Superdelegate gives Clinton brief support

Last week Eileen Macoll, of Pullman, became one of the last Democratic superdelegates to sign up as a Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter.

Turned out she also was one of the shortest-tenured Clinton superdelegates because this week the Washington state Democratic vice chairwoman is switching her support to presumptive nominee Barack Obama. Macoll will join several other Washington state superdelegates such as U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Norm Dicks today in officially moving to the Obama column as a show of party unity.

Despite repeated calls from campaign staffs and the news media, Macoll said she remained neutral until after Democrats in Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District held their congressional caucus. That meeting was held May 17, and she announced for Clinton May 29.

“I wanted to make the statement, that I did support Sen. Clinton,” she said.

Being a superdelegate is not so super, and definitely not what it’s cracked up to be by the pundits on CNN, Macoll said.

“There’s no cape, there’s no set of tights,” she said. “It’s pretty confusing. There’s no guidebook. A lot of us are way out here, away from everything.”

News reports usually describe the nearly 800 automatic delegates to the national convention as party elders or insiders. That’s true for many, who are members of Congress, governors and some mayors. Not in Macoll’s case.

“I had no idea this responsibility came with being vice chair of the state party,” said Macoll, who was elected in 2005.

After she found out, it didn’t really seem important until the seesaw battle of the presidential primaries and caucuses meant that the votes of super delegates would be needed to determine the nominee. At that point, news organizations and campaign staffs began keeping tallies of the superdelegates.

Clinton picked up many of Washington’s superdelegates early, including Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with Dicks and Inslee, who became state chairman for the campaign. But Obama gained support after he won the Iowa caucuses, and was endorsed by other superdelegates such as Gov. Chris Gregoire, and Reps. Brian Baird, Adam Smith and Rick Larsen.

Illinois Sen. Obama carried the state caucuses by a wide margin and the state primary by a narrower one.

The state’s last uncommitted delegate was former House Speaker Tom Foley, who had refused to endorse either candidate until Thursday, when he backed Obama. Foley’s wife, Heather, who served as his chief of staff in Congress, said he’d been called every week and always said he wasn’t ready to commit.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to all superdelegates this week asking them to make up their minds by Friday, so Foley called Obama and Clinton’s staff Thursday to tell them of his decision, Heather Foley said.

This weekend most of Clinton’s superdelegates from Washington are expected to make the shift to Obama after the New York senator officially suspends her campaign and throws her support to him. Spokeswomen for Murray and Cantwell say they won’t comment before Saturday’s announcement by Clinton, while a spokeswoman for Inslee said he’ll be switching today regardless of what Clinton says.