State Democratic Party chairmen dismiss warnings of irreparable fissures in the party unless the lengthy, often rancorous presidential nominating race ends soon, saying it’s actually enlarging and energizing their electorate.
Several state chairmen said fears of long-lasting damage from the battle between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — even those expressed by some of the party’s elder statesmen in Washington — are exaggerated.
“I think there’s a possibility this [fight] could go to the convention, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s one of the purposes of a convention: to pick a nominee,” said Jennifer Moore, party chairman in Kentucky, where the primary is scheduled for May 20.
“We’ve weathered a bit of a storm. I don’t think this is a huge storm; it’s exaggerated,” she said.
The chairmen interviewed by The Washington Times said unpledged superdelegates — whose votes likely will decide the contest’s outcome — should not be pressured to declare their intentions any time soon, perhaps not until the convention.
“We have not seen this type of grass-roots activity and organizing here for many years. We’re expecting between 700,000 and 900,000 people to take part in our primary on May 6. That’s unprecedented,” said Indiana Democratic Chairman Dan Parker.
“My belief is folks ought to let the process run its course. The average guy on the street, they don’t want this contest to be over. It’s just the big VIPs in Washington who are calling for it to be over,” Mr. Parker said.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut have endorsed Mr. Obama for their party’s nomination and have called on Mrs. Clinton to drop out of the race.
“As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out,” Mr. Leahy said last week.
Mr. Dodd told reporters last month that the nominating battle is reaching a point where the “national leadership has to stand up and say, ’Enough is enough.’ We need to get behind a candidate.”
But the state chairmen said the party would be more damaged by an end to the race before voters cast ballots in the 10 contests to come.
“What we don’t want to do is to disenfranchise the people who haven’t spoken yet in the remaining primaries. I haven’t seen this level of engagement, intensity and interest before,” said Patricia Waak, Colorado state chairman.
Alabama state Chairman Joe Turnham said: “This is democracy. [Mrs. Clinton] has every right to stay in the race.”
The state party leaders do say that it’s essential to settle the dispute over Florida and Michigan, which were stripped of their delegates for violating party primary calendar rules.
“For the good of the party and the country, this cannot go to a floor fight at the convention. Whatever happens, we need to take care of it before then,” said Louisiana Chairman Chris Whittington.
Nearly all of the chairmen interviewed said their responsibility as superdelegates was to make an independent judgment about which candidate had the best chance of winning in November, regardless of who had won the most pledged delegate support.
Last week, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the party’s remaining unpledged superdelegates to make a decision on which candidate to support before the August convention. “There is no point in waiting,” he said.
But most state chairmen said they were not in a hurry to declare their intentions.
“I’m going to vote by the time I get to Denver, not before,” Mr. Turnham said. “I want to see how these campaigns are going to support down-ballot races. States like mine have hundreds of races, and I have a responsibility to make sure that [the nominee] doesn’t endanger those candidates.”
Iowa Democratic Chairman Scott Brennan said he doesn’t feel constrained to any timetable.
“I do not like the idea of a group of unpledged delegates deciding the nomination, but that’s what the rules provide,” he said.
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