>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Republican Sen. John McCain may have effectively locked up his party’s nomination for the 2008 presidential race, but there’s still thriving competition between the Democratic contenders, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

And because of that fierce contest, Oregon’s looming primary — one of the last in the country — is casting a far broader shadow than usual.

In anticipation of the May 20 ballot, a prominent Oregon Democratic party official was in La Grande Saturday to address participants in a voter registration canvass sponsored by the EOU Democrats.

Meredith Wood Smith is the chair of the Oregon Democratic Party. She’s also a “superdelegate,” although she bristles somewhat at that hot-button term.

“That’s a creation of the media,” she argued.

“Automatic delegates” is the more correct appellate, she said, for those seated at the Democratic National Convention by virtue of their position within the party.

Smith is one of 12 such Oregon officials free to support whomever candidate they wish at the convention, held in Denver in August — and who are thus being aggressively courted by both campaigns.

The majority, Smith included, have not declared their support for either candidate. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Darlene Hooley have endorsed Clinton, and Reps. Earl Blumenauer and David Wu are in the Obama camp.

Automatic delegates are not required to announce their endorsement of a candidate before the convention.

Smith said she will decide after Oregon’s May 20 primary.

“The popular vote will be a part of my decision,” she said, “but I will be considering other factors as well: the vote in the 3rd Congressional District (where I live), the views of members of the Democratic Party’s state central committee, and who I believe ... will make the best president, have the best chance of beating Senator McCain, and who would be best for the party — and quite possibly other factors I have not yet thought about.”

Nonetheless, Smith urged citizens to concentrate less on automatic delegates and more on their own involvement in the democratic process.

“Get involved,” she said. “Everybody needs to be voting.”

And not just in the high-profile presidential contest. “It’s really important that people engage in local races,” she noted.

Oregon’s other undeclared superdelegates include Sen. Ron Wyden, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, Rep. Peter DeFazio and Democratic Party officials Frank Dixon, Jenny Greenleaf, Wayne Kinney and Gail Rasmussen.

According to CNN, after the Pennsylvania primary, Obama had 1,491 pledged delegates and 239 superdelegates, for a total of 1,730. Clinton had 1,332 pledged and 261 “super,” for a total of 1,593.

The unprecedented nature of the Democratic primary struggle has had a generally positive effect on political engagement, Smith said.

“We’re seeing a huge increase in participation,” she said. “What we’re seeing is people mobilizing sooner ... and a real willingness to pull together.”

Crucially, she noted, some of the energized interest associated with the bids for the White House is spilling over into other political tiers, all the way down to the local level.

Brynne Morningstar of EOU Democrats reported that Saturday’s canvassing effort was a success. “It was a really nice day, (and) people around here are just so darn friendly,” she said.

Tuesday was the cutoff for registering to vote in the May 20 primary.

Meanwhile, Smith hopes the Democratic presidential candidates will increase their outreach to the vast portion of Oregon east of the Cascades.

“I say to the campaigns all the time, ‘I really urge you to get out to the east side of the state,’” she said.

Does that mean we’ll be seeing Clinton and Obama in Union and Wallowa counties sometime before the Oregon primary?

Don’t count on it — but then again, in this historic matchup, anything is possible.