superdelegate

Fox News reported early this morning that Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) was one of three House Democrats, along with New York's Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), to convince Hillary Clinton to suspend her campaign for president later this week.

At the time of the conversation Wednesday, Dicks was still a supporter of Clinton's candidacy. Then this morning, he announced that he was backing Barack Obama in the spirit of party unification.

"It's time to move on," Dicks told McClatchy's Les Blumenthal. "We need to unify the party," Dicks said. "Whatever differences we have among ourselves, they pale in comparison to those we have with John McCain."

Washington State Democratic Party Vice Chair Eileen Macoll of Pullman announced today that she is supporting Hillary Clinton for President. Macoll will cast her automatic delegate vote for Clinton at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

She credited Clinton's policies on health care, education and Iraq as well as her electability in November for her decision.

The full statement  announcing her decision is below the fold.

Washington State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz, a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention this summer, has just announced that he will support Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I will be supporting Barack Obama for many reasons," Pelz continued. "Over the last few years, I have gained a profound respect for Sen. Obama. I have read his books, listened to his speeches, and watched the campaign he has run on the grueling modern presidential playing-field for nearly two years. And I have spoken with literally hundreds of friends and colleagues -- both in and out of politics -- regarding their opinions and observations of this man. I have concluded that Barack Obama is ready to be a great American President."

Washington's superdelegate count stands at five for Obama, five for Clinton and seven undecided. State Republican deciders may know something the Democrats don't know, since they've been campaigning against Obama, without a single mention on Clinton in recent letters. The Republican decidee is coming to town, and you can meet him for dinner for only $33,100.

One of Washington's undecided slate of Democratic National Committee superdelegates, David McDonald, spoke to the press about his status today, but only to announce that he would not be throwing his superdelegate weight around until after the May 31 meeting of the DNC rules committee. That meeting will decide how to seat the delegations from Florida and Michigan who were penalized for moving their primaries earlier than DNC rules allowed.

McDonald is on the DNC's rules and bylaws committee that initially voted to strip Florida's and Michigan's delegates as a punishment. It was a move that McDonald supported. He told The Olympian today that he hoped to reserve the appearance of impartiality prior to that meeting.

On the eve of the state's Democratic Legislative District caucuses, King County Executive Ron Sims was profiled by NPR's All Things Considered today because of his role as a superdelegate. The piece highlighted his unique role as an African American who supports Hillary Clinton, and as an electe superdelegate who has endorsed against the strong will of his constituents.

Three days after making statements to The Columbian's editorial board that were construed by many to mean that she would be switching her superdelegate vote to Barack Obama in June, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Seattle) tempered her words today in Spokane.

King County Executive and Democratic Party Superdelegate Ron Sims said in an interview with KUOW's Steve Scher today that, while he still supported Hillary Clinton he acknowledged that circumstances might change that stance.

Slog's Sanders has a transcript here.

The basics are below.

Steve Scher: Are you still committed to Hillary Clinton as a superdelegate?

The Columbian is reporting that, in an interview with their editorial board, Senator Maria Cantwell has decided to cast her superdelegate vote for the leader in pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention.