Harold & Kumar go to bat for Obama

During my undeclared stance, I got a fair share of celebrity calls to sway my vote one way or another (though they were political celebrities, not the Hollywood set).  Had a good conversation with President Clinton earlier this year as well as other well-known political figures.  But around February I told both campaigns that they needn't have any "names" call, figured I could have more candid conversations with staff and other people who I got to know from both campaigns.

But, that isn't to say that there are some interesting calls being made.  Today the New York Times writes about the two representatives from the College Democrats of America (a group in which I got my start in during the 90's) receiving calls from "Kumar" of "Harold & Kumar" fame recently.  Which makes me think that maybe I should have held out a little longer, because would have accepted a phone call from Natalie Portman.

Can Actor Sway College Superdelegates?

After inching past Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the official tally of superdelegates last week, Senator Barack Obama is looking to extend his lead, and his campaign is hoping a little star power might do the trick.

Actor Kal Penn, who currently stars in the movie, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” fired off a letter today to the two remaining uncommitted college superdelegates, urging them to get in Mr. Obama’s corner.

Comments

[GCG - Austin]

Mr. Super,

What do you think of a comment one of the bloggers on CNN mentioned about the potential negativity of Obama losing against a candidate that was no longer in the race (e.g., the WV and Kentucky primaries)?

While a lot of people are calling for Clinton to drop out, wouldn't the Republicans just love to have that sort of fodder against Obama in the fall??? Might she actually be doing the RIGHT THING by staying in, at least through Kentucky?

I would have to believe that it is completely accidental she is doing it, but accidents *do* happen and they might be the right thing after all.

Your thoughts?

[GCG - Austin]

Never mind, I just see that she was again slamming Obama on that stupid gas tax gimmick. She's not still in this out of any sense of party unity, but purely for her own egotistical ends.

Crap.

[J S]

Here's a question I haven't seen raised before:

Now that you've declared, has Sen. Obama called to thank you for your support? Has anyone from the Clinton campaign contacted you to ask that you give them another look?

What happens to a Superdelegate once you declare, and step out of the eye of the Hurricane?

[Mr Super]

Hi JS: Senator Obama's staff sent me emails right away welcoming me to the team. I did make a point to call key staffers at the Clinton campaign before the news broke, I called three of them so that they could hear it from me before they heard it from the TV. I did hear back from the Clinton people after that, they were very nice and extremely professional. They haven't given up: I still get the e-mails.

And nope, the media haven't stopped calling!

[Joe]

Just how many calls/emails per day do you get on average and from whom? Like 1/day - Obama, 1/day - Clinton, 20/day - media, or what?

The media finally woke up to the delegate math, but then it went perhaps a little overboard and declared it over. Not that I disagree, but there are things left to do.

I'm wondering how that'll play after Clinton wins tomorrow? "Big victory! Only problem: she needs them ALL to be this big."

[Mr Super]

Joe - The campaigns called about once or twice per week, and also e-mailed about once or twice per week. Media ebbs and flows - on average the media also called once or twice per week but on heavy news days I received quite a few calls.

The biggest response I received from any entity was from voters. Probably about 5 notes per day via hand-written letters and email. Add that up over 3 months and it's probably around 150 letters. Quite a bit but it's great to see people engaged in the political process. I've read every letter and I'm still trying to respond to all of them, too.

[The Grand Panjandrum]

The narrative in the media has shifted into an all but GE narrative from what I can tell. With less, altough not unsubstantial, coverage of Clinton and more coverage of McCain, the establishment media and the campaigns are clearly gearing up for that eventuality.

The gas tax mentioned above is not getting the play it got just one week ago so it appears that HRC's message is not gaining any additional traction. I suspect the NC/IN vote had a lot to do with that.

Long story short: the narrative has changed and HRC doesn't fit in now that the nomination is all but decided. Anything she says or does now only adds or detracts from her own reputation and has little effect on the actual presidential race.

[Joe]

How many of those folks do you suppose were independent voters and how many do you suppose were influenced to write by the campaign?

Or is there much different? I honestly don't know how to contact any super delegates in my state, though I guess I could just look it up.