Deliberations of a Superdelegate
by Christine Stuart | April 18, 2008 1:45 PM
Posted to Election 2008
| Labor
An increasingly firm Howard Dean told CNN again Thursday that he needs superdelegates to say who they’re for - and “I need them to say who they’re for starting now.”
John Olsen, one of Connecticut’s 12 superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, said Friday in a phone interview that he’s working on getting Mr. Dean an answer.
Mr. Olsen, who is also president of the AFL-CIO, has not yet committed to vote for either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama. In order to help him make a decision, Mr. Olsen is conducting a secret ballot of the AFL-CIO’s executive board members this week.
As a superdelegate Mr. Olsen said he’s received a lot of comments from a lot of different people and wanted to offer his executive board members a chance to weigh in on the discussion.
He said he wanted to get a sense of what his board was feeling and wanted to offer them a “no pressure” way of soliciting their input.
A ballot box was placed at AFL-CIO headquarters in Rocky Hill for board members to anonymously cast their vote. Mr. Olsen said he’s unable to release the results of the poll to anyone, including those who participated.
Then why would I bother to vote, AFSCME Council Executive Director Sal Luciano wondered earlier this week.
On the other hand, Mr. Luciano said Wednesday that he understands “John is under a lot of pressure to make a decision.” He said he doesn’t envy Mr. Olsen’s position.
Mr. Luciano wouldn’t reveal who he may vote for if he votes in Mr. Olsen’s secret ballot saying only that both Clinton and Obama are great candidates.
“We want to focus on November,” he said. “We’re holding onto our resources for that fight.”
Comments (4)
Posted by: matt w | April 18, 2008 2:28 PM
AFSCME endorsed Clinton, and they have a reputation (moreso than most organizations) of being loyal to the decisions their members make up and down the hierarchy. I'd be shocked if he voted otherwise -- it's mainly notable that he wouldn't just lay that down on the record for anyone who asked.
Posted by: Connecticut Bob | April 18, 2008 3:48 PM
Some people might consider this to be him "hedging his bet".
I'd imagine we'll be hearing from Olsen sometime soon after the Pennsylvania primary next week.
It's nice to see Dean put some pressure on these fence-sitters.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson | April 18, 2008 10:44 PM
I am no scholar of the system of electing presidents or candidates, but the system where you vote to influence the thinking of a delegate or super-delegate doesn't sound right. Why should they vote "FOR" us?
Popular vote was not taken in our earliest history, because candidates would outright ignore rural areas and those that used to be in the majority, farmers.
The family farmers are pretty much gone, as are the mom and pop shops, bed and breakfasts, and those that founded this country, the self-employed.
So, since everyone is a number, and we are all comrades, why not have the popular vote, and maybe a candidate that the people want elected will actually hold an office?
http://thegetjusticecoalition.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Tony88 | April 19, 2008 10:07 PM
Since when does Olsen give a damn what others around him think? I take this as a transparent attempt to demonstrate that he hasn't completely lost his ability to listen to others around him.