates who are knowledgeable and trustworthy. I expect to work hard to ensure that we have a platform that reflects the needs of our communities but I need your help.”
While much of the media buzz is about battle over superdelegates between Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, Cobb just wants to be a plain ol’ delegate. If he wins the delegate election at the April 19 caucus, he says he won’t even wear a state-inspired costume at the national convention, as so many delegates do.
“I don’t really have the theatricality for that,” he says.
But what he does have, he stresses, is reliability.
“My campaign slogan is ‘I will not change my mind,’” he says. “I have been quoted on the radio, in print, on the Web, as saying that I support Obama. I will not switch my vote at the convention.”
Which, according to Martin Matheny, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, he is allowed to do. Although the number of delegate slots for the caucus is determined by the percentage of the vote that Obama and Clinton claimed in Georgia’s primary, once a delegate is out in Colorado jockeying for space on the convention floor with people dressed up like Florida oranges, New York Statues of Liberty, and California raisins, he is allowed to support Hillary Clinton, even if he ran to be a delegate for Obama.
What about Mayor Shirley Franklin? She’s running to be a delegate for Obama, too. She used to be a superdelegate, but lost her superdelegate status when she stepped down from her position as president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. Now she’s running like any other delegate, a contest for which Cobb thinks she has an unfair advantage.
“They want the district delegates to look like the district, so there are three women’s slots up for election and two men’s slots, but really there are only two women’s slots up for election because Shirley Franklin is running for the third one—so that slot is safe,” he says.
To be allowed to run, a would-be delegate has to fax the state party a signed statement pledging his faithfulness to the party. He also has to submit an application. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have a right to reject applications—if they suspect a would-be delegate is likely to switch his or her vote at the convention. As The Sunday Paper goes to press, Matheny says he has not yet received the campaigns’ approved lists of delegate candidates. He expects to have them by Monday, April 14. SP