    
Tonya
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Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6910
Registered: 07-2006
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Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 03:10 am: | 
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Moveon.org:
Stand up for Democracy in the Democratic Party
Stop insider politics from deciding this election
A group of big donors threatened to withdraw support from Democrats in Congress because Nancy Pelosi said that the people, not the superdelegates, should decide the Presidential nomination. Tell Speaker Pelosi that if she stands strong, thousands of us will have her back. Sign the petition »
http://moveon.org/
(Pelosi gives speech at Democrats' California Convention in San Jose)
Pelosi in San Jose: Eye 'must be on the prize'
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democrats gathered in San Jose on Friday evening that they must not allow the competitive presidential primary to sidetrack them from their goal of taking back the White House in November.
"We must remember at the end of the day our target, our eye, must be on the prize in November," Pelosi said in a short speech at the state Democratic convention.
"Let's channel all that energy, to draw more people into the political process. We can't just draw them in, we must keep them in and we must unite after this primary is over, and I hope that is before too long," she told the several hundred convention delegates at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
The audience included several uncommitted superdelegates, who are being heavily wooed at the state convention by supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Pelosi is an uncommitted superdelegate and has said she will remain neutral because she also serves as chair of the Democratic National Convention. But she has tried to play referee between Clinton and Obama, suggesting they should not sully each other with charges that will benefit presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
In her Friday night comments, the San Francisco Democrat reminded the audience that McCain had campaigned in 2005 with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of several ballot initiatives that the voters rejected. Those initiatives sought to change teacher pay, reform the state's budget process and institute mandatory parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion.
"They went hand in hand against working families in California and they lost," Pelosi said. "We defeated him once; we'll defeat him again."
Pelosi delivered her speech at the end of a particularly tense week during which she was targeted by a group of 21 influential Clinton fundraisers, including Susie Tompkins Buell of San Francisco and Amy Rao of Palo Alto. They criticized Pelosi's comments on a Sunday television talk show in which she suggested Democratic superdelegates should support the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the end of primary voting.
Pelosi warned during an interview on ABC on Sunday, "If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party."
Friday, in short comments after her speech, she predicted a nominee will be chosen "right after the public has voted."
The Clinton fundraisers were outraged after her ABC comments, because Obama is expected to finish the primary season with a lead in pledged delegates. However, he will not have the 2,024 delegates needed to win the nomination without the support of superdelegates.
The fundraisers, who noted they were also heavy contributors to congressional campaigns, urged Pelosi in a letter to "reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the national convention in August."
Asked about the letter as she signed autographs after her speech, Pelosi dismissed it. "It's not important," she said. "I won't be swayed by that stuff."
Christine Pelosi, who is an author and state party activist attending the state convention, said of her mother, the speaker, "If she could stand up to China, a few donors aren't going to sway her." And noting Wednesday was her mother's 67th birthday, she added, "If they had to do it over again they should have sent her a birthday card instead."
In a letter supporting Speaker Pelosi's comments, the political arm of MoveOn.org wrote: "It's the worst kind of insider politics - billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters."
Friday, influential Sen. Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania endorsed Obama ahead of that state's April 22 primary. And another Senate colleague, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who backs Obama, said Clinton should drop out of the race.
Responded Clinton on Friday, "I believe a spirited contest is good for the Democratic Party and will strengthen the eventual nominee. We will have a united party behind whoever that nominee is. . . . I look forward to campaigning over the next several months."
Party leaders gathered in San Jose are concerned that as campaigning extends and nasty charges fly they are losing time and energy to battle McCain.
All weekend, California's superdelegates, particularly the uncommitted ones, will be the subject of lobbying by high-profile Obama and Clinton supporters. Former state Controller and Obama California Co-chair Steve Westly will be working on Obama's behalf. Former President Bill Clinton will speak to the convention and meet with superdelegates Sunday morning, pushing his wife's viability.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8739024 |
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