John Lewis

Bad news for Hillary Clinton, to be sure.

MILWAUKEE — Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.

“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” said Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endorsed Mrs. Clinton last fall. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”

Mr. Lewis, who carries great influence among other members of Congress, disclosed his decision in an interview in which he said that as a superdelegate he could “never, ever do anything to reverse the action” of the voters of his district, who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama.

“I’ve been very impressed with the campaign of Senator Obama,” Mr. Lewis said. “He’s getting better and better every single day.”

Interesting choice of wording. He's not saying he no longer supports her, but rather that as a superdelegate, he would cast his vote according to the will of voters in his district. Josh Marshall writes,

But the most immediate and significant import is Lewis's signal that whatever the basis of his original endorsement he is unwilling to join Clinton in carving a path to the nomination through the heart of the Democratic party. The tell in Lewis's announcement is that he is not technically withdrawing his endorsement from Hillary, at least not yet. He is saying that as a super delegate (which is by virtue of being a member of Congress) he plans to vote for Obama at the convention. On Wednesday the Clinton camp started pushing hard on the idea that a delegate is a delegate and if they need to pack on super delegates to overwhelm Obama's edge with elected delegates then so be it. A win is a win is a win. I take this as Lewis saying he just won't sign on for that.

Indeed, the whole thing is worth a read. The spin and pronouncements from the Clinton proxies this past week -- Penn, Ickes, et. al. -- that they'll win the nomination even if they lose the popular vote; that they'll attempt to seat the Fla. and MI delegates; that the superdelegates are not bound by the voters in their districts; that delegates from "significant" states should count more than those from "insignificant" ones -- may seriously backfire for their candidate. Not only does it underscore impressions that she's as unscrupulous as she's regularly depicted, but, worse, that the Clinton campaign is losing touch with reality.

If those trial balloons explode, then even superdelegates supporting her may start running away. Nothing terribly significant has happened since Obama won Georgia, and yet Lewis makes his announcement several weeks later. Hmmm.

In fact, we're hearing more and more distressing stories that Clinton has surrounded herself with loyalists prized more for their fealty to her than for their competence sounds a lot like the current occupant of the White House.