Many Superdelegates in No Hurry to Pick a Candidate

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY RACE
Many Superdelegates in No Hurry to Pick a Candidate
By Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 6, 2008; Page A08

....Though (former Montana senator John) Melcher and a handful of high-profile Democrats have recently chosen sides in the presidential nominating contest, few others of the party's uncommitted superdelegates appear likely to budge before Pennsylvania's primary on April 22 -- and many have indicated that they will wait until the primaries end in June before picking a candidate.

Many of the 320 or so party leaders and elected officials who have yet to commit cite a number of reasons: They can't choose between two good candidates, they don't want to interfere with the will of voters, and they think the extended contest will strengthen the party. "There are a lot of things going on underneath this boiling cauldron between the candidates that will be good for us long term," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), an uncommitted superdelegate, noting the 26,000 new Democrats who registered in Cuyahoga County before the Ohio primary. "I'm not in a hurry to do this."

But other high-ranking Democrats are in a hurry, fearing that the prolonged nomination battle will hurt the party's chances in November against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee, and in congressional contests.

"What you're seeing now is creating divisions that may be hard to heal," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We'd be in a much better position if we would focus the public's attention (on McCain). Instead, we're focused on the differences between our two candidates, and it's going to end up hurting our eventual nominee. I just don't want to see our congressional candidates become collateral damage," he added. "If the energy and excitement is not sustained, that could create problems."...

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While many Democrats worry that the extended nomination battle could wound the eventual candidate, others believe it could prove to be a blessing. In virtually every state that has voted, Democrats have turned out in record numbers. More than 230,000 new party members signed up in Pennsylvania alone. And Obama and Clinton are building grass-roots organizations that can be readily reactivated in the general election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/05/AR2008040502348.html?nav=hcmodule