Democratic National Committee

So what have we learned from the recent Democratic battle royal in Capital City?

For starters, if you break the rules, you have to pay a price. This could not be truer for the states of Florida and Michigan who had moved up their primaries, despite the fact that the rules for both the Democratic and Republican national committees forbid anyone to move their primaries before February 5. New Hampshire was the only exception for the Democrats.

Despite these rules, those two states moved their primaries up. The GOP penalized Michigan and Florida, along with Wyoming, New Hampshire and South Carolina by taking away one half of the delegates in that state. Obviously, there wasn’t a whole fallout about what the GOP handed down and no one seems to be surprised by the action. The Democrats, on the other hand, simply stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates…all of them, and the candidates agreed not to campaign in those states. The democratic leadership did this to send a message to other states thinking about moving their primaries up, in an attempt to gain control of the schedule again.

Speaking with PolitickerMD.com over the weekend, Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor said many of the state party's 500 volunteer coordinators would spend a significant portion of their time and energy working to elect State's Attorney Frank Kratovil (D-Stevensville) in Maryland's 1st Congressional District.

"The race is becoming increasingly more competitive," Cryor said, calling Kratovil "a proven candidate" who can "work with the delegation."

The party chair said as many as 200 people attended a recent Kratovil volunteer session, and said state Democrats would continue to make their presence felt along the Eastern Shore.

As a member of the Democratic National Committee, Westminster Councilman Gregory Pecoraro is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention in August. He is one of the state's nine uncommitted superdelegates, which means he's been busy fielding phone calls and meeting with the candidates and their surrogates.

Despite all the pressure to support either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Pecoraro told PolitickerMD.com that he is taking the process in a "day by day" manner.

"There's not a lot of more information to gather," Pecoraro said, predicting, "You are seeing superdelegates starting to move to make decisions, and I think you will see more of that."

Johnson stumps for Clinton in February: Politicker PhotoPrince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson's decision to leave Hillary Clinton for Barack Obama rasies the question of how pledged is a pledged delegate?

Johnson told The Washington Post today he could not “in good conscience” go to the Democratic National Convention and continue to support Clinton.

Johnson is one of 28 so-called pledged delegates committed to Clinton within the state. In the Maryland primary last February, Obama defeated Clinton by a margin of 61 to 36 percent.

So, could Johnson legally support Obama at the convention if so desires? If so, could he do it on the first ballot? According to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the answer is yes.

The Maryland Democratic Party has set Saturday, May 3 as the tentative date it will name the remainder of its delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August.

At the meeting, the State Central Committee will select another 2 unpledged add-on superdelegates, nominated by Chairman Michael Cryor.

The approximately 352-member committee will also name another 9 delegates from party leaders and elected officials, plus another 15 at-large delegates. These 24 delegates are tied to the popular vote, with Barack Obama nominating 15 and 9 delegates nominated by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Each candidate is allowed a right of review to the delegates ultimately chosen. Michael Novelli is Obama’s authorized state representative, while Kate Geyer is Clinton’s.