Pledged Delegate Flap
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Clinton campaign denied Tuesday it would make any effort to coax pledged Barack Obama delegates to switch to Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.
"We have not, are not and will not pursue the pledged delegates of Barack Obama. We think Sen. Obama's campaign owes you all a clear answer as to whether they will pursue our pledged delegates."
The Clinton camp is sensitive to this topic because it wants to avoid any appearance of pursuing a win-at-all-costs strategy, something the Obama camp has accused it of as debate has intensified over the role superdelegates should play in the pitched nomination fight.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Clinton's camp argues the 795 superdelegates should support the candidate they believe would be the best nominee, not necessarily the candidate who has won the most contests, votes or pledged delegates. The Obama camp believes just the opposite and has said Clinton can't hope to narrow the 136-delegate lead it says it has amassed in pledged delegates.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton told FOX News, "Of course we won't do that."
Burton said the real question is why the Clinton camp "didn't deny" they had a pledged delegate strategy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Politico.com reported Tuesday that an unnamed senior Clinton official said the campaign would try to persuade pledged delegates committed to Obama to switch to Clinton. Under party rules, pledged delegates - despite their title - can change their allegiance even before the first balllot is cast.
Generally, pledged delegates stick with the candidate they are pledged to as results are tallied in primaries and caucuses.
Any attempt to fight over pledged delegates could generate micro-political wars on the convention floor and introduce a degree of chaos not seen in party conventions in a generation.