These people who were selected to be delegates for her deserve to go to the national convention.

Oh well, back to bad Clinton for Obama supporters!

if we want Barack to win (I do, do you?) we need to not make up these kinds of rumors. this is only at TM and she printed a retraction. come on guys, we want the fellow to win the GE, he already has the nomination.  

Marc Ambinder reported that she's told at least some of her delegates that she wants them to vote for Obama.

Just sayin'.

It would probably help her prospects of getting the VP slot. It would also pull the rug out from under all the McTroll's trying to stir up resentment by pushing the idea of a convention floor fight and go a hell of a long way towards healing the rift in the party since there is still a lot of suspicion on the Obama side of the rift over what she plans to do.

so she is URGING her delegates NOT to vote for her and vote for Obama, but she won't offically release them so that the can still go to the convention.

the point is that she is not still fighting for the nomination, nor does she want these delegates to vot for her anymore when it comes to the convention thats the point.

the word "technically" says it all in that quote. she has "unoffically" released them but won't do it offically so they can still go to the convention, but she doesn't want them voting for her anymore.

The point is that this way these folks get to go to the convention. She expects them to vote for Obama.

As I've said other times, the kind of people who jump through the hoops of what's required to go to the national convention are not folks who are going to launch protests on the convention floor.

Honsetly, what difference does it make at this point?

She shouldn't give them up. What would be the point of that? She did ask them to do whatever they can to support Obama. That is enough.

I think the majority of Obama supporters don't want Clinton to be crushed. We are happy that she recognizes that she lost the delegate race and is supporting Obama.

So?

Clinton shouldn't give them up.
Clinton shouldn't let them down.
Clinton oughta bring them round
to Denver.

'Cause we gotta unify
'Cause we gotta fortify,
'Cause we gotta stop the lies,
and win now.

It doesn't matter!  Unlike for the Rs they aren't required to vote for their candidate on the first ballot, it's more a moral and ethical issue than antyhing else.  As the Clintons said back when they were trying to take some of Obama's pledged delegates, they are free agents once they are picked.

There is a REALLY simple explanation for this. She CAN'T officially drop out of the race and release her delegates. She can't because she needs to raise 30 million plus dollars to retire her campaign debt. Once she drops her campaign, she can't raise money anymore.

So, she SUSPENDED her campaign and endorsed Obama. Now, she's telling her pledged delegates and superdelegates to vote for Obama at the convention.

This is not the same as RELEASING her delegates, they are still pledged to her until she officially drops out. Which she can't do before she raises enough money to retire the debt.

Clear?

that he can hang onto the nomination through Denver. That must be the reason for this hysteria.

Or they just love talking about Hillary and find Obama boring.

If she "releases" now, does it mean she forfeits the right of her slate of delegates to be seated?  I imagine it's the difference between having Hillary-supporting-delegates voting for Obama vs. Hillary-supporting-delegates being replaced by Obama-supporting-delegates.

Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. Hillary Clinton is doing the right thing by endorsing him.

All these other issues; whether or not she's releasing her delegates, not releasing them, or whatever means absolutely nothing.

it just doesn't matter anyway.

um...okay, she didn't formally release her delegates.  But there is a reason for that.  In order for her to formally release her delegates, she would have to drop out of the race.  She can't do that at the moment, she can only suspend her campaign because of the amount of debt that she put herself in.

But that doesn't not change the crux of the article.  She will not create a brokered convention.  It would be without purpose, there is no way superdelegates would support her in the effort.  So if your suggesting there is hope for her to become the nominee, you're one hundred percent wrong.

I was a DNC convention delegate in 2004, and 2000. My candidate did not win the nomination in either case. Such is how Democracy plays itself out, in a rather sophisticated dance with democratic traditions helping to guide an orderly process. That process was grossly attacked and abused starting with the impeachment of Bill Clinton and ending with the determination of the Presidency by the Supreme Court. Since that time it has been one insult after another as the Executive Branch has and continues to usurp the power of the other branches of government as well as the will of the American people. It is incumbent upon us all to rid the government of the Bush/McCain/Cheney/Ashcroft/Gonzales/Rov e/DeLay stank and push back in the name of restoring our Democracy to what it should be.

Candidates owe their supporters, especially pledged delegates, the courtesy of communicating with them after the primary. Senator Clinton has taken the opportunity to not only communicate with delegates "pledged" to her, but to personally let them know she is fully supporting the Obama candidacy.

Pledged delegates are almost always people who have done quite a lot of work for the Party, and their candidate. They deserve this level of respect, and they also deserve the opportunity to provide feedback to their candidate. Hillary reinforced her support for the Obama campaign, and I'm sure all her pledged delegates were pleased with this.

Although the entire process of delegate selection is not based on popular vote, some Clinton delegates certainly felt that they represented the will of those voters who voted for Hillary. If she says she would like them to support Obama, it gives them another layer of confidence that they are not in any way going against the wishes of voters who chose Senator Clinton. It also gives them a nice but not required permission to seek out both new and old dance partners. It brings closure to a significant relationship.

Many will continue to harbor a deep respect and admiration for Senator Clinton, even as they develop new relationships. Those who are actively campaigning against Hillary to be the VP selection might do well to consider that for many delegates and certainly many voters, this appears as directing negativity and demeaning someone who has already graciously and repeatedly endorsed the person who is the nominee. Most Americans are not hard core political operatives, although Hillary can obviously tangle with the best of them.

So the reality is that even once "pledged", any delegate can actually change their mind anytime now until the convention. No one is actually locked into their position. Those are the rules. But to avoid a pedantic discussion of de jure versus de facto, Senator Clinton has been very clear and gracious about communicating to her delegates that she would like them to not vote for her and vote for and support Obama.

There may be a passionate discussion and some people may get embroiled in a raging discussion about sexism or classism or racism or ageism or earned or entitled consideration. I have no problem with debate and discourse

Sure, a tussle amongst former dance partners when someone has had a bad day or has a few drinks, but the nomination and Senator Clinton's declared support for Obama is not going to change. That is completely irrespective of who gets chosen as VP. That is just not how a person such as Hillary acts or encourages others to act.

There will not be a convention uproar - maybe some valid symbolic acts of protest which the media will gladly cover - encouraged or led by Senator Clinton to dispute the nomination. The two campaigns are already working together, as are both Hillary and Barack. We will win because not winning would truly harm us all in ways even the wisest amongst us has not even thought of yet. But we will. There will be no Blood.

So, who did those delegates vote for?

When a person has a large amount of delegates, it is common practice that they not release them at least until the convention so that they have the greatest leverage on the platform and on promoting their issues and what they stood for.  Besides the fact that their delegates represent the people who voted for them and all of those people don't want their votes to go to an opposing candidate this early if at all.  This has always been very common.  The trouble is,  that the Obama campaign supporters are very often novices at politics, have never payed attention to a campaign, and don't know the ins and outs of things.  Their demands are unrealistic.  Enough rules and past practices have been made up and twisted in this campaign, there is no reason for trying to have Clintons delegates, too.  Afterall, if Obama won with delegates, why would he care if he has them now or not.

Yawn!