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New faces in political trenches

Everyday people inundate 'supers' to try to tip balance

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 14, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated April 14, 2008 at 5:52 a.m.

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James Wilk, a doctor from Highlands Ranch, urged Pat Waak not to overturn the results of caucuses and primaries, which have given Obama the lead in the popular vote and delegate count.

Photo by Photos By Judy Dehaas / The Rocky

James Wilk, a doctor from Highlands Ranch, urged Pat Waak not to overturn the results of caucuses and primaries, which have given Obama the lead in the popular vote and delegate count.

Pat Waak

Pat Waak

Heather Hodshire, of Centennial, shows her 5-year-old daughter, Sam Schechterman, the letter she wrote to Pat Waak, urging the state Democratic chair to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Heather Hodshire, of Centennial, shows her 5-year-old daughter, Sam Schechterman, the letter she wrote to Pat Waak, urging the state Democratic chair to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Marybelle Hoffman, of Wheat Ridge, looks at a letter she hopes will persuade superdelegate Pat Waak to support Barack Obama, who " is the only hope for real change in Washington."

Marybelle Hoffman, of Wheat Ridge, looks at a letter she hopes will persuade superdelegate Pat Waak to support Barack Obama, who " is the only hope for real change in Washington."

Stan Davis reads his letter to Waak in the chapel of his retirement home in Lakewood. Davis is a staunch Clinton supporter but wrote that superdelegates should not "parrot" what voters say.

Stan Davis reads his letter to Waak in the chapel of his retirement home in Lakewood. Davis is a staunch Clinton supporter but wrote that superdelegates should not "parrot" what voters say.

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Day after day, the messages keep coming.

Sometimes they're polite. Often they're indignant. But urgency comes through every time.

"Dear Pat," one e-mail begins. "Never in my life of 37 years have I been as excited about a candidate as I am about Barack Obama . . . But the Democratic Party is in danger of dashing my support."

Or, "Dear Ms. Waak," another starts. "Please lend your support to Hillary Clinton . . . I believe that the support for Obama is not well thought out and is being driven by the notion that it is trendy and cool to support him. Hillary is a grown-up . . . "

Everyone wants Pat Waak's attention. And it's no wonder.

As chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, she's one of the undecided "superdelegates," a group that could tip the balance in the party's hard-fought presidential primary.

So she's bombarded with e-mails, letters, petitions and phone calls - all in hopes of nudging her off the fence.

"I've never been so popular in my life," Waak joked while sharing the latest barrage of letters and e-mails she has received from total strangers.

"The one thing that stands out in all of it is the intensity of feeling about this election that I haven't seen in a long, long time," she said.

As the presidential nomination fight drags on, it appears unlikely that Obama or Clinton will be able to win the needed 2,024 delegates through primaries and caucuses alone.

It will come down to superdelegates, those 795 elected officials, local activists and party bigwigs who get to vote independently.

More than 250 "supers" have yet to pick a side, including six of the 14 Colorado superdelegates: Waak, Gov. Bill Ritter, former Gov. Roy Romer, Sen. Ken Salazar, Rep. John Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall. One more Colorado superdelegate will be named later.

Those fence-sitters have become high-value targets for charming offensives and high-pressure sales pitches.

And now, after both campaigns have tried sweet-talking them with big-name campaign insiders, they're enlisting everyday people to try to tip the balance with aggressive letter-writing campaigns.

Waak, who saves each missive, shared some recent ones with the Rocky Mountain News. She did so on the condition that the full names not be published, except when writers agreed to be identified.

Most writers are cordial, if still a bit demanding. Some take the high road. Others shoot straight for the rival candidate's kneecaps.

Sometimes, there's no time for salutations before the trash talking begins.

"This woman has more baggage than most coal trains going through Colorado," writes Keith, of Frederick, referring to Clinton.

But Anna Marie, a writer from Connecticut, begs to differ. "I think Obama is a man of no solutions - all a lot of hot air . . ."

One letter-writer named Nick describes himself as a "22-year-old commoner" and asks for Waak's attention. After all, he says, he skipped his two favorite MTV shows - Gossip Girl and The Hills - to write a two-page e-mail.

"I have often wondered when I would be concerned with a presidential election or have an interest in a news topic that didn't pertain to a drugged-out celebrity," Nick writes. "My lack of interest certainly isn't due to my lack of knowledge, but because of my lack of hope."

Obama changed that, Nick writes, giving him hope of fixing problems like health care, unemployment, poverty or housing woes. Clinton might be seen as having more experience, but judgment and character are what matter most, he figures.

"She once was thought to be an unqualified, naive rebellious woman challenging the status quo with her crazy ideas of socialized medicine," Nick writes. "But sadly, many years later, she has become another cookie-cutter politician criticizing the hope and optimism of many Obama followers as nothing more than fantasy."

So far, pro-Obama notes outnumber Clinton fan mail in Waak's collection. And many of them say the party is in trouble if superdelegates overturn the results of caucuses and primaries, which have given Obama the lead in the popular vote and delegate count.

"I, along with hundreds and hundreds of the party faithful will be very disgruntled indeed to think that Democratic with a capital D does NOT mean democratic with a lower-case d," James Wilk, a doctor from Highlands Ranch, writes. "I'd probably drop my party affiliation and go independent."

But Stan Davis, of Lakewood, a staunch Clinton backer, writes that superdelegates were given the power to act independently, not just "parrot" what the voters say. He says he likes the system "because I think that the party's heroes, our elected officials and party leaders who work day and night on behalf of the party and put their lives on the line for us, deserve their own, separate, independent voice in party affairs."

Clinton, Davis writes, has enough experience to stand toe to toe with the Republican's John McCain on foreign policy and national security issues.

Some letters reflect recent controversies that have flared, such as the racially charged comments by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"I cannot in all good faith vote for a man that has been friends with (a) man such as Rev. Wright," Anna Maria, of Connecticut, writes.

One writer, calling himself "Citizen Kane," says he was disappointed that racial issues had been injected into the contest, and he blames a top Clinton backer, Geraldine Ferraro, for claiming Obama wouldn't be leading the contest if not for his race.

He demands that Ferraro be disinvited from this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

As the state-by-state battle continues, so does the fight for the hearts and minds of superdelegates. A nonprofit group, State Democracy Foundation, has even created an online tool that, for a small donation, allows users to blast faxes or e-mails to superdelegates, lobbying them to pick sides or switch sides.

So, is any of this pressure getting to Waak? It doesn't sound like it.

Without a hint of irony she said, "I'm just committed for the time being to be uncommitted."

Dear Pat

Below are excerpts from some of the e-mails and letters people have sent to Pat Waak, Colorado Democratic Party chair, trying to influence her choice for president as an undecided superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention.

* "Like many young people, I was disillusioned with the partisan politics of the last eight years. I didn't feel like activism or involvement counted for much without a pile of money to hand around or a famous family. . . . When I read an interview with Barack Obama where he discussed his experience as a community organizer . . . I felt the barriers to involvement I'd built in my mind started to crumble."

Jelena Woehr, Lakewood

* "Please lend your support to Hillary Clinton. After listening to my friends and neighbors at the caucus last week, I believe that the support for Obama is not well thought out and is being driven by the notion that it is trendy and cool to support him. Hillary is a grown-up with the drive, intelligence and know-how to address the serious issues that we are facing."

Heather Hodshire, Centennial

* "My reasons for choosing Mr. Obama over a year ago are reinforced daily as this campaign drags on, that he is the only hope for real change in Washington. America sorely needs a 'fresh start' to get this nation back to some semblance of what we are supposed to be, and unfortunately the other candidate's campaign is showing, literally on a daily basis, that they are mired in the same old type of politics: Win at any cost."

Marybelle Hoffman, Wheat Ridge

* "I think Obama is a man of no solutions - all a lot of hot air. When you look beyond the great speeches he gives, he has no Ideas or solutions for America as Hillary does . . . I hope when it comes down to it you look at the facts and will vote for Hillary Clinton. I look at Obama as an unknown, and I think America needs someone with solutions not speeches."

Anna Marie, Connecticut

sprengelmeyerm@RockyMountainNews.com

Comments

  • April 14, 2008

    6:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    cogramma writes:

    Those folks who still believe Obama's lack of 'experience' is a problem should read his book "The Audacity of Hope". Carefully, and paying attention. Substance, integrity and caring count for a great deal.