How Firm is Hillary's Superdelegate Support?

As noted by Demconwatch, there was a recent flurry of activity surrounding the super delegate endorsement of Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA-6th). Although it appeared to some that Woolsey had agreed to vote with her district – for Barack Obama – despite her previous endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Demconwatch has yet to move her from the Clinton column to the Obama column.

I also noticed that Woolsey, a founding member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, was one of a group of 16 members, (out of a total of 64), who signed an “open letter” that was published on Hillary Clinton’s official blog, and picked up and reported by Fox News (but no other "traditional" news outlets), and several other pro-Hillary sites that I won’t bother linking to.

As firm opponents of the Iraq war, we believe there is no higher priority for the next President of the United States than ending this war, and we believe there is no one better prepared and more committed to bringing this war to a responsible conclusion than Hillary Clinton. The best way to honor the sacrifices of our brave young men and women in uniform is to bring them home.

We support Hillary Clinton because she is the candidate with the stature, strength, and experience needed to end this war as quickly and responsibly as possible. Hillary has put forward the most comprehensive plan for bringing our troops home, with troop withdrawals beginning within 60 days of taking office. She bravely pressed the Pentagon to begin planning for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. And she has introduced legislation to bar the Bush administration from unilaterally negotiating a long-term security agreement with the Iraqi government and thereby tying the hands of the next administration.

Hillary’s commitment to ending this war is matched by her experience. Her knowledge of the armed forces, her service on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and her extraordinary efforts on behalf of our veterans have earned her the respect of our men and women in uniform.

We are proud to support her because we know that she is the candidate ready to bring our troops home.

Del. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Rep. Michael McNulty (D-NY)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA)
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY)
Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA)
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA)
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

I have a particular interest in the position of Rep Woolsey as she represents my district, and I have already expressed my concern over her support for Clinton in a letter I sent to her, as well as an abridged version that was published in my local newspaper.

Looking at a brief timeline, Woolsey’s endorsement of Clinton was announced on 12/27/07, my letter to Woolsey was mailed on 2/10/08, the Out of Iraq Caucus letter was posted 3/18/08, and the blog rumors of Woolsey having switched her voting intentions arose on 3/24/08.

But just today, I received a written response to my letter from Woolsey dated 3/14/08, which states the following (my emphasis):

Dear (seenos),

Thank you for contacting me regarding my endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Presidential election; I value your concern and input on this issue.

Across this country voters are energized and excited about this primary. They’re not only turning out in record numbers to vote, but thousands have gotten involved with the campaigns as volunteers, making the Democratic Party stronger than ever.

After all of this excitement, no one wants our party’s nominee to be chosen by the votes of a handful of super delegates. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I won’t stand for it either. That’s why, while I remain a strong Hillary Clinton supporter, I will cast my vote at the convention for the candidate that is chosen not through back room deals, but by the votes of the American public.

Again, thank you for your interest in this matter.

Sincerely,

Lynn Woolsey

I suppose it’s possible that Woolsey made her decision to vote against her endorsement if and only if Clinton couldn’t win the pledged delegate race, leading to her response to me and to others who called or wrote to her about it.

She still might have decided to sign on with the other 15 caucus members touting Clinton as the best candidate to get us out of Iraq. Since the letter was not released to all the traditional media outlets, but seemingly only to the Clinton campaign, it was apparently not intended to sway public opinion so much as to express admiration and support to her personally.

While it's impossible to get inside Woolsey's head to really understand the timing of these letters, what I do know is that I have a signed letter from one of the super delegates in Clinton's column indicating she intends to vote for the pledged delegate leader, who will most certainly be Obama!

I wonder how many others in Clinton's column endorsed when she was "inevitable" and now are leaning toward voting in opposition to their endorsement!

Also at Daily Kos