Laurie Weahkee Chooses Obama; Barack Catches Clinton in Superdelegates

I'm sure you've heard by now that New Mexico add-on delegate Laurie Weahkee, the Native American Voters Alliance Coordinator at Albuquerque's SAGE Council, has publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president. I'd like to welcome Laurie to the Obama fold -- I know there was a lot of pressure applied by the campaigns of both candidates. Weahkee was one of nine superdelegates and a union leader who endorsed Obama on Friday. Obama is now about even with Clinton in the superdelegate count, depending on the source that's doing the counting.

Laurie Weahkee's official statement released late Friday by the Obama campaign:

“Today, I’m proud to announce my support as a presidential delegate for Barack Obama. After the primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina, it is now absolutely clear that Barack Obama will be our nominee.  I’d like to applaud both Senators Clinton and Obama for their commitment and dedication. In particular, I’d like to recognize Senator Clinton for her many years of service to this country, and for laying the groundwork for women across this country to run for office.  It is time for all of us to unite behind Obama as we head into a difficult general election.  Obama has proven that he can campaign in a difficult environment and still inspire thousands of new voices to take part in the democratic process. As a Native American woman, I’m proud to support Obama, and I ask all of us to now join together and start building the movement for victory in November.”

The New Mexico Independent has an excellent interview with Weahkee, where she goes into more depth about the reasons she decided to endorse Obama and describes her reaction to the local Clinton campaign's challenge to her selection:

... I was a little disappointed by the aggressive tone of the New Mexico Clinton campaign to challenge my selection as a delegate, because I really was at that time undecided. The aggressive tone from folks here locally just added into the my overall sense that the Clinton campaign was really aggressive. It was disappointing. I was truly undecided and they were already putting me in one camp or another. I just felt it was a bad representation on Hillary Clinton and her overall campaign.

I'm sure you recall that Laurie Weahkee won the election to become New Mexico's at-large, unpledged add-on delegate at the April 19 Dem Party State Central Committee meeting, and that the procedure was challenged unsuccessfully by the Clinton camp.

One of the criteria Weahkee cited as a basis for making a decision on an endorsement was the candidate's positions on Native American issues. Here are Obama's Principles for Stronger Tribal Communities. Also check out a Native American Times article on Weahkee.

Weahkee was heavily involved for many years in working to preserve the spiritual and physical integrity of the Petroglyph National Monument on Albuquerque's West Mesa in the midst of heavy sprawl development in the area. Here's a 1999 article from the High Country News that provides good background info on the issue. Here's a statement about the Petroglyphs written by Weahkee, and this article from the now defunct Albuquerque Tribune reports on the controversial extension of Paseo del Norte through the Petroglyphs that was punched through in June 2007 despite the protests and legal challenges of Weahkee's group and others.

Rep. Tom Udall is now the only so-called superdelegate in New Mexico who hasn't yet chosen sides. Until Udall makes his endorsement, it's a 6-5 split for Clinton among New Mexico's supers:

Governor Bill Richardson (Obama)
Lt. Governor Diane D. Denish (Clinton)
U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (Obama)
Congressman Tom Udall (Undecided)
DPNM Chairman Brian S. Colón (Obama)
DPNM Vice Chairwoman Annadelle Sanchez (Clinton)
DNC Committeeman Raymond G. Sanchez (Clinton)
DNC Committeewoman Mary Gail Gwaltney (Clinton)
DNC Committee Member Fred Harris (Obama)
DNC At-Large Member Mayor Martin Chavez (Clinton)
DNC At-Large Member Christine Trujillo (Clinton)

Add-On At-Large Unpledged Delegate Laurie Weahkee (Obama)

A complete list of New Mexico's 42-member delegation, which includes four alternates, is here. Clinton won 14 of New Mexico's 26 pledged delegates as a result of our presidential preference caucus on February 5th. She won the state by about 1000 votes, although she lost both the First and Third Congressional Districts to Obama. All the margins were tight.

Petroglyph photo by Isaac Eastvold.

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