Pledged Delegate Switcher May Lose Seat

Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson, who is a pledged Clinton delegate from Maryland, is the first to announce that he will switch his support to Senator Obama.  This is significant because he is not a Superdelegate who has the liberty to switch positions, but he is a pledged delegate who was elected on an oath to vote for Senator Clinton.

He the first pledged delegate to publicly switch before convention - he may also be the last.

This was an ill-advised move not just because it breaks the pledge Mr. Johnson took earlier this year, but because there are safeguards built within the Democratic Party rules which allow campaigns to protect their delegates.  Mainly, each campaign may review its delegate lists and scratch people off who they think are at risk of not upholding pledges.

When a delegate is elected at a district level organizing meeting, there are also alternate delegates elected.  The alternates are selected as back-ups in case the chosen delegate cannot attend the convention, or in case the campaign scratches a delegate from the list.

Looks like an alternate just got bumped up to delegate status in Maryland.

UPDATE:  Looks like Johnson may be safe afterall.  I've checked with a member of the DNC rules committee, and the following opinion was delivered:

I believe that once elected, that's it.  He stays.

 

BECAUSE, the rules say no delegate can be forced to vote against his or her conscience.  I believe the last time they could do what you're saying was in 1980.

 

Additionally, Clinton has been saying they are not bound.  It would be a PR nightmare for her to remove him.

Additionally, Matt from DemConWatch believes that the provision to strike names from district level delegate lists is only valid prior to district-level elections.