The first endorsement came when Laurie Weahkee announced that she would endorse Obama. Weahkee is the Add-On Delegate from New Mexico. You may recall that she was vehemently opposed for selection by the pro-Clinton state party delegates because of their fear that her undeclared status was a front for a secret Obama vote. New Mexico was won by Senator Clinton (barely) and the pro-Clinton state delegates felt that there should be a pro-Clinton Add-On selected.
I also noted earlier that the person that put forth Weahkee's nomination for the spot, New Mexico Party Chair Brian Colon, was undeclared when he made this decision, but when he announced his support for Obama, that it could be an indicator of how Weahkee would vote as well:
"If you recall, the Clinton campaign argued vociferously against this appointment, even though she was appointed as an 'undeclared' add-on delegate. Maybe the Clinton camp knew how Colon was leaning and that Weahkee was a stealth Obama delegate?"
Also, when Kalyn Free, a DNC superdelegate from Oklahoma and a fellow Native American involved in the INDN, announced her support for Obama, I also thought it might be an indicator of how Weahkee might lean, especially given Weahkee's interest in giving her vote to the candidate with the best plan for Native American interests.
However, according to Weahkee, she says she was truly "undecided" when selected as the Add-On Delegate for New Mexico:
NMI: Were you truly undecided when you were recently elected by the State Central Committee of the state Democratic Party on April 26 -- or were you leaning toward Obama then?
LW: I really was undecided. Even with in my own family we've been having debates about which candidate to support. And so, at that point in time I was really undecided. I understand it's a high stakes situation, but I was a little disappointed by the aggressive tone of the New Mexico Clinton campaign to challenge my selection as a delegate, because I really was at that time undecided. The aggressive tone from folks here locally just added into the my overall sense that the Clinton campaign was really aggressive. It was disappointing. I was truly undecided and they were already putting me in one camp or another. I just felt it was a bad representation on Hillary Clinton and her overall campaign.
Obama had received the support of New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman two weeks ago, and with Weahkee's endorsement, that leaves Congressman Tom Udall as the long undeclared New Mexico superdelegate. Clinton has received support from six of the 12 New Mexico superdelegates, while Obama now has the endorsement of five.
The second endorsement for Senator Obama comes from a DNC Superdelegate from South Carolina, Wilber Lee Jeffcoat. Jeffcoat is the Vice Chair of the State Democratic Party, a state in which Senator Obama overwhelmingly beat Senator Clinton and former Senator Edwards.
The third endorsement of this group comes from Hawaii Congresswoman Mazie Hirono. Hirono endorsed Obama today, citing his deep roots to Hawaii and the need to unify the Democratic Party.
No comments:
Post a Comment