‘They’re Both Electable’

This might seem a strange time for a superdelegate to announce support for Hillary Clinton. With just two weeks left in the primary season, the New York senator is trailing behind Barack Obama in both the delegate and superdelegate count. But while a majority of superdelegates have thrown their weight behind Obama in recent days, and some have even announced they are switching loyalties to Obama from Clinton, there are still a few newly decided Hillary backers. W. Craig Bashein, a 47-year-old litigator and Democratic superdelegate from the Cleveland area, is one of them. Bashein announced Wednesday that he'll be going to Denver in August to vote for Clinton.

Bashein says he fretted over the decision but in the end decided to go with the former First Lady because he thinks she's got better experience. And unlike Clinton's top strategists, whose primary argument to win over superdelegates these days is that their candidate is more electable, Bashein has a problem with that argument. He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Suzanne Smalley about his decision to go with Clinton. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What do you think about the uproar over Senator Clinton's comments about Robert Kennedy?
W. Craig Bashein: I do not in any way or fashion represent the Clinton campaign, (but) I think Senator Clinton was attempting to point out that at the time Senator Kennedy was in a nomination fight in June of that year, 1968. I don't think she meant anything other than that....She certainly didn't intend to offend anybody. I didn't interpret it as anything but perhaps an awkward way to say Senator Kennedy was involved in a nomination fight in June of that year.

After holding out for so long, what triggered your decision to come out for Clinton now?
I was appointed on May 12th to the superdelegate position, and after a couple weeks of careful consideration, I thought it was important to weigh in and make my support known for a candidate—in this case Senator Clinton.

Did you communicate with the campaign about the timing of your announcement?
No. Both campaigns had contacted me after I was appointed, congratulating me, obviously indicating they'd love my support. In terms of the timing of the announcement, I did not talk to their campaign other than to let Senator Clinton's campaign know that I would be supporting her.

How do you justify this decision given that Obama's ahead in the pledged delegate count? Is the popular vote something you considered?
It isn't because I think each superdelegate is going to announce their support at a different time and the popular vote at that time may change from candidate to candidate. One of the factors I certainly looked at was the fact that Senator Clinton did win [my state of] Ohio in the popular vote.