Ivan Holmes Endorses Obama

Oklahoma Democratic Party chairman and uncommitted superdelegate Ivan Holmes will endorse Barack Obama on Tuesday evening, CNN has learned.

Holmes, who has led the state party since 2007, initially supported John Edwards and said he has remained neutral throughout the nomination process because Hillary Clinton won the Oklahoma primary on Super Tuesday.

He told CNN he is making an endorsement today because “I’ve been trying to be sure in my mind it’s over, which it now looks like it is to me.”

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Jay Parmley Endorses Barack Obama

Oklahoma Democratic superdelegate Jay Parmley tonight endorsed Barack Obama.

Parmley, the former Oklahoma Democratic Party chairman who now works for the Democratic National Committee, was one of four undeclared superdelegates from the state.

In a statement emailed to The McCarville Report Online, Parmley wrote, "The race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination has been historic. We have had two superbly qualified candidates, unprecedented numbers of newly registered voters and across the board near-record to record turnouts in primaries and caucuses. As an automatic delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, it was always my hope that Democratic voters across America whose votes determine the proportional make up of the pledged delegates to the DNC Convention would select the nominee of our Party. I believe they have done so, even if by the narrowest of margins.

"I will cast my vote at the DNC Convention for Senator Barack Obama.

"Voters in my own home state of Oklahoma chose differently, a fact I weighed heavily as the nomination process unfolded. I for some time have had a deep personal respect for Senator Clinton and that respect continues. However, as an at-large member of the DNC and automatic delegate, I have a greater duty to help unite our party as we head into the November elections. Senator Obama has brought thousands of new people into the political process and his campaign and election will restore people’s confidence in their government.

"Our task as a party is great. Our country is in crisis. Voters have a clear choice in November. Will we end the war in Iraq, fix our ailing economy, and provide much needed quality healthcare to all our citizens? These questions can only be answered affirmatively by electing a Democratic President. The fight for the Democratic nomination has been intense and now comes to a close. Our goal as Democrats is victory in November and that can only be accomplished if we come together in support of Senator Obama."

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Parmley Waits Until Tuesday Votes Are In

One of the most sought-after Oklahoma Democratic National Convention superdelegates, former Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman Jay Parmley, who now works for the Democratic National Committee, says he will make his decision public following Tuesday's final primaries.

Asked if he's made up his mind about which presidential candidate he supports, Parmley replied, "I spoke with Governor Henry, Barack Obama and officials with the Clinton campaign today and told all of them that I am standing by my word that I won't commit to a candidate until after tomorrow night when all the votes from Montana and South Dakota are counted."

Parmley is one of four of the state's superdelegates who have not declared. Five have declared for Obama, including Henry, and one for Clinton. Other Oklahoma superdelegates who have declared for Obama are Senator Mike Morgan of Stillwater, activist Kalyn Free of Tahlequah, Reggie Whitten of Oklahoma City, and party Vice Chair Kitti Asberry. Hillary Clinton has National Committeewoman Betty McElderry.

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Kayln Free Endorses Barack Obama

Barack Obama picked up another Oklahoma Democratic National Convention superdelegate today as Kalyn Free, an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, announced her support in a news release on Obama's presidential website.

Free (pictured with Obama and Ben Odom at a 2007 Washington event) is the founder and President of INDN’s List, an organization dedicated to recruiting and training American Indian candidates.

This brings the total number of superdelegates to endorse Barack Obama to 258 nationally and four in Oklahoma. That puts Obama 276 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Other Oklahoma superdelegates who have declared for Obama are Reggie Whitten of Oklahoma City, party Vice Chair Kitti Asberry, and Governor Brad Henry. Hillary Clinton, who carried Oklahoma easily, has just one in her camp, National Committeewoman Betty McElderry.

Free, a member of the Choctaw Nation and a former congressional candidate, said she was excited to see two qualified candidates emerge from the field of Democratic contenders. “Today, I am casting my support for a new kind of leadership and a new possibility of what America can be. Barack Obama is a once-in-a-generation kind of leader and the best hope the American people have to rebuild the erosion our collective foundation has endured the last eight years. In 2008, we must elect a President who will restore our faith in the possibilities of each and every American, including the First Americans."

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Superdelegate Jay Parmley: It's 'Not Over'

Former Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman Jay Parmley (shown here, left background, with other Oklahoma party leaders at a Washington conference), who now works for Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and who is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, said today the race for his party's nomination for president "is not over" and he's not yet ready to endorse either candidate.

Parmely's comment came when he was asked by TMRO if, given Governor Henry's endorsement of Obama today, he is rethinking his position of not endorsing either candidate.

"I think Clinton's decisive victory in PA clearly demonstrates this race is not over and I really prefer to let the voters have a say before the Party leaders make their choice," Parmley said.

"I won't decide until after all of the primaries and caucuses are over in the states and territories," he told the Oklahoma Daily two weeks ago. "I think it is important to weigh not only how Oklahoma voted, but how the rest of the county has voted."

Dean has called on the party's superdelegates to make their choices clear by June.

Parmley currently works for the DNC as a top field representative. He served as the Mississippi Democratic Party's Coordinated Campaign Director and the Interim Executive Director of the South Carolina Democratic Party. From 2001-2005, Parmley was the fulltime elected chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. He is a past president of the Young Democrats of America serving from 1999-2001. Parmley was appointed by Dean as an At-Large member of the Democratic National Committee in 2005 and is a member of the DNC Budget and Finance Committee. Parmley is a frequent panelist at seminars sponsored by Democracy For America (DFA).

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Superdelegate Henry Endorses Barack Obama

Governor Henry, a Democratic National Convention superdelegate, today endorsed Barack Obama for president. The endorsement immediately drew national attention on the cable television news shows and numerous Internet sites, including The Drudge Report.

It was a surprising, and unexpected, development in the race between Obama and Hillary Clinton and came on the heels of Clinton's win in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary.

It's a surprise given Obama's record as the most liberal member of the U. S. Senate, and the fact he ran a distant second to Clinton in the Oklahoma presidential primary. It's unexpected, given Henry's earlier statement that he would not announce an endorsement until the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer.

The announcement clearly was planned to follow immediately the Pennsylvania vote and was posted on Obama's campaign website, the same place the endorsements of OU President David Boren and former George U. S. Senator Sam Nunn were announced last week.

Henry called Obama an inspirational leader who can unite the country. He says the senator will be able to move beyond the divisiveness and partisanship that has characterized Washington politics.

The endorsement gives Obama the official support of 3 of Oklahoma's 10 superdelegates, while Clinton has the backing of 1 superdelegate. The rest are uncommitted.

The Henry endorsement is important for Obama; it continues a string of superdelegate endorsements for him and helps him rebuild whatever momentum he lost in Tuesday's loss to Clinton.

The endorsement comes on the same morning that The New York Times, which has endorsed Clinton, printed an editorial that came close to unendorsing her based on the tone of her "negative campaign."

Concludes the editorial: "It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box. Mrs. Clinton once had a big lead among the party elders, but has been steadily losing it, in large part because of her negative campaign. If she is ever to have a hope of persuading these most loyal of Democrats to come back to her side, let alone win over the larger body of voters, she has to call off the dogs."

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Oklahoma Superdelegate Goes For Obama

Barack Obama picked up another superdelegate in his march to the Democratic nomination for president as Oklahoma City attorney Reggie Whitten announced he's in the Illinois senator's camp.

Whitten, an "add-on" superdelegate named by Democratic State Chairman Ivan Holmes, is now one of two Oklahoma superdelegates supporting Obama; the other is party Vice Chair Kitti Asberry. Hillary Clinton has one in her camp, National Committeewoman Betty McElderry.

Politico.com reports that Obama now has 232 superdelegates, Clinton 251. At one time, Clinton had a 100-plus advantage.

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Pressure Builds On Oklahoma Superdelegates

By Randy Krehbiel In The Tulsa World ~ What do you say when an ex-president, or a potential next president, asks for a really big favor?

If you're one of Oklahoma's Democratic "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates" -- the so-called super delegates -- you probably say you'll think about it. Six of the state's eight super delegates are uncommitted and say they intend to remain so, despite calls from party heavyweights including former President Bill Clinton.

"I don't care who you are, getting a call from the president is something," said Second District Congressman Dan Boren. Boren said he and Clinton talked for about 20 minutes on subjects ranging from former Oklahoma Gov. George Nigh to the former president's recent visit to the University of Oklahoma. But the purpose of the call, clearly, was to encourage Boren to support his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. "He told me why his wife should be president," Boren said. "I told President Clinton that I thought it was really important that pledged delegates be the deciding factor. And he agreed with me."

Pledged delegates are those earned, in Oklahoma's case, through the results of the state Democratic primary. Clinton carried Oklahoma by a wide margin and picked up 24 of a possible 38 delegates, with the remaining 14 going to Barack Obama.

Nationally, Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates, but Clinton is thought to have the advantage among the 795 unpledged super delegates.

Clinton's victory in the Oklahoma primary and support among many long-time party regulars have not prevented Obama's forces from making a play for the state's super delegates.

Boren said he is supposed to talk to the Illinois senator by phone on Friday. Others said they have heard from Obama loyalists.

"Tim Roemer, a former congressman I know, called and talked to me for about 10 minutes," said Tulsa attorney James Frasier, Oklahoma's national committeeman.

Super delegate designation is reserved for party insiders. Besides Boren and Frasier, Oklahoma's are Gov. Brad Henry, national committeewoman Betty McElderry, state party chairman Ivan Holmes, state party vice chairwoman Kitti Asberry, Democratic National Committee member Kalyn Free and DNC member Jay Parmley.

McElderry has publicly supported Clinton, while Asberry has come out for Obama.

The eight super delegates and one unpledged at-large delegate to be chosen at next week's state convention complete Oklahoma's roster of 47 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

Holmes, who nominates the at-large delegate, said former President Clinton asked him who his choice was. Holmes said he told Clinton he hasn't decided. "He was pretty low key," said Holmes. "He wasn't pushy or anything."

Free said she has been contacted by both camps but is resisting offers to speak directly to the candidates. "They are definitely putting on the full-court press," Free said.

The closeness of the race for the Democratic nomination has focused unaccustomed attention on the super delegates. Since the current system was put in place in 1980, the super delegates have not played a deciding role in the selection of the Democratic Party nominee. But this time they could, and that worries Oklahoma's super delegates.

"I hope to God it doesn't come to that," said Frasier. "I don't think it would be good for the party. I want the primaries to decide the nominee. I don't want people to think fat cats in smoke-filled rooms are deciding the nominee."

"I never thought something like this would come up," said Boren. "I think a lot of super delegates (in the past) didn't even vote. Some didn't even go to the convention."

On Thursday, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported that Obama's political action committee has contributed nearly $700,000 to the campaigns of super delegates in the past three years, and Clinton's has given nearly $200,000.

Boren and Henry, however, are the only Oklahoma super delegates who have run for office during that time, and neither seems to have received contributions from the two presidential hopefuls.

Oklahoma's super delegates could be in a difficult situation if Obama goes into the convention with more delegates or an edge in total votes over Clinton. If they vote for Clinton they will be going against the national trend. If they vote for Obama, they'll be going against the voters of their state.

"You have to take that into consideration," said Boren. "Not only do I represent 25 counties in eastern Oklahoma, I represent people of both political parties."

Free said she doesn't think it will come to that. "I would be surprised," she said. "This election has taken so many twists and turns, I think it will be decided before the convention."

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Most Of Oklahoma's Superdelegates Still Undecided

Most of Oklahoma's Democratic National Convention superdelegates have not yet publicly declared their choice for the party nomination for president and several of them say they are waiting to see how the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (shown above with superdelegate Kalyn Free and former party Vice Chair Ben Odom at an event last year) plays out.

Some speculate the battle could play out all the way to the convention in Denver this summer. If that's the case, the nation's superdelegates become major players in the party's nominating process since they are free to vote for whichever candidate they wish no matter which candidate voters in their states favored. In Oklahoma, that was Clinton.

Oklahoma's Democratic superdelegates are Governor Brad Henry, Congressman Dan Boren, Party Chairman Ivan Holmes, Vice Chair Kitti Asberry, National Committeeman Jim Frasier, National Committeewoman Betty McElderry and DNC members-at-large Kalyn Free and Jay Parmley.

One of them perhaps spoke for most when, in an email response to an inquiry, wrote, "I haven't declared yet. I am very unsure. I think it could go either way. I am going to wait and see how a few more of the states go before I even try to make a final decision."

Two of the superdelegates indicated their preferences earlier; McElderry said she supports Clinton, while Asberry indicated she'll back Obama.

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