Government students sit down with superdelegate
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

ON BOARD- Students Sarah Parr, left, and Lauren Mosley, right, pose with superdelegate Ellen Early.

Royal High School senior Keaton Elam sat in his fifth-period Advanced Placement government class last Friday, listening with the rest of his classmates to a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) speak about the upcoming presidential election.

As a fun way to welcome their guest speaker, Elam, 18, wore a blue-and-red Superman T-shirt that his teacher had brought to class. Other students wore either blue or red to school that day, to denote their political allegiances.

Sherman Oaks resident Mary Ellen Early, a local "superdelegate," told the class about her role in electing the next president of the United States.

"The media sometimes portrays us as the elite of the (Democratic) party," Early said. "I hardly think of myself as elite. I don't get paid to be on the DNC."

Early, who has been a superdelegate- or automatic delegate- at every Democratic National Convention since 1992, was invited to speak to the class by Royal High teacher Brian Dennert as part of an informal speaker series to help keep his class involved in national politics.

Next month, Mike Osbourn, chair of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, will be a guest speaker in Dennert's two Advanced Placement government classes.

Superdelegates, who are unique to the Democratic Party, are not voted in through party caucuses or primaries like regular convention delegates. Instead, they are seated automatically because of their status as party leaders or elected officials.

"We don't have to choose who to support," Early said. "We can vote for whoever we want."

The voting freedom of these unpledged delegates is what makes them primary targets of courtship by presidential candidates. There are 796 automatic delegates in the U.S., who make up 40 percent of the 2,025 delegates needed by a Democratic presidential candidate to win the party's nomination.

Early, who's been elected a member of the DNC five times since 1988, said she has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama despite "very organized" attempts by Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to secure her support.

"I endorsed him well in advance of the February primary," Early told the class in response to a question from student Aaron Van Driessche. "I found him inspirational. He seems like a real person that you can talk to, and I was impressed by how he's raised money. He's gotten people very excited about this race."

Despite Early's extensive involvement in national politics- which includes serving as coeditor of the California DNC Press Democrat, vice chair of the Irish American Caucus and parliamentarian for the Native American Caucus- she said she is not a career politician.

When she's not out helping to raise money for the state Democratic Party, Early works full-time as an informational systems analyst at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys.

The former UCLA lobbyist said she will continue supporting her party.

When a student in the class asked Early what she thought about opinions saying that allowing superdelegates to vote is "undemocratic," she simply said that her job is to vote for what she thinks is best for the party.

While a majority of America's automatic delegates have publicly endorsed Clinton, Early said she is confident that the party will unite once a candidate is nominated.

"You can't just write people off because they disagree with you about a particular race," she said. "I actually think all this controversy will be good in the long run."

Following Early's presentation, some of the students stayed behind to talk to her a little longer.

Elam, who just turned 18 on Wednesday, said he'll be attending a local caucus on Sunday in order to get elected as a districtlevel delegate.

Early's advice: "Bring enough people to get elected."