Supporting Obama, in Public and in Silence
PRIMARY
Union Leader
Matt Negrin
Boston University Washington News Service
17 April 2008
WASHINGTON — New Hampshire’s two Democratic House members are marching down opposite paths in showing their support for presidential contender Barack Obama as the Pennsylvania primary looms.
Rep. Paul Hodes, who endorsed Obama in July, wants the contest between Obama and Hillary Clinton to be over. He said he has been wooing his fellow unpledged superdelegates, among them undeclared House Democrats who may ultimately decide who gets the party’s formal nod in August.
His counterpart, however, has been mute. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter has for two weeks declined to comment on the fierce battle for the Democratic nomination, even as supporters of both Obama and Clinton have made public their backing of the candidates leading up to the April 22 Pennsylvania vote.
Shea-Porter’s silence is not unheard of in this race. Last year, she vowed not to endorse any candidate unless a compelling reason surfaced. Both candidates vigorously sought her support, and she even dined with Bill and Hillary Clinton over the Labor Day weekend.
But she broke her neutrality in December when she backed Obama, citing his ability to inspire the “largest number of Americans to turn out for this critical election.”
To Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, the behavior of Hodes and Shea-Porter “is kind of consistent with the way they’ve been all along.”
Both Granite State freshmen were named national co-chairs for Obama’s campaign after their endorsements. What that nebulous role means is up to each of them. Whereas Shea-Porter has stayed in the shadows, Hodes has brought the competition to the corridors of the House.
“I’ve talked to numerous members, many of my colleagues,” Hodes said. “Press statements confirm a softening of Sen. Clinton’s superdelegates.”
Shea-Porter, meanwhile, issued this statement on April 17: “Like everybody else, I am watching this race closely, and I know that whichever Democrat emerges from this will make an excellent president. It is my hope that this will be determined before the convention.”
Clinton leads Obama in superdelegates, 254 to 230, a much narrower lead than she held months ago, according to the Associated Press. Including the pledged delegates, Obama is ahead of Clinton, 1,644 to 1,504.
When asked how he is persuading the uncommitted superdelegates, Hodes said, “Those are trade secrets.”
Shea-Porter’s reluctance to discuss the race may be indicative of her vulnerability in November. “She’s got other things to worry about, frankly, like keeping her seat,” Scala said.
The Pennsylvania primary may not determine the nominee immediately, but it could cast a bleak pall over the Clinton camp if she merely scrapes by in a state she was once expected to take in a landslide. The fight for the nomination may well come down to the party’s convention in August, where Clinton would have to persuade the superdelegates to choose her over Obama even if she trails him in both popular votes and pledged delegates.
“I have great respect for Sen. Clinton, who is a tough campaigner,” Hodes said. “I know how difficult it would be for her to end her campaign.”
The heated battle for the nomination reached a new point of tension in late March as Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a party elder and Obama supporter, called for Clinton to quit. “There is no way that Sen. Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination,” Leahy told Vermont Public Radio. “She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Sen. Obama.”
The New Hampshire Democratic Party, like its counterparts across the country, is staying out of the fistfight and anxiously waiting for a clear leader to emerge. On Jan. 8, Granite State voters narrowly chose Clinton over Obama, though they each earned nine pledged delegates in the primary.
“It’s still very early,” Ray Buckley, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party, said recently. “Very rarely in the past have we known the nominee at this point.”
When asked if it is right for Obama supporters to urge Clinton to quit the race, Buckley said, “Everyone has their own reason for what they have to do.”
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