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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Who Exactly are the Massachusetts Super Delegates?



Veracifier's Joshua Micah Marshall explains the superdelegates?

Who are the superdelegates from Massachusetts? Exactly?

Who are they?

We need to know so we can find out who they are going to be voting for in the election.

Jack Dew of the Berkshire Eagle writes, 'Super delegate' scenarios,
Of the 121 delegates who will come from Massachusetts, only 93 are apportioned based on the statewide vote.

The other 28 are "unpledged" delegates, free to vote for any of the presidential candidates at the national convention. Sometimes called "super delegates," this group is comprised of the 10 members of the House of Representatives, both U.S. senators, Gov. Deval L. Patrick, three former chairmen of the Democratic National Convention and others.


Here are the Massachusetts members of Congress:

Capuano, Michael E., Massachusetts, 8th
Delahunt, William, Massachusetts, 10th
Frank, Barney, Massachusetts, 4th
Lynch, Stephen F., Massachusetts, 9th
McGovern, James, Massachusetts, 3rd
Markey, Ed, Massachusetts, 7th
Neal, Richard E., Massachusetts, 2nd
Olver, John, Massachusetts, 1st
Tierney, John, Massachusetts, 6th
Tsongas, Niki, Massachusetts, 5th

From the article we can break down super delegates support like this:
OBAMA
Governor Deval Patrick
Senator Ted Kennedy
Senator John Kerry

U.S. Reps.
Michael Capuano
William Delahunt

CLINTON
U.S. Reps.
Barney Frank
Richard E. Neal
James P. McGovern
Stephen F. Lynch


Where do these U.S. reps stand?
Olver, John, Massachusetts, 1st
Tierney, John, Massachusetts, 6th
Tsongas, Niki, Massachusetts, 5th


How will it all end:
Mary O'Brien, of Pittsfield, a member of the Democratic State Committee, has served as a delegate to the national convention a half-dozen times since the 1980s. Every time, she said, the bulk of the super delegates have fallen in line with the majority of the state voters and the front-runner has emerged, unscathed by a tough convention fight.

"It would not be a sensible move on the part of the super delegates to light any fires under the electorate who make up their constituencies and, in the face of the majority, go against the raw votes in the commonwealth," she said.
We are left with 15 superdelegates that need to be identified. Who are they?

Please comment...

Update 2/7/08 10:56 AM:
Thanks Erik for pointing me to 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.

Clinton:
Rep. Richard Neal (MA)
Rep. Jim McGovern (MA)
Rep. Barney Frank (MA)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA)
DNC Steven Grossman (MA) *
Dr. Elaine Kamarck (MA) *
DNC Diane Saxe (MA) *

Obama:
Gov. Deval Patrick (MA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. Ted Kennedy (MA)
Rep. William Delahunt (MA)
Rep. Michael Capuano (MA)
DNC Alan Solomont (MA) *

(* are new superdelegates I didn't know about earlier)

Massachusetts DNC Members Who Have Not Endorsed:
John Walsh - MA Chair
Debra Kozikowski
Gus Bickford
Hon. Raymond Jordan
David O'Brien
Margaret Xifaras

Massachusetts Members at Large:
James Roosevelt Jr (MA)

Former Massachusetts DNC Chairmen:
Debra DeLee (MA)
Paul Kirk (MA)

So now I am missing (2)? Who are they?

Plus, can we have a conversation with these uncommitted super delegates?

Hello WTKK, WRKO, WBZ, WHDH, WBUR, WGBH?

Anyone in radio or TV land in Boston want to help?

More here:
Obama campaign?: Don't contact the superdelegates.
DailyKos: A Brief Primer on Democratic Delegates