Va. governor defends lobbying for Obama

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Barack Obama's leading backer in Virginia sees no harm in Democratic insiders beckoning superdelegates to abandon Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Wednesday it's fair for 36 local party chairmen and five congressional district chairs to petition independent convention delegates to support Obama.

"It's all part of persuasion. We're all in a persuasion game here trying to convince those who are uncommitted to commit, so I don't have any problem with that," Kaine told reporters at a ceremony where he signed legislation related to the Virginia Tech shooting rampage last April.

The petition, sent to all 16 Virginia superdelegates last week, urged them to end what they say is a divisive intraparty fight for the Democratic presidential nomination and unite behind Obama.

Superdelegates will determine the outcome of the drawn-out contest between Clinton and Obama because neither can win the 2,025 votes to secure the nomination solely from pledged delegates won in primaries or caucuses.

Across the nation, both campaigns are pursuing uncommitted superdelegates and, in some cases, exhorting committed ones to switch. Virginia is the first state in which Clinton campaign aides have noticed local party chairmen petitioning superdelegates to back Obama.

The Virginia petitioners, most of them Obama backers, argued that Democrats will raise and use tens of millions of dollars against each other while Republican John McCain enjoys a free pass until August. They also reminded the superdelegates that Obama defeated Clinton by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio in the Feb. 12 Virginia primary.

The petition was initially targeted only to Virginia's six officially uncommitted superdelegates and to a Clinton superdelegate who has wavered in the past month. Eventually, it was sent to all the state's superdelegates, angering some of the five who back Clinton strongly.

There was no sign that uncommitted superdelegates were heeding the petition. State party chairman C. Richard Cranwell, a superdelegate who formerly supported John Edwards, said the party should let the contest play out and that the sparring would only sharpen the eventual nominee. Sen. Jim Webb said he was comfortable retaining his independence.

The wavering superdelegate, House of Delegates member Jennifer McClellan, said she had not abandoned Clinton but has decided to wait until after the last primary to lock in her choice.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_superdelegates [link]