By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted Feb. 25, 2008 – There may be no need to worry about the role of “super delegates” in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination Michigan Congressman John Conyers (D) told me.  He predicts that if Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) winning streak continues,  “Someone may concede the whole thing.”

The only “someone” to concede is Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who is betting on primaries in Ohio and Texas to revive her campaign.

Conyers wants Democrats to stop the infighting and start focusing on the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).      

Clinton (D-N.Y.) hasn’t given any indication she would concede, so what if it comes down to the super delegates and a battle to seat those delegates in Florida and Michigan?

 Clinton wants those votes to count of course, because she “won” those contests.  There were no other candidates’ names on the ballot and no one campaigned in those states, as was agreed upon by all parties before the primary season started. 

 Conyers, a super delegate from Michigan, won’t be able to cast his vote either.  The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and dean of the Congressional Black Caucus will have to forfeit his super status because Michigan ignored the rules set forth by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  

Conyers said that if there is a compromise for the delegates in the states that were disqualified,  it should be done fairly, before the convention; and that no one should be rewarded who “violated” the rules.  “We have to either have a caucus or an agreement with the candidates.” he said.

Conyers isn’t the only Black lawmaker whose super status hangs in the balance.  Florida Congressmen Kendrick Meek and Alcee Hastings also forfeited their standing. In October 2007, Hasting and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) filed a lawsuit in federal court against the DNC and the chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

The lawsuit charges the DNC with imposing “disenfranchisement on a massive scale,” for voters in Florida by stripping away its delegates and its representation at the national convention in Denver.  No decision on this yet.

But Conyers thinks the contest between Obama and Clinton will be over soon. “We may not have to do anything,” he said. “It’s looking difficult [for Clinton] to get more delegates than Barack Obama.”

And the question of whether super delegates will make the call, Conyers said, “no one is going to stand for that.” We can’t go back to the days of smoke-filled rooms, where a few party heavyweights would decide who the nominee would be. That won’t work in 2008.”
 
 

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