Voters for Obama petitions superdelegates

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:37:37 -0400

A Chapel Hill-based group of Barack Obama supporters want superdelegates to support him.

Voters for Obama is petitioning elected officials and other superdelegates at the convention, arguing that the Illinois senator has essentially already beaten Hillary Clinton.

"By any standard, Obama should be our nominee," said co-organizer Erik Ose. "He's ahead by half a million in the popular votes, he's won far more contests than Clinton, his appeal among independent voters makes him a strong general election candidate and he's brought a wave of young voters into the process that will give the Democratic Party a huge boost for the future."

Ose, a veteran of Democratic political campaigns, writes a progressive political blog, The Latest Outrage. He said 1,000 North Carolina voters have already signed a petition asking U.S. Reps. David Price and Brad Miller and Gov. Mike Easley to back Obama.

Voters for Obama has also petitioned officials in South Carolina, Florida and Rhode Island. The group is focusing its efforts in areas where Obama has already won or is leading the vote, but it also argues that superdelegates should pick the most electable candidate.

"It's not an either/or choice," he said. "Obama comes up ahead on both counts."