Black lawmakers backing Obama press colleagues to heed voters

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who support Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president are pressuring their colleagues backing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), telling them to listen to voters and switch their endorsements.

The effort to boost Obama’s slate of CBC supporters appears to have paid off.

{mosads}Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), a key Obama supporter, said Friday that he has been lobbying Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of Clinton’s most important black supporters, to abandon the New York Senator’s campaign.

Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), who is also supporting Obama, spoke with Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), a Clinton backer, earlier this month.

Lewis, a prominent civil rights leader, said that he could change his mind on Clinton, and Scott has already decided to defect, according to published reports. However, a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that Lewis’s staff called the report “inaccurate.”

“My discussions with him are paying off,” Conyers said of Lewis' statements this week. “I've got a list of people I'm talking with — him, and everybody else.”

They are not stopping with Lewis and Scott. Conyers, Clay and about 50 key players working to get Obama elected are actively lobbying other members of the CBC and beyond with the message that voters have spoken in their districts and the verdict is Obama.

Clay offered the case of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), a major Clinton surrogate who represents a district in Houston, as someone who should take notice.

“Say, for instance, the city of Houston overwhelmingly votes for Obama,” said Clay. “I would think that Ms. Jackson Lee looks at how her district voted. She may have second thoughts, or what I call buyer’s remorse.”

Conyers said it is important to heed the word of the voters.

“Personal re-election requires that you consider what your constituents be thinking, but not necessarily be bound by it,” he said. “But let's face it — (Lewis’) colleagues from Georgia have already thought about this.”

This year, the endorsements have taken on an added importance as Clinton and Obama are competing in one of the tightest Democratic nomination fights in modern history. If necessary, lawmakers and party officials who have superdelegate votes at the Democratic National Convention in Denver could end up deciding who will be the nominee.

In at least 13 of the 15 districts represented by a CBC member who has publicly supported Clinton, a majority of voters have instead chosen Obama as their choice for the party’s nominee. Two districts represented by Clinton CBC supporters have not gone to the polls yet.

Though Clinton won more delegates in Conyers’ Detroit-area district than any other candidate, more have been allotted to “uncommitted.” Neither Obama nor former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) added their names to Michigan’s primary ballot. The Democratic National Committee has ruled it would not seat of any of the state’s delegates when it chose not to adhere to the primary calendar.

In addition to Lewis and Scott, the list of CBC members who have endorsed Clinton but found the majority of voters from their districts back Obama includes:  Florida Reps. Kendrick Meek, Alcee Hastings and Corinne Brown; California Reps. Maxine Waters, Diane Watson, and Laura Richardson; Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver; New York Reps. Gregory Meeks, Yvette Clarke, and Edolphus Towns; and Virgin Islands Del. Donna Christensen. All are Democrats.

“There is some pressure from home,” said Christensen in an interview with The Hill before Lewis’ and Scott’s wavering of support for Clinton became public. “At least at this point, the calls and the e-mails to my office to change are balanced by the calls and the e-mails to stay with Hillary.”

Caucuses held by the Virgin Islands were swept by Obama with roughly 90 percent of the vote in his favor. Christensen said that one member of Congress suggested she switch sides to Obama, but she would not name who.

“It weighs on my mind, but I made a commitment to Sen. Clinton,” said Christensen. “I have never been in the habit of reneging on my commitments.”

Clay said that he has spoken with Christensen, Scott as well as uncommitted superdelegates, such as Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

Since Obama’s victory in the Iowa caucuses in early January, his CBC supporters have been trying to bring their colleagues over to his side.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said that hours after Sen. Obama’s Hawkeye State victory, he called Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) to try to persuade him to endorse Sen. Obama. At the time, Clyburn was in Shanghai.

“What happens when constituents vote for Sen. Obama and superdelegates [from those districts] are pledged to another position?” said Jackson after Obama’s lopsided victory in South Carolina in January. That situation would make for “interesting politics,” he said.

Though Obama won Clyburn’s congressional district by a 3-to-1 margin, Clyburn has still not made an endorsement.

Several Clinton supporters plan to remain in her camp despite caucus and primary results in their districts. In Meeks’ district, 55 percent of voters went for Obama. Meeks has endorsed Clinton.

“I have an obligation to do what I think is the best for the Democratic Party as a superdelegate. She would be the best candidate,” said Meeks. The New York Democrat has said he has faced questions on his support for Clinton from constituents back home and that he has explained his choice.

“I have seen Sen. Clinton deliver and come up with solutions for problems we have had in our district,” said Meeks.  

Richardson, whose Los Angeles-area district Obama won by 10 points, said she would stick with Clinton. Richardson said that she had told Clinton in 2004 at a rally for then Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) that she would support her if she ever ran for the White House.

“We have many states and many places that will weigh in,” Richardson said. “It’s premature to start jumping from one side of the ship to the other.”

Richardson said she has taken calls from three Obama supporters in Congress trying to persuade her to switch her endorsement. But she also noted that she has tried to bring several other House members over to Clinton’s side.

Few members of Congress who have committed to either candidate thought that their superdelegate vote would mean much before the nomination contests started, said Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.). Uncommitted now that his first choice, Edwards, has dropped his bid, Watt said he had to decide whether a superdelegate’s role is to influence an upcoming primary – North Carolina holds a primary in May – or to wait and follow his constituents.

Watt plans to make an endorsement, but he said he would consider changing it should voters in his district go in another direction.

“It would be nice to take a vote and split it on the same basis as constituents split their vote,” he said. “But rules don’t give you that flexibility. You have to decide, is it my vote or is it my constituents’?”

J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this report.