Clinton Allies Warning Her About Relying on Superdelegates to Win

Even some of the staunchest of Clinton supporters are warning her that relying on superdelegates to overturn the will of the Democrat voters is a dangerous and needlessly divisive move:

MILWAUKEE - Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel - one of Hillary Clinton's most stalwart African-American defenders - is apparently questioning her reliance on unelected superdelegates to stay competitive with Barack Obama, saying they may not reflect the "will" of Democratic voters.

"It's the people [who are] going to govern who selects our next candidate and not superdelegates," Rangel said last night at a dinner for the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators conference in Albany.

"The people's will is what's going to prevail at the convention and not people who decide what the people's will is," he added.

Superdelegates, who are usually high-ranking party officials, are free to choose any candidate, unlike "pledged" delegates apportioned by primaries and caucuses. Obama's approximately 40-delegate lead overall would be much larger were it not for Clinton's 75-delegate edge among the supers.

A danger to the party

Earlier yesterday, Sen. Charles Schumer, another major Clinton supporter, expressed his discomfort with her willingness to battle Obama for delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August. New York's senior senator, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," called on Clinton and Obama to agree on a winner after the final caucus in Puerto Rico, saying a protracted fight will rip apart the party in a year when they're favored to win the White House.

"I don't think either candidate wants - or can even get away with - forcing their will down the throat of the other," Schumer told host Tim Russert. "At the end of the day, on June 7, for the sake of party unity, [Democratic National Committee chairman] Howard Dean and the two candidates will have to get together if neither candidate has 2,025 ... and come up with a strategy. Each candidate will have to have buy into that strategy."

If Hillary comes up on the bad end of the pledged delegate, popular vote and states won count, I don't think even that will prevent her from pursuing the win via the superdelegates. Hillary has only this year to win - waiting another four or eight years will render her irrelevant in the political process and possibly too old to be seriously considered again. I believe she would claim that her win via superdelegates was within the rules of the party (which it would be) and would hope the Dems hatred for all things Republican would keep the Obama voters on her side.

It's all about winning, and if the party is shattered for a period of time afterwards, oh well......