Roll Call!

This morning, I got the following email alert from the I Own My Own Vote people:

Demand a Roll Call Vote

The issue of what to do with Hillary Clinton at the convention next month is causing all sorts of hand wringing in Obamaland. The reason? In the words of Yogi Berra, it ain't over until the fat lady sings. In this case, the fat lady is the 823 superdelegates who won't "sing" until they vote during the roll call at the convention.

In order to win the Democratic nomination for President, a candidate needs 2,118 delegates. Obama only has 1,766.5 pledged delegates, about 350 short of what he needs to clinch victory. Since superdelegates haven't voted yet, Obama can't be sure that he'll have their support six weeks from now, especially while he continues to disappoint and enrage Democrats with his pandering to the right. With Newsweek delcaring a dead heat between Obama and McCain, and the Rasmussen Tracking Poll showing Obama ahead by only 2 points, and a CNN poll shows that 32% of all Clinton supporters won't vote for president if Obama is the nominee (up from 22% a month ago), the Obama campaign is right to believe that superdelegates might not vote as expected if given the opportunity to do so in Denver.

All this moved Clinton turncoat Taylor Marsh to go on a scolding rant against democracy, urging that Obama should make sure there is no roll call vote because that would highlight the fact that he hasn't secured the nomination.

Enough is enough. The only way to stop the superdelegates from showing their true colors in November is to make sure they never vote. Can they do this? Sure. It's called suspending the rules and nominating by acclimation.

FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY! Contact the chairs of the Rules Committee of the Democratic National Convention and tell them that you DEMAND a roll call vote, that you voted for delegates to the convention and you expect them to be heard, and you expect your superdelegates to go on record with their votes. And while you're at it, contact Taylor Marsh and tell her you own your vote and you're sick of her acting like you don't know what you're doing with it.

Contact Taylor Marsh: taylor@taylormarsh.com

Contact the Co-Chairs of the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee and tell them YOU OWN YOUR VOTE:

David Walters
President, Walters Power International
Email: david@walterspower.com
Phone: (405) 528-2860
Fax: (405) 528-2466

Sunita Leeds
3205 R ST NW,
Washington DC
Email: leedss@dnc.org
Phone: (202) 863-8000

Mary Rose Oakar
President, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Email: president@adc.org
Phone: (202) 244-2990
Fax: (202) 244-7968

Below is the letter I sent to the three co-chairs. Feel free to use any or all of it, if you wish:

I am writing to you in your official capacity as a Co-Chair of the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee,

Specifically, I am writing to you about a possibility of which I have heard. That would be the DNC and Senator Obama working to keep Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton off of the ballot at the Democratic National Convention. I said the DEMOCRATIC National Convention - the party that is supposed to represent the PEOPLE. Senator Clinton, who won more votes in this primary season than ANY candidate EVER. Senator Clinton, who received over 18,000,000 votes - that is EIGHTEEN MILLION VOTES. The one for whom the majority of DEMOCRATS voted, and for whom a number of delegates were assigned. If there is any truth to this rumor, I strongly urge you to reconsider.

If this is true, there is absolutely NO historical precedent for doing so. In fact, the precedent would indicate quite the opposite. Candidates with only ONE delegate have been on the ballot. Howard Dean was on the ballot with his paltry number of delegates (less than 200). Senator Edward Kennedy was on the ballot, with almost 1,000 fewer delegates than the presumptive nominee, AND had a floor fight to try to GET the nomination! Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson, Sr., Pat Schroeder, the list goes on. Yet, Obama and the DNC seem intent on perpetuating what has become Obama's M.O.: no competition on the ballot (getting everyone thrown off the ticket for his IL Senate run, and then having Alan Keyes as his opponent for the US Senate election. Alan Keyes hardly counts as competition - mysteriously, the REAL Republican opponent had his sealed divorce settlement LEAKED right before the election and Keyes stepped in. Honestly, my coffee table could beat Alan Keyes.).

Senator Clinton was the choice by the majority of voters. She more than deserves to be on the ballot. Her supporters, all 18,000,000 of us, deserve to have her on the ballot. The delegates who were assigned to her deserve to have her on the ballot. Anything less is simply undemocratic. And unacceptable.

How sad that this is even an issue. How sad that this is even a POSSIBILITY. How sad that this is what the DEMOCRATIC Party has become.

Do the right thing - the only thing to be done: Have Senator Clinton on the ballot.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,
The Rev. Amy