JACKSON, Wyo.—Sen. Barack Obama picked up another superdelegate Saturday as the Wyoming Democrats selected their delegation to the national convention and confirmed that a majority of the state’s delegates will back the Illinois senator.
Obama defeated Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 61 percent to 38 percent in the Wyoming caucuses in March. As a result, Obama picked up seven pledged delegates to Clinton’s five.
At their state convention in Jackson, Democrats selected the individual delegates who will attend the national gathering this summer in Denver and picked the state’s sixth superdelegate, state Rep. W. Patrick Goggles of Ethete.
Under party rules, state party Chair John Millin—an Obama supporter—nominated Goggles as the “unpledged add-on,” or superdelegate.
Afterward, Goggles told The Associated Press that he will support Obama at the national convention.
“His theme is change, and I want to see that change,” said Goggles, a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe. “There are 10 trillion other reasons—national debt, the economy, the ill-contrived war in Iraq and national health policy.”
Both candidates have been wooing superdelegates, composed largely of party leaders and elected officials. As of Saturday, four of the state’s superdelegates, including Millin, have said they are supporting Obama. Two remain uncommitted.
Turnout at the convention was about a third higher than others in recent memory, party officials said. There were just over 300 delegate votes on Saturday, compared to about 200 at recent conventions.
“This is as great of a convention that I’ve seen easily since the early 1980s,” Gov. Dave Freudenthal told the crowd.
Freudenthal urged his fellow Democrats to sustain the excitement until the November general election. Presidential campaign signs plastered the walls of the convention hall, reflecting the enthusiasm surrounding the hotly contested nominating race.
“I hope you do take seriously the admonition that come November … that we will join together and make very, very sure that there’s no third term for ‘McBush,'” Freudenthal said.
Despite the day’s upbeat atmosphere, the Democrats were keenly aware that their party remains a minority in Wyoming, outnumbered two-to-one by Republicans in state voter registration.
“Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed absolutely wonderful Democrats in the Legislature, but I’ve never had enough to even sustain a veto,” Freudenthal said.
Party members and candidates sought to seize on the momentum of the election season with campaign speeches and calls for more involvement at the local and state level. “It’s critical that we as Democrats, if we want to affect policy, have to elect Democrats to office,” Millin said.
Ann Robinson, a former Wyoming state legislator from Casper, said this year’s charged presidential campaign prompted her to seek a spot as one of Clinton’s five Wyoming delegates. After being selected, she noted that neither Democratic hopeful has enough delegates to claim the nomination yet.
“As has been said many times here before, the Democrats are going to get behind whoever the nominee is, and we’re still fighting for that to be Hillary,” she said.
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