Voters should not be overruled, Pelosi says
Superdelegates warned to heed contest results
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic Party might be hurt if leaders do not nominate the presidential candidate preferred by voters in primaries and caucuses.
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party," Pelosi said in an interview taped two days ago and aired yesterday on ABC's "This Week" program.
Superdelegates are party leaders, including members of Congress, who have an automatic vote for the presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention. Pelosi, a California Democrat and the highest-ranking member of the House, is among them. She hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate.
Her comments could provide a boost to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, who leads the delegate race for the nomination.
The next test for Obama and his rival, Hillary Clinton, comes April 22, when Pennsylvania holds its primary with 158 delegates at stake. Clinton holds a double-digit lead in the state, according to several polls.
In a separate broadcast interview yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick also said he hopes the Democratic superdelegates will support the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the time of the convention.
"I think the superdelegates in the end will ratify the will of the people and the pledged delegates, whichever candidate has the majority of them. I certainly hope so," Patrick said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"I feel really great about the fact that Senator Obama has won twice as many states, the largest . . . proportion of the popular vote, the largest number of delegates," said Patrick, an Obama supporter. "That's all good news.
"There are 10 more contests to go. Pennsylvania is one of those 10, and this is, I think, going to remain an uphill climb for Senator Obama. But I think, if he goes to the convention with the majority of pledged delegates, that is where the nomination belongs. He will have earned it."
In the ABC interview, Pelosi said she thought the primary process would produce a clear winner before the party's national convention in Denver, rendering much of the debate about superdelegates moot.
However, there are not enough pledged delegates remaining in the upcoming primaries and caucuses to allow either Democratic candidate to clinch the nomination before the August convention.
Pelosi's concerns about a potentially divisive national convention were echoed by Leon Panetta, a former member of Congress who served as chief of staff for President Clinton.
"If it goes to the floor of the convention and there are a lot of conflicts and disputes and it gets ugly, that is not going to help the party," Panetta said on the CBS program.
"I think the Democrats ought to . . . understand that we really do have a very unique chance of not only getting someone who never in history has had the opportunity to run for president, but also that we have a very good chance of winning in November," Panetta said. "The only way we can win in November is if the party comes together behind whoever is selected as the nominee."
Obama was heading for Pennsylvania today for two days of campaigning. Clinton is scheduled to give a speech on the Iraq war today in Washington. 