Now that Super Delegates Matter Even More…
LobbyDelegates.com Lets Ordinary Voices Be Heard
The unrestrained votes of some 800 top Democratic Party officials, known as Super Delegates, now matter even more following the Pennsylvania Primary, which continued to leave both Presidential candidates short of the 2,024 primary-pledged delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Those believing these Party insiders (who include governors, mayors, state and Congressional lawmakers) should be more accountable to rank-and-file Democrats, can now have their voices heard through www.LobbyDelegates.com. This one-stop portal is the first and only one empowering grassroots Democrats to directly communicate with their state’s Super Delegates – via email, fax or postal letters.
LobbyDelegates.com maintains lists of Super Delegates who have endorsed Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or are still uncommitted. Users can, with one click, target all uncommitted Super Delegates and urge them to publicly endorse a certain candidate, or remain uncommitted. Users can similarly lobby Super Delegates to keep an existing commitment, or switch to the other candidate.
Although Sen. Obama leads with 1,490 pledged delegates to 1,336 for Sen. Clinton, neither would attain 2,024 even if one or the other won two-thirds of the remaining primary delegates. While Clinton leads among Super Delegates, 259 to 235, Obama has narrowed this gap steadily over the past six weeks. Over 300 Super Delegates remain uncommitted.
The LobbyDelegates.com website is strictly independent, and is not aligned with any political party, candidate, campaign or advocacy group. LobbyDelegates.com was created as a public service under the auspices of the nonprofit StateDemocracy Foundation, whose similar civic engagement website, www.StateDemocracy.com, is dedicated to delivering democracy to your desktop by connecting citizens and la wmakers.
Thousands have visited LobbyDelegates.com since it was launched on April 3. Since then, the website has been upgraded by adding a blog, the ability to invite friends, and free email delivery.
NOTE to VISITORS -- Simply post to this blog to tell us what you think about this website, or to share any other comments you have regarding Super Delegates.
We also encourage you to post your own lobbying message that could be helpful to others to adapt for their own lobbying message.
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For Immediate Release
Monday: June 2, 2008
Contact: Ken Laureys
Cell Phone: 301-661-6682
Ken.Laureys@LobbyDelegates.com
As Clinton’s Odds Dim, Her Fans Flood LobbyDelegates.com
? Lobbydelegates.com …What a great site!
? This is so cool, thank you. I have been very busy..
? Great tool.... and what a time saver. Thanks!
? Thanks, this site looks really helpful… I didn't have any trouble
? Thank you for lobby delegates, I plan to use it daily and my friend do as well
? I will send you a donation. Thanks for providing this service.
? I have been using this tool for a couple of weeks now, and I am getting responses back…It does work.
? Email a superdelegate…Do it the easy way here: www.lobbydelegates.com
PLEASE go to this amazing website: www.lobbydelegates.com…It's easy as pie
? It is very easy and free to send emails …Give it a shot, and keep this kicked if you can!
(Bowie, Maryland) -- Since its April 1st launch, over 15,000 visits have been made to www.LobbyDelegates.com, with nearly half (7,000) coming in the past 2 weeks. During this latest surge, those lobbying for Hillary Clinton outnumbered the Pro-Obama ones by a two-to-one margin.
LobbyDelegates.com remains the only1-stop portal empowering rank-and-file Democrats to lobby Super Delegates -- the nearly 800 top Party officials who can back any candidate they want. The site was created as a public service under the auspices of the nonprofit StateDemocracy Foundation, which also operates www.StateDemocracy.org, another free portal connecting citizens and their lawmakers.
Supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama rallied to LobbyDelegates.com in earnest about a month ago, as both camps came to realize that Super Delegates would be decisive in attaining the majority needed for nomination. But as the Obama lead among pledged delegates grew after the past few primaries, Clinton supporters flocked to the site at twice the rate of Obama followers. Accordingly, although 66% of all users lobbied for Obama during the site’s first month, 55% lobbied for Clinton over the site’s entire 2-month lifespan.
The turn-around came as Clinton supporters increasingly recognized that Super Delegates represented the best chance to overtake Obama’s lead among pledged delegates. Passionate pleas* to wage a Super Delegate lobbying campaign soon permeated Pro-Clinton websites:
? Please do not give up on Hillary yet. Write to the superdelegates and urge them to support Hillary… It is easy to do using this website: www.lobbydelegates.com (5-1-08)
? Use this free service to let the delegates know…whether you will continue to support the party if they fail to seat all of our delegates! (5-16-08)
? Everyone should get busy sending messages and send this link www.LobbyDelegates.com to everyone you know who is a Hillary supporter. (5-19-08)
? Please write to supers and ask for endorsement for Hillary... www.LobbyDelegates.com. She's being attacked on this ridiculous RFK comment, do not let them use this as a reason to push her out. (5-25-08)
Clinton followers also trumpeted the need to out-compete Obama partisans in the Super Delegate lobbying contest:
? Obama supporters have flooded SDs with e-mails through this site: www.lobbydelegates.com. Please, please e-mail today and answer the poll. (5-16-08)
? Please write to Super Delegates… Here's a link I found: www.LobbyDelegates.com … please pass it on to other Hillary sites only, you can bet Obama supporters are doing this as well. (5-17-08)
Altogether, Pro-Clinton websites have been the source of 20% of the visits to LobbyDelegates -- triple the number from Pro-Obama sources. (See table of referral sources).
Still, plenty of Obama enthusiasts similarly pushed fellow blog readers to voice their views through LobbyDelegates.com:
? Another site, www.LobbyDelegates.com has arrived, and is doing what we were trying to do much, much better…So we're closing this [super.del.egates.us] down, and pointing you to www.LobbyDelegates.com. Go there. Lobby your super delegates for Obama! (5-14-08)
? 3 things we can do to help Obama today: 1) Go to this website and lobby the Uncommitted Superdelegates in each state: www.LobbyDelegates.com (5-22-08)
? We need to start pressuring the Superdelegates to get off the fence and bring this madness to an end… We can help this along by going to this website [www.LobbyDelegates.com] and lobbying the Uncommitted Superdelegates. (5-23-08)
To date, each LobbyDelegates user corresponded with an average of 7 Super Delegates, resulting in the delivery of tens of thousands of communiqués. Fully 60% of users communicated by email, 33% by fax, and 8% via mailed letters.
Most users (55%) targeted only the Uncommitted Super Delegates, urging support for Clinton or Obama. A small (5%) but vocal group similarly lobbied the Uncommitted group, but also promoted their preferred nominee among those already backing a candidate. The remainder (40%) lobbied only Super Delegates committed to a candidate, urging them to either stick with or switch their allegiance.
The appeals used to persuade Super Delegates spanned the spectrum from rational to emotional, as illustrated by the following sample of online postings* referencing LobbyDelegates.com:
? I've been a strong supporter of Senator Clinton, but the race is over and delegates need to get behind Senator Obama. Otherwise, Republicans will win. (5-23-08)
? I recently took advantage of the lobby superdelegate tool offered at www.lobbydelegates.com … I have tried to be respectful and non-threatening. I emphasize that I will vote for Clinton if she's the nominee…But although she'll have my vote, she will not have my financial support or boots on the ground hard work. (5-11-08)
? My political involvement has never included giving money or volunteering to work for the party. That is until now. Barack Obama is the first candidate I've been willing to vote "for" instead of voting "against" the other person…Bringing people like me on board will provide the grass roots energy necessary to secure a victory for the Democrats in the fall. Your support of Barack Obama can help that happen.
? Here is my email to Senator Casey of PA “….You were voted into office to represent the will of the people of Pennsylvania. We expressed our will in April. Represent that will at the Denver convention. (5-19-08)
? Please for the love of God, in a year when the election should be a no-brainer, don't vote in the primary in such a way that we alienate the democratic base and once again elect a Republican in this country. This is not the right time for Obama -maybe in 8 years - but not now
? I wrote to superdelegates through this website. My letter was courteous, brief, and well written. …For the most part, those who replied were very polite. However, a good number of superdelegates used derogatory and intimidating terminology in their reply. I am appalled! … Does the Democratic Party want all its members to vote Democratic in November?
? Please understand why Obama is drawing in the young crowd by the droves. They think he is "cool!" Most of the younger generation grew up thinking sex and cocaine use toay is "cool" and he is one of them.
? Change as a mantra with no real experience to draw from is downright dangerous especially when there are two wars, a recession, a broken US image worldwide not to mention broken borders, a trillion dollar debt, escalating nuclear threats to annihilate Israel, compromised budgets on many social and emergency services, and on and on.
? Many Republicans I know feel the same way and are going to vote for Barack Obama. Never have I encountered so many Americans of all parties, so eagerly expressing respect and support for a candidate. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians want Barrack Obama because he will navigate our country towards Unity.
? I don't understand why the super delagates are not forth coming on their decision to support someone. If they take it away from Senator Obama, it is over, most people including me would think Clinton made a Bush move. (5-21-08)
? If the superdelegates vote for Clinton when the voters have cast ballots for Obama, then the voting process has once again been tampered with. And why should people bother to go and vote? The superdelegate for our area has said he will vote for whichever candidate his geographical area chose. That seems fair enough. (5-8-08)
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Referring Sources %
Bloghillary.com 16%
politico.com 6%
my.barackobama.com 6%
huffingtonpost.com 5%
digg.com 5%
hillaryclintonforum.net 4%
democraticunderground.com 3%
taylormarsh.com 3%
blog.washingtonpost.com 2%
All other referring websites 49%
