Democrats carefully court superdelegates

Published 10:45 pm Monday, February 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — Before the telephone rang in her Philadelphia home at 10:03 a.m. Saturday, Carol Ann Campbell was inclined to use her position as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention to make Hillary Rodham Clinton the party’s presidential nominee.

By the time she hung up, Campbell had been persuaded to throw her support to Barack Obama.

On the other end of the line was Michelle Obama, the Illinois senator’s wife. In that call, which lasted an hour and 27 minutes, the would-be first lady made the sale.

She talked about taking her two young daughters to dance lessons later that day. She shared a bit of strategy, laying out how the campaign plans to move volunteers into Pennsylvania, which votes April 22, once Texas and Ohio hold primaries March 4.

And when Campbell mentioned that she was wheelchair-bound, Obama spoke about her late father, who used a scooter to get around.

“She was talking to me like you would your girlfriend,” said Campbell, a Philadelphia Democratic Party official who also heads the city’s black ward leaders.

“Now, I’m old enough to be her mother, but I like what I heard … loved that those little girls going to dancing lessons were just as important to her as being out there campaigning. And she told me how her mom slammed her finger in the door the day before. No pretense. Just real.”

With the Democratic delegate count nearly deadlocked, conversations like that one are playing out daily. Candidates, their family members and their famous supporters are targeting the 800 or so superdelegates — party activists, elected officials and others whose votes will make the difference if neither Obama nor Clinton clinches the nomination by winning 2,025 regular delegates in the primaries and caucuses.

The courting of the superdelegates takes many forms.

Chris Stampolis of Santa Clara, Calif., has heard from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Clinton supporter.

Taling Taitano, from Guam, got a call from Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.

Earlier in February, Chelsea Clinton took Jason Rae, a 21-year-old college student in Wisconsin, to breakfast.

Michelle Obama had been trying repeatedly to reach Campbell — another courtesy that paid off. She had left a message on Campbell’s voice-mail earlier.

“For her to take the time to care about what I thought and try to answer any question I might have, that’s not your normal candidate,” Campbell said.

In committing to Obama, Campbell is taking a position at odds with part of the state’s Democratic establishment. The Clintons have deep ties to Pennsylvania. Gov. Edward Rendell, also a superdelegate, has endorsed Clinton, as has Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter.

Campbell said her support for Clinton was based largely on affection for former President Bill Clinton, who visited the city often in the 1990s.

Now, she said, she is beginning to talk to about two dozen black ward leaders in the city, trying to entice others to the Obama camp.

Campbell, a former city councilwoman, said she was distressed to see race injected into the campaign. She said she was unhappy that after the South Carolina primary, which Obama won, Bill Clinton attempted to marginalize his wife’s opponent by comparing his candidacy to that of another black presidential hopeful, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who won the South Carolina Democratic primary in 1984 and 1988 but had little support elsewhere. And she was dismayed by a comment from Rendell that white voters in Pennsylvania might be reluctant to vote for Obama, potentially hurting his chances in the state.

“What does he (Rendell) think has been going on across this country?” Campbell said, pointing to Obama’s campaign victories.

Referring to Obama, she added: “This is the first person I’ve seen on the horizon who is a wonderful example for a little black person — to set their goals higher.”

In wooing superdelegates, niceties get noticed. And slights, intended or not, can loom large. Campbell did get a call from a Clinton supporter but not from the ones she wanted to hear from.

One person she had thought might call on the New York senator’s behalf was Tony Podesta, one of Washington’s top lobbyists and a longtime party activist.

In an interview Monday, Podesta said no offense was meant. He explained that he was not at a high level in the Clinton campaign and had no such role.

“If she is feeling slighted by me, she shouldn’t,” Podesta said, “because I haven’t called anyone else, either.”