Hillary Clinton’s minuscule chances of winning the Democratic nomination haven’t stopped a small trickle of superdelegates from endorsing her this month.
Even though Barack Obama already has turned his attention to John McCain and the general election, Washington superdelegate Eileen Macoll on Thursday threw her support behind Clinton’s fading bid, saying she is “inspired by Hillary’s bold commitment to solving our nation’s toughest challenges.”
Over the weekend, Clinton picked up Virgin Islands superdelegate Kevin Rodriguez, who had flipped earlier in the month from Clinton to Obama. Now he’s returned to Clinton’s corner but declines to elaborate on his second about-face. Rodriguez would only tell The Associated Press, “I decided to switch because that’s my right.”
Since May 4, Clinton has picked up about 12 superdelegates. It’s just a fraction of the 70 or so superdelegates snagged by Obama, whose May endorsements include several former Clinton backers. But Clinton’s occasional endorsements, coupled with her primary wins in Kentucky and West Virginia, have buoyed the hopes of her die-hard supporters.
Her campaign announced Thursday that the press can sign up for travel with Clinton’s campaign through June 6, three days beyond the last primaries, when many political analysts thought she would end her campaign.
Just about every superdelegate endorsement for Clinton this month has come from a member of the Democratic National Committee. She also won the backing of Texas Rep. Ciro Rodriguez on May 9.
Macoll is a state party official, as is Arthur Powell of Massachusetts.
Powell is a longtime backer of Clinton who was selected to be a superdelegate in May by the state party specifically to vote for her. Clinton won the Massachusetts primary with 56 percent of the vote.
The Clinton campaign called Powers about 45 minutes after he was chosen to let him know they were going to put out a press release announcing his endorsement.
“Clinton has had some wonderful victories in the last six weeks that are giving people the incentive to stick with her,” Powers said. “It’s not over yet. For a lot of us, we will stay committed even in Denver.”
Democratic strategist Peter Fenn said any endorsement for Clinton at this point stems from loyalty.
“Look, these people are friends, they have been in the trenches, they know her, they respect her and like her,” Fenn said.
Despite his commitment to Clinton, Powers said he plans to hold a “unity event” on the night of the June 3 primaries to try to bring together backers of both candidates.
