In a race where every vote for the Democratic nomination for president counts, Hillary Clinton lost one on Wednesday when New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid media reports linking him to a prostitution ring.
Spitzer, who The New York Times said was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet a prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, was a superdelegate committed to the senator from New York.
Each Democratic governor is given superdelegate status automatically, meaning they can make their own choices about which candidate to support at the Democratic National Convention in August.
But the status is awarded to the governor, not the individual who holds the post. The Democratic National Committee said earlier this week that Spitzer would no longer serve as a superdelegate if he stepped down.
Lieutenant Gov. David Paterson will replace Spitzer as governor on Monday, but he already holds superdelegate status as a member-at-large. Paterson, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, is also committed to Clinton, but he only gets one vote.
Maybe the real question is: Will one vote still matter come August?
Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar. Spitzer celebrates with Clinton after the New York State midterm elections in New York on November 7, 2006.
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16 comments so far
Let’s hear Hillary try to change the rules so that this ex-superdelagates vote still counts like she’s doing in Florida and Michigan.
What’s sad about ex-Governor Spitzer resignation is what he said about Obama earlier in the campaign that “he won’t be able to shuck and jive out of this one.”
- Posted by Thomas LBoy Hillary really knows how to pick the men in her life. I don`t think someone with this kind of judgement is going to be “ready on day one”. What a joke she is. It is an embaressment to watch her make an ass of herself!!!!
- Posted by Tom Gates[...] Continue Reading [...]
- Posted by Spitzer does a number on Hillary’s superdelegate countSpitzer is an abuser of women….. and young women at that…
Perhaps he is representative of the Clinton campaign ethics.
Hopefully, when the red phone rings…. Spitzer is not consulted…… he seems to have little perception of responsibility, or for that matter, morals.
- Posted by daveHitlery is so bad at choosing men, how can we expect her to choose well for the country?
- Posted by JerryEvery vote lost in another nail in her nomination coffin, and there cannot be enough of them in my opinion. She’s no come back kid by a long shot. Just a phony who will say or do anything to get elected. Sort of like Eliot Spitzer!
- Posted by MrBillHillary Clinton, can still pull this one off! The very nature of our Super Delegates allows them to vote for the candidate that best supports the party’s agenda. That is to WIN and Obama cannot win a national election! Look at the exit polling numbers! Sure, 90% plus of all African-Americans WILL vote Obama because of his skin color. The problem does exist however, that African-Americans are threatening to cause trouble if they don’t get “their way.” Regardless, the party faithful will still vote for Hillary Clinton, our best hope of capturing the White House in 2008. We are fortunate that our party elders wisely enacted the Super Delegate system to save us from another debacle such as what ocurred in 1972 with McGovern. I hardly think that our Super Delegates will succumb to the blackmail attempt by African-Americans to bully their man, Obama, into the nomination. Cooler heads will prevail. Accordingly, we will win in 2008 with or without the African-American vote.
- Posted by Jeffry PagesSpitzer is a not a “man in her life” as a reader wrote earlier about Clinton. To inject that into this sordid scandal is just a smear by insinuation.
- Posted by Frank LI’m sure Hillary will find a loophole or a way to keep Spitzer on as a super delegate. She has absolutely no problem with breaking the rules. By the way, she was looking very scared and shaken while speaking to reporters after the story broke. I thought Bill might be on that list. After all, they are “bosom buddies.” Just maybe Hillary was thinking the same.
- Posted by Debmood“Jeffry Pages” (commenter above) is a fool. All national polls show clearly that it is *Obama* who has the best chance to win the general election. Why else do you think Limbaugh et al are asking Republicans to vote for her?
Further, the “logic” (and I use that term lightly) of the comment holds that, because Obama is strongly favored by black Democratic voters, he is on some way “their” candidate. Last I checked he was A LOT of people’s candidate, regardless of race or class (viz Iowa and Wisconsin), and the silly/ugly/destructive racialization of the campaign by Clinton’s campaign (repeated so consistently that it is obviously deliberate) is an attempt to divide the Democratic electorate (and thus doom our chances in November).
I’ve had enough of paternalistic and racist framing by people like Pages, and that’s why I have already committed my vote to Obama.
- Posted by MikeRemember, Hillary is Just warming up!
Blacks are voting for Obama just like many Whites are. Because they know Obama stands for REAL change. Not just the talk of an old time politician who knows just what to say to get into office at any cost.
Nothing will change with Hillary.
- Posted by mikeAt least with Obama we HAVE hope!
How does one ’smear’ a Clinton??? Every time one of those two opens their mouth, they do it FOR us. They obviously work very hard at it…let ‘em alone, and think how much you’ll enjoy ‘flushing’ the incumbents, come November
- Posted by Robbie LaughingI remember the scandal of the White House staff firing and that not one of the staff fired was ever found to have done anything wrong. It was Hillary making another bad judgement during her First Lady tenure. I don’t think we are best served by her answering the red phone and making snap decisions at 3:00 A.M.. At least Obama is a fresh start without such a record of bad decision making.
- Posted by DaleA Way to Help Fight Terrorism!
Elected Sen. Barack Obama as President of the United States of America!
That would have a bigger than life effect on how people around the world will view America.
It would help with America’s image all around the world, as well as help in the fight against terrorism.
Why is that so hard for people in America to see that as a whole?
If America really want peaces in the world, show the world by electing Sen. Barack Obama as president.
That gesture would clearly show that we are truly on the road and working on peace with each other in America, just by changing it’s image by electing Sen. Obama as the President.
It is Time for a Change and that is the best way to do it in my mine.
Sirron Kyles
- Posted by Sirron KylesI am insulted that Governor Richardson endorsed Obama and citing Obama’s speech on race as the motivating factor. It goes to show that we in the Latino community have our own leaders which have ingratatude as an attribute. Once Obama loses the election and he becomes a question on trivial pursuit, I hope the good people of New Mexico retire the governor into an early political retirement. To me, a strong Republican, who supports , McCain feel that the latino community is not speaking for the latino democrats and has not served by the governor of new mexico
- Posted by robert ruiz[...] farther behind With the departure of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton has lost a superdelegate. Posted by Mark A. Rose at 10:45 AM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: [...]
- Posted by March, 2008 Archive « Right Minded Online