Why Clinton floated the delegate switch idea

A Clinton delegate from Maryland, state Rep. Ben Barnes said, “I don’t think the Hillary campaign is trying to woo pledged delegates from Obama. What she is doing is trying to point out that these rules are messy all over the place.” For instance, some states allow independents and Republicans to vote in Democratic primaries, but some do not.

“I’ve had Obama people say to me, ‘this shouldn’t be decided by the superdelegates,’ but then I say, ‘well, what about the Florida primary not counting?’ We can’t pick and choose which party rules to support based on which rule will benefit our candidate.”

In any event, Barnes said, “I wouldn’t expect pledged delegates to switch between now and the convention. You have to stand behind the commitments you’ve made. And I continue to believe that Hillary Clinton will be the best president and the best candidate.”

There’s a logic for Clinton to remind people of the possibility that future events might cause some pledged delegates to re-think their commitments.

Lagging by about 120 in the delegate count, with about 580 delegates still to be chosen in upcoming primaries, it is in Clinton’s interest to remind Democrats that the unexpected has already played a role in this race and might do so again.

Video Meet a superdelegate Feb. 11: Jason Rae is a Democratic superdelegate who is still in college. MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams

That New Hampshire surprise
After all, who on the night of Jan. 7 expected Clinton to win New Hampshire?

Yet the next day she did win it.

And in the final hours leading up to her resounding victories in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, some Obama-phile pundits were telling Clinton to give up and quit the race. She didn't quit and she's still only about 120 delegates behind.

But Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist who served as spokesman for the John Edwards campaign but is not working for either the Obama or Clinton campaigns, is skeptical of Clinton’s concept of pledged delegates switching at the convention.

“With all due respect, to even suggest it is comical. Realistically, it has no chance of happening,” Kofinis said.

Interactive Superdelegate sampling Here's a look at some of the Democratic Convention's 796 superdelegates.

So why would Clinton float this concept?

It goes, said Kofinis, back to the elected officials and party elders — governors, House members, DNC members, and former leaders such as Al Gore — who under Democratic Party rules are not elected by the voters but still have an automatic vote at the convention.

Unless some of the pledged delegates shift their loyalties before the convention, it will likely be the superdelegates whose votes will give either Clinton or Obama the final number they need to secure the nomination. That could be a lonely and perhaps perilous position for the superdelegates to be in.

For the Clinton campaign, “their strategy, it appears, is to create some basis so that superdelegates would feel less reluctant about overturning the will of pledged delegates, which Obama is likely to have the lead in, by suggesting that all delegates are up for grabs,” he said.

“The problem is that it’s just not a realistic argument.”

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