An international (ahem) correspondent sent me this:
In the hunt for superdelegates who could determine the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are looking north to Toronto.
The only two superdelegates in Canada, Robert Bell and Toby Condliffe, are being targeted and wooed by both campaigns.
Superdelegates can vote for any candidate, unlike regular delegates who are bound by primary results and may, this year, be deadlocked.
"Oh, I tell you, I get three or four calls a day," says Bell. "It started late last year. I've had calls from both (former) president (Bill) Clinton and Senator Clinton. Dick Durbin, the senator from Illinois (an Obama supporter and majority whip) called me from his cellphone. I've been polled by The New York Times, CNN and AP."
Yesterday, Condliffe arranged his afternoon around a conference call from Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe. Last week, there was a call from the candidate himself.
"Clinton's campaign has called me a couple of times to say `We want you to know we're here and available if you want to talk to us.'"
The best of friends, Bell and Condliffe live near each other in midtown Toronto and regularly compare notes over breakfast at Seniors on Yonge St. or Rosie's Kitchen on Bayview Ave. or Boom on College St.
They're both 63, retired and American citizens. Both moved here from the U.S. in the mid-1970s. Both are executives of the Toronto chapter of Democrats Abroad.
And both will attend the party convention in Denver in August as superdelegates because of their affiliation with Democrats Abroad. That's where the similarity ends.
Bell is endorsing Clinton.
Condliffe is backing Obama.
[Click to read more of TheStar.com - USElection - Obama, Clinton court Toronto supervotes , including a brief bio of the two.]
Too funny. Who even knew about superdelegates before this election season, much less about international superdelegates? A brief history of the rise of superdelegates found here.
