Superdelegates give themselves wiggle room on Clinton-Obama

As the fight over superdelegates gets harder, some of the superdelegate endorsements are getting softer.

Several members of Congress have begun to add caveats to their presidential endorsements, hinting they could switch if the popular vote contradicts their choice.

{mosads}Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) recently put some wiggle room in her endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), saying that if Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wins the popular vote, she’ll cast her superdelegate vote for him.

“While I remain a strong Hillary Clinton supporter, I will cast my vote at the convention for the candidate that is chosen not through back-room deals, but by the votes of the American public,” Woolsey’s statement said.

Another Clinton supporter, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is giving herself similar wiggle room. She told the editorial board of The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., that superdelegates, including herself, should back the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the end of the primary season.

“I definitely don’t want the superdelegates to be the deciding factor,” she told the paper.

And Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who endorsed Obama before her district went hard for Clinton, recently told The (San Jose) Mercury News that she would back Clinton if she took the lead in June.

The caveats could be in keeping with the position of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that superdelegates ought to reflect the will of the voters in Democratic primaries. But Pelosi aides reject any suggestion that Democratic lawmakers are refining their positions because of her.

The caveats seem to be coming mostly from elected officials whose endorsements run counter to their constituents’ preferences. Woolsey’s liberal district went for Obama by nine points. Caucus voters in Washington state supported Obama. Lofgren’s San Jose district supported Clinton.

“My district voted for Obama,” Woolsey said in an interview in her Capitol office. “This came from home, not from here. The people I’m usually with are with Obama and they’re surprised. There’s a whole bunch of pressure.”

Woolsey is a founder of the Out of Iraq caucus, and her endorsement surprised many who see Obama as the more anti-war candidate. Woolsey added that, “Either way, I won’t be disappointed.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) a fellow Out of Iraq caucus founder, also had her district strongly support Obama after she endorsed Clinton. Asked about whether she’d change her superdelegate vote if the popular vote went for Obama, she said, “It’s too early to talk about it.”

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), an Obama supporter whose district supported Clinton, said that if Clinton wound up leading in pledged delegates, he would switch his superdelegate vote.

“The person who wins the most pledged delegates should be the nominee,” Wexler said. “I’ve set up the rule, I’ll abide by that.”

That’s an easier position, though, for an Obama supporter because it tracks with the position of the Obama campaign. Obama is expected to lead the popular vote and pledged delegates.

Superdelegates, many of them members of Congress, are becoming an increasingly important part of the nomination contest because it’s likely that neither Obama nor Clinton will have enough delegates by the end of primary season to win without them.

Though Clinton leads in superdelegates, Obama has been gaining on her.

In December, according to an Associated Press tally, Clinton led Obama by 106 superdelegates. In February, her lead had been cut to 87. Late last week, it was 30.

Clinton has other superdelegate problems. Former President Jimmy Carter recently hinted strongly that he would support Obama.

“My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama,” Carter told a Nigerian newspaper during a visit to Africa. “As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess.”

Clinton was embarrassed last week when another of her superdelegates, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), said he expects Obama to win.

“If I had to make a prediction right now, I’d say Barack Obama is going to be the next president,” Cleaver told Canadian public radio in an interview first aired on Sunday. “I will be stunned if he’s not the next president of the United States.”

And two Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, recently gave up their pledges to stay neutral to endorse Obama.