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 Obama
Welcomed As Mr President At US Capitol
by The Associated Press
Posted: May 9, 2008 - 8:00 am ET
(Washington) Sen. Barack Obama got a front-runner's
welcome back at the Capitol, pressing congressional "superdelegates"
to support him in a visit that had the look and feel of a campaign victory lap.
On the House floor, he was quickly surrounded by
well-wishers calling him, "Mr. President" and reaching out to pat him
on the back or shake his hand. The glad-handers included a few Republicans and
supporters of his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He picked up the superdelegate support of at least two
lawmakers: Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina, where Obama handily won the
primary on Tuesday, and Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington state.
Obama predicted he would lose the next two contests to
Clinton - West Virginia and Kentucky - but said he expected to win other states.
His presence here underscored the nomination math: The remaining six primaries
and their 217 delegates are not what matters most in the winding-down campaign.
More important are the 260-plus superdelegates who are yet
to be claimed and are not bound by the outcome of any state's vote. Although
Obama cannot be caught in the race for primary delegates, neither can he win the
nomination without the backing of more superdelegates.
"Our goal is going to be to try to be to bring the
party together as soon as possible," Obama said as he walked through the
Capitol after his visit to the House with a swarm of reporters jostling to
question him. "But we still have contests remaining, and so in no way am I
taking this for granted. We're going to have to keep on working."
About a third of the undeclared superdelegates are members
of Congress, which is why Obama spent the day away from the campaign trail on
Capitol Hill.
"My main message is that whichever way you want to
go, the sooner that superdelegates make their decision the sooner we will have a
sense of who the nominee will be and sooner we can focus on John McCain,"
Obama told the Fox News Channel outside his Senate office.
The Associated Press has contacted nearly 100 undeclared
superdelegates since the Tuesday elections and has found that many see Obama as
the likely nominee but are reluctant to make a public commitment until after the
final states hold their votes June 3.
"There are no undecided superdelegates, there are
really only undeclared superdelegates," uncommitted Democratic National
Committee member Edward Espinoza of California said in an interview with AP
Television. "And what many people have to deal with in this process is
grappling professional and political interests when they make a
declaration."
Clinton, who was campaigning from West Virginia to Oregon
on Thursday, had done her own courting of undeclared members of Congress a day
earlier. Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney said he met one-on-one with her for about 30
minutes but didn't plan to commit to a candidate any time soon.
"As a businessman, you don't make a decision until
you have to because you get the benefit of more information," he said. He
added that he also wanted to push issues important to Florida and said the best
way to get the candidates to listen was to stay uncommitted.
Rep. Miller, who endorsed Obama on Thursday, said, the
Illinois senator had seized the opportunity to fulfill Americans' desire for
change in Washington.
"If Senator Obama and Democratic candidates up and
down the ticket win this year and then deliver next year, we can build a
consensus that will last a generation," Miller said.
Clinton can count on the backing of one more superdelegate
if she gets to the convention. A spokeswoman for Indiana Rep. Brad Ellsworth,
Liz Farrar, said he won't officially endorse either candidate but he would cast
his vote for the way his district went. Clinton won it on Tuesday.
Ellsworth is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group
of moderate Democrats with 21 undeclared superdelegates among them that both
Clinton and Obama are trying to sway. Obama was meeting with some of the Blue
Dogs in offices a couple of blocks from the Capitol Thursday morning when they
got called for a vote and he decided to go along.
Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Brady, another undeclared
superdelegate, said he invited Obama to come to the floor when the Illinois
senator called him earlier in the morning and said he'd be on the Hill. He said
Obama calls him often "to chit chat," as do Hillary and Bill Clinton.
"I said, `You ought to pop on by, come over and say
hello,'" Brady said. "You have to go where votes are."
He said Obama walked up and thanked him for suggesting he
stop by. "I said don't feel so flattered, I gave the same advice to
Hillary," Brady said with a laugh.
Members of the Senate are free to visit the House floor
whenever they like. Obama was asked whether it was appropriate for him to
campaign there, and he responded, "I wasn't campaigning. I was saying
hello."
He greeted uncommitted Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. of South
Carolina with a deep curtsy. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., got a handshake, and
Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., got a friendly shoulder-slap. All are undeclared.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is staying neutral, got a peck on the
cheek.
New York Rep. Yvette Clark had the candidate sign her copy
of the New York Daily News with a picture of a smiling Obama and the headline,
"It's His Party." Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida and Greg Meeks of
New York, who like Clark are Clinton backers from the Black Caucus, greeted
Obama with hugs.
Rep. Dale Kildee, a Clinton supporter who has had his
superdelegate status stripped because his home state of Michigan voted too
early, said he got Obama's assurance that he would seat Michigan at the
convention. Kildee said he's suggested to the Clinton campaign that they think
about the impact of continuing her campaign.
"I suggested that she sit down with her very top
people and analyze the effect on the party and the country," Kildee said.
He said he didn't suggest that she end her race or make any recommendation
beyond that.
Mahoney said he pressed Clinton to help Florida, which
also lost its delegates because it voted too early. Clinton won both contests
after she and the other candidates agreed to boycott them because they were in
violation of the national party rules. But she's now hoping the delegates will
be seated to help her uphill battle to overtake Obama's lead, and she sent a
letter to Obama Thursday asking him to help her honor the votes from the two
states.
"It is not enough to simply seat their
representatives at the convention in Denver," she wrote. "The people
of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other
states, must have a voice in selecting our party's nominee."
©365Gay.com 2008
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