John Lewis has second, or is that third, thoughts

John Lewis, D. GA was torn between Hillary and Barack when guess who, Bill Clinton, put the pressure on, and Lewis publicly endorsed Hillary, giving her one of the most important Black endorsements.

Now, it appears circumstances have pushed Lewis in the other direction.

Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.

“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” said Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endorsed Mrs. Clinton last fall. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”

Mr. Lewis, who carries great influence among other members of Congress, disclosed his decision in an interview in which he said that as a superdelegate he could “never, ever do anything to reverse the action” of the voters of his district, who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama.

“I’ve been very impressed with the campaign of Senator Obama,” Mr. Lewis said. “He’s getting better and better every single day.”

Time’s Mark Halperin argued that Clinton’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination, in light of Lewis’ announcement, have been cut in half. That strikes me as a bit of an exaggeration, but I think it’s certainly fair to say this is a major development.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

Dem-Bulbs And Super Dels

God help the Clinton's and their ilk if they don't realize what messing around with those superdelegales, so that it looks as if the candidacy has been stolen..

Bill has been spending a lot of time with American's number one crime family

The Three Co-Chairs of the DNC Delegate Credentials Committee All Served in Clinton Administration

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher, BuzzFlash.com

February 8, 2008

If I've learned one thing this primary season, it's that passion is back among the Democrats for their presidential candidates. Anybody who reads the BuzzFlash mailbag can see that in an instant. That can be a good thing or a bad thing.

It is the most fundamental sign of health in a democracy to see people so energized and willing to voice their opinions. But if it leads to a split party after the nomination, it would mean four more years of Republican rule and that would not be good for our Constitution and our freedom.

With that in mind, we'll throw some more wood on the fire with this follow-up to our alert yesterday on the likely role of the DNC Credentials Committee in deciding what to do about the unsanctioned Michigan and Florida "primaries." (In our view, they weren't primaries because there was no real campaigning in the states -- and in Michigan only Hillary Clinton's name was on the ballot.)

In January, BuzzFlash proposed one possible solution; some people in the DNC are proposing another. The latter plan would include party caucuses in Michigan and Florida in the early summer. That would be a sensible idea, but the Clinton campaign opposes it. One can assume that they are not happy with Obama's strength in caucus states.

But there may be another reason. If the "results" of the non-primary primaries were upheld by DNC Credentials Committee prior to the convention, and the convention delegates accepted the Credentials Committee recommendation to seat the delegates under the current distribution, Hillary Clinton would likely win the nomination.

According to the Washington Post, mathematically it is almost impossible for either Clinton or Obama to win based on the pledged delegates in the upcoming contests. So, at this moment, it is likely that the superdelegates will potentially decide the winner. But remember that there are still a small number of delegates pledged to other candidates sitting out there. It is possible that Clinton and Obama will end up so close in the delegate count that neither of them will attain the threshold number of delegates needed to be nominated.

That is why the DNC Credentials Committee could play such a pivotal role in terms of a decision regarding the status of the Michigan and Florida delegations, if the Clinton and Obama camps do not agree to caucuses that would allow for a full campaign in each state.

That leads us to the three co-chairs of the DNC Credentials Committee: Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt, Jr. and Aliseo Roques-Arroyo. All three of them served in the Clinton Administration. Okay, as far as we know they are all reputable, upstanding people, but if you were Hillary Clinton and these three people worked for you and your husband during the 8 presidential years Hillary includes on her "35 years of experience," wouldn't you feel like you might have some influence on the three co-chairs? After all, the decision of the DNC Credentials Committee will be political; this is not a judicial process.

According to the official background statements, in a DNC convention committee .pdf file, here are the Clinton connections:

Alexis Herman
Alexis Herman served as U.S.
Secretary of Labor from 1997 to 2001.
Her accomplishments as Labor
Secretary include negotiating between
UPS management and Teamsters
Union leaders, ultimately ending the
ten-day strike. Her extensive political
experience began during the Carter
Administration when she served as the
Director of the Women’s Bureau. In
1980 she left government to become
an entrepreneur and labor relations
expert. Secretary Herman served as
DNC Chief of Staff for Chairman Ron
Brown and later was named CEO of
the 1992 Democratic National
Convention. In 1993, she was
appointed assistant to the President
and Director of the White House public
liaison office. Since 2005, Secretary
Herman has served as a Co-Chair of
the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee
and also served as a Co-Chair of the
Commission on Presidential
Nomination Timing and Scheduling

James Roosevelt, Jr.
Jim Roosevelt is President and CEO of
Tufts Health Plan, a Massachusetts
based HMO. Prior to joining Tufts
Health Plan, Mr. Roosevelt was the
Associate Commissioner for
Retirement Policy of the Social
Security Administration in the Clinton
Administration and a partner in Choate,
Hall & Stewart, specializing in health
care law. Mr. Roosevelt is the chief
legal counsel for the Massachusetts
Democratic Party. Since 1995, he has
served as Co-Chair of the DNC Rules
and Bylaws Committee and has
served as a DNC member since 1980.

Eliseo Roques-Arroyo
A native of Puerto Rico, Eliseo
Roques-Arroyo served as Executive
Assistant to Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico Senate Minority Leader Miguel
Hernandez-Agosto and to Puerto Rico
Delegate to Congress Antonio J.
Colorado. A former Executive Director
of the Democratic Party of Puerto
Rico, Mr. Roques-Arroyo served as a
consultant on travel and advance for
President Clinton from 1998-2000. He
is a graduate of Cornell University and
the Inter American University of Puerto
Rico School of Law. He is presently a
member of the Democratic National
Committee.

(Yes, James Roosevelt, Jr., is the grandson of FDR.)

Politics is politics -- and Hillary Clinton got the luck of the draw in the appointment of the three co-chairs of the Credentials Committee. They were appointed by Howard Dean, we believe, and Dean will be toast as DNC Chairman if Hillary is elected. Although he is neutral, as he should be, in the battle for the nomination, there is no love lost between Dean and the Clinton camp. So, we're no in anyway implying some vast conspiracy here.

It is true that the Credentials Committee itself will consist of many, many people by the time it makes the crucial Michigan/Florida decision, if it comes down to that. Only the core committee has been chosen as of now, so it is impossible to project the political leanings of the committee as a whole. However, there is no doubt that the Clinton camp has the inside advantage when it comes to the three co-chairs.

That's just the reality of the situation

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.