McLin Breaks for Obama; 'Fernsy Playing Footsie; & The Rest of the Ohio Superdelegates
Submitted by Jerid on Thu, 03/06/2008 - 10:40am.
Well, it's official, Rhine McLin has followed through on her pledge to tie her superdelegate vote to the will of the people. On Goodmorning America she laid it out.
"It appears that Dayton and Montgomery County went with Obama," McLin said on CNN. "So by Dayton and Montgomery County going with Obama, that's who I'm going to pledge my (vote) to.
And other Ohio Superdelegates are angling to make an endorsement soon, not the least of them ODP Chair Chris Redfern (who's prize comes with two other Ohio Superdelegates he gets to appoint at the May 10 ODP Central Committee meeting). As Jeff reported yesterday, 'Fernsy mentioned on WCPN radio that he'd be considering whether to make an endorsement in the coming days, weighing the Ohio Primary vote and other factors. Considering the fact that Redfern has adamantly maintained his neutrality up to now, and his 
previous statements that the candidate that takes Ohio will win the nomination - I'd say his latest shift in Rhetoric is a sign he's considering coming out for Clinton.
And on the other front, Ohio's Congressional Delegation is trying to get some more bang for their buck. The Politico announced today members of the Ohio delegation - Tim Ryan, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, and questionably others - are trying to get some pledge out of the candidates as to how they'll protect American jobs before they make an endorsement.
As things stand now, Clinton's got 2 Ohio Superdelegates compared to Obama's 4. While Redfern and some of the Congressionals may be ready to make a move, I'd expect others - like Senator Sherrod Brown - to be in a position to hold their cards closer to themselves. Since the Ohio primary is over, there's little pressure to endorse immediately. Consequently, Ohio Superdelegates won't have nearly as much regional pressure as they've had over the previous month to endorse.
About those superdelegates...
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Ohio gets 162 delegates, and of those , there are 21 "superdelegates", and not just 20, even though I keep seeing 161 and 20 batted around on the internet. The 21 "supers" are: 1. The governor. 2. The 7 Democratic members of the House and our 1 Democratic Senator. 3. 11 members of the Democratic National Committee who live in Ohio. 4. 2 "add-ons" appointed by the Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. This comes out to 21 because Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones actually qualifies twice, but only gets one vote as a delegate. So that is 1 (Gov.)+1 (Senator)+6 (Reps.)+11 DNC (including Rep. Tubbs-Jones)+2 (add-ons)=21.
Here is the current breakdown as I understand it:
1. Gov. Strickland: Clinton.
2. Senator Sherrod Brown: ?
3. Rep. Charlie Wilson-6th: ?
4. Marcia Kaptur-9th: ?
5. Dennis-Kucinich-10th: ?
6. Betty Sutton-13th: ?
7. Tim Ryan-17th: ?
8. Zack Space-18th: ?
9. Chris Redfern (ODP Chair): ?
10. Redfern add-on #1: ?
11. Redfern add-on #2: ?
12. Rhine McLin (Dayton Mayor): Obama
13. Ron Malone: ? (likely Clinton)
14. Bill Burga: ? (likely Clinton)
15. Sonny Nardi: Obama.
16. Mark Mallory (Cincinnati Mayor): Obama.
17. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, OH-11: Clinton.
18. Patricia Moss: ? (likely Clinton)
19. Enid Goubeaux: ? (likely Clinton)
20. Joyce Beatty: ?
21. David Wilhelm: Obama.
Clinton has 2 (and 4 more likely, since they have actually been working for her campaign, I think), and Obama has 4. That leaves 11 seriously up for grabs. If he gets those remaining 11, that will give him and Clinton both 81 delegates, a completely even split. Not bad for Obama, seeing that he lost the election by 10 points. It is now 2 days past the election, and no new unpledged delegates have endorsed Clinton. Supposedly most of them were sitting on the fence waiting for the primary to be over. I would think that does not bode well for Clinton--she won, so what are they waiting for? I think they are waiting for Obama to get back on the winning track again, because many of them thought he was going to win in Ohio, and they really don't want to pledge themselves to vote for Clinton. Obama is predicted to win this week in both Wyoming and Mississippi, so maybe that will give some more of the undecided "superdelegates" a window of opportunity to publicly endorse Obama.