Shuler maintains pledge to cast vote for Clinton

Posted on by Hal L. Millard

Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler says he will cast his superdelegate vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton when the Democratic National Convention holds its formal roll-call vote on Wednesday night Aug. 27.

“My superdelegate vote is still the same,” Shuler said Aug. 21 in response to a question posed during his address to the Council of Independent Business Owners in Asheville. “Basically, however the district voted is how I will vote.” In Shuler’s 11th Congressional District, made up of Buncombe and 14 other WNC counties, Clinton bested Barack Obama during this May North Carolina primary. With both candidates clamoring for superdelegate votes, Shuler had pledged to cast his for whomever won the district’s popular vote, even though Obama carried the state.

Obama is letting Clinton delegates voice their support for her in the vote Wednesday, a step that Obama hopes will offer some catharsis and healing after a hard-fought campaign between the two. Clinton has told her delegates to feel free to release their votes to Obama, though reports indicate many will likely stick to their candidate, who ran an historic campaign as the first woman to wage a serious battle for president. Though Clinton is not the first woman to run, no other woman has ever garnered as many votes or won as many primaries as Clinton did.

Though, technically, nothing is set into stone until after the vote, Obama is fully expected to accept the party nomination the following night with a speech at Denver’s INVESCO Field.

— Hal L. Millard, staff writer

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8 thoughts on “Shuler maintains pledge to cast vote for Clinton”

  1. B Remwir

    Shuler – this will make the progressives very mad at you however you know were the meat of the 11th District is!!

    Pander just enough with the progressives & the rest will allow you play time with the party nut jobs.

    NBW

  2. Gordon Smith

    I’m an Obama supporter, but I think Shuler’s doing the right thing by casting his Supervote for the person who got the majority in his district.

    Superdelegates represent an unelected oligarchy and Shuler’s willingness to abide by the choice of the people is laudable.

  3. shadmarsh

    Im sure “the choice of the people” is reason that Shuler is casting his vote for Clinton.

  4. Gordon Smith

    I hear you, shad. I’m as cynical as the next guy, so I’m not trying to guess Shuler’s motivation for his choice. However, the action is one I support regardless of the motivation.

  5. shadmarsh

    I prefer skeptical, but Shuler lost what little trust/interest I had in him a long time ago. My personal opinion is that he is voting for Clinton just to be a douche-bag which, in fairness to him, is probably just his nature.

  6. LOKEL

    I suppose if he decided to vote for Obama he would be considered a “yes man” – he can’t win…. either way.

    I also support him for REPRESENTING the people who voted in his district (who, in fact voted a majority for Clinton).

  7. Al Cottingham

    Isn’t it ironic that the democrat party, supposedly the party of the “people”, has the superdelegate system whereby the vote of the people can be circumvented? Ironically, if the democrats had the same primary system as the republicans, Hillary would have been the candidate. Because the republicans do it one vote counts as one vote, and the winner of the majority of votes in a state takes the whole state, just like in the general election.

    As far as Shuler doing the right thing, he always checks with his boss the far far leftwing San francisco Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.She lets him look independent when it doesn’t count. But makes him vote her way when it does. Carl Mumpower is his own man. I am voting for him.

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