'Super delegates' feel pressure of tight Clinton-Obama race
DAYTON, Ohio -- Rhine McLin is a woman in demand.
Actress Alfre Woodard has phoned McLin, the mayor of Dayton, to chat about Woodard's presidential choice, Barack Obama. So has Obama's wife, Michelle. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband each have tried twice to speak to McLin about the race, but the mayor won't return their calls. So many people want to bend McLin's ear that her phone messages at the office are littered on her chair, while her e-mail account and home answering machine are stuffed with entreaties.
McLin is a coveted "super delegate" — the Democratic elected officials and party insiders who can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice at the national convention and are not bound by the outcome of a primary or caucus.
With Obama and Clinton locked in an intense battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, McLin and the 794 other super delegates could be key to deciding their party's closest nomination fight in two decades.
"This is the first time I've ever known that I have counted," says McLin, 59, a super delegate since she was appointed to a Democratic National Committee seat 20 years ago. Today, she is among the elite delegates because she is vice chairwoman of the Ohio Democratic Party.
The battle for super delegate votes has moved from a quiet affair to a fever pitch as Obama has strung together 11 primary and caucus victories since the "Super Tuesday" contests Feb. 5, cutting into Clinton's once-strong support among women, Hispanics and low-income Americans.
Former president Bill Clinton has said the Ohio and Texas primaries on Tuesday are must-wins for his wife. Even so, the Democratic Party's complex rules for allocating delegates make it unlikely that Obama or Hillary Clinton can secure the nomination just by winning the remaining primaries.
So the phone calls to McLin have ranged from the earnest — "It would mean a lot to have your support," Hillary Clinton says in a message the candidate left at the mayor's house — to pleading: "If there's anything we can do to bring you over to his side, please let us know," says David Wilhelm, a former DNC chairman and Obama backer.
Clinton leads among super delegates, but some prominent ones who were in her corner early are changing their minds.
"I want to be on the side of the people," says Rep. John Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement whose Georgia district voted strongly for Obama on Feb. 5. Lewis, an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus, endorsed Obama last week.
McLin is not swayed to back someone because of Lewis, or any of the intense outreach, and admits she's skeptical of the whole thing.
She's determined "not to lose sight of who I am and say, 'Wow, this is exciting,' " says McLin, adding she understands the campaigns are reaching out simply because she holds a position of power — even temporarily.
"These national people are not going to call me again," she says.
'Ping-ponging back and forth'
For McLin, the choice is agonizing.
As a woman, she feels a kinship with Clinton in her bid to become the nation's first female president. As an African-American whose late father was a legendary figure among black politicians in Ohio, McLin says she's drawn to Obama's quest to become the nation's first black president.
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