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Hillary can still count on Bill
21/02/2008 18:11 - (SA)
New York - The Democratic nomination for president could come down to a vote-by-vote struggle for superdelegates, and while Hillary Rodham Clinton has lost her delegate advantage over Barack Obama, she knows she can bank on one superdelegate no matter what.
Bill Clinton is guaranteed a spot as a superdelegate - separately chosen party and elected officials who are free to support any candidate - and it is safe to say his wife gets his vote. With the two candidates separated by 85 delegates, every vote counts.
So, is it an unfair edge to be married to a super-duper-delegate, a former two-term president, the last Democrat to hold the office and a leader who is still wildly popular within the party?
Critics have said the unpledged superdelegate system can overturn the wishes of voters and grass-roots political movements. Those 796 lawmakers, governors and party officials who wear the tag "superdelegate" could tip the nomination to one candidate even if the other gets more votes in primaries and caucuses.
Unlike pledged delegates won through a primary or a caucus, superdelegates are not beholden to vote for the candidate they endorse.
"I don't think it's going to come down to the president's vote, but as he has said many times, he would be supporting her even if they weren't married," Clinton spokesperson Matt McKenna said in a written statement.
A spokesperson for Obama declined comment.
The latest Associated Press count of delegates shows Obama with 1 336, including superdelegates. Clinton had 1 251, falling further behind. It takes 2 025 to win the nomination at the party's national convention this summer in Denver.
Political analysts do not see the former president's role as superdelegate as a problem.
"I don't think the status of superdelegate gives Bill Clinton any more power to influence the outcome of the election than it would if he were not a president," said Doug Muzzio, a politics professor at Baruch College in New York. "The objection is obvious, the guy's wife is running for president and he's voting for her, but he's one of 796."
Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, doesn't object to Clinton the superdelegate. She worries more about his dual roles as a former president and party leader who happens to be married to one of the candidates.
"People will be more responsive to him than virtually anybody else," Lerner said.
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