blogger interrupted

Bob Mulholland and I go back to the 1997 Labour Party campaign in the UK.  Bob’s a California Democratic Party elder, having been around for decades.  He’s also one of the toughest cookies out there, and we’ve stayed in touch.  I spoke with Bob Mulholland today, an uncommitted California superdelegate, and all time great Democratic dogfighter.  

“I’d like to this go all 12 rounds,” said Mulholland.  ”John Kerry was an early nominee, and where is President Kerry these days?”  When I asked if this made him a Hillary supporter, Mulholland was unequivocal.  ”I’m uncommitted.  And we have until August 27 to vote.  I plan on casting my vote sometime this summer.  The last primary is in June, so sometime after that.”

Mulholland was very forceful in his argument that a long primary process is helpful to Democrats.  ”I don’t think either of these candidates is prepared for the general election yet,” said Mulholland.  ”You don’t get to the Super Bowl if your jersey is clean.”

Bob also noted that he believes all the states left in the process should be allowed to vote, and also noted the importance of add-on delegates in each state.  California has 5 add-on delegates, Ohio has 2.  In Ohio, they are appointed by state chair Chris Redfern, and in CA, they are appointed by party chair Art Torres, and are then confirmed by the district-level delegates on May 18.

My takeaway from our conversation is that superdelegates like Bob, with no congressional district to represent, i.e., no pressure from their constituents, are happy to sit back and watch this thing play out.  My hope is that they make their move very quickly after the last primary.  I’m not sure Bob is that antsy to make his preference known, but I hope he won’t wait until August 27.  In my view, that would be really, really, bad.