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Washington: Having perfected the art of town hall meetings on the campaign trail, Hillary Rodham Clinton is now holding them in a more comfortable setting: her living room.
On Wednesday night, Clinton hosted several dozen members of Cong-ress at a private reception at her house on Whitehaven Street in the District of Columbia.
Most of the guests were confirmed supporters, many from New York and Arkansas, making it something of a friends-and-family affair.
But the real mission of the evening was to court unaligned lawmakers - who are also super-delegates in the party's nominating process - especially those from important states. And at least one, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, chose to use the session to pose the kinds of questions voters usually aim at him rather than treating it as a polite political cocktail party.
Expectations
Officially undecided on which candidate to back, Altmire said he asked Clinton what she expected superdelegates to do if Barack Obama winds up having won the popular vote and the larger number of delegates in a majority of states. As on Thursday evening, Obama was leading Clinton in overall delegate totals 1,602 to 1,497, according to an Associated Press tally. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the nomination.
Clinton replied that superdelegates exist for a reason, and should use their own judgment as to which would be the best general election candidate for the party.
"If Obama is in that position, it's going to be very hard to overturn that," Altmire, a freshman from the western part of Pennsylvania, said Thursday. But he added, "She's likely to do really well in my district and in Pennsylvania, so that's another consideration." He said he's been bombarded with calls from both campaigns, but does not mind.
"I really want to hear from both sides," Altmire said. "I feel an obligation to do as much as I can to get to know the candidates."
The two-hour event (cocktails, brief remarks from the candidate and a question session) came as both Clinton and Obama returned to Washington for their day jobs in the Senate.
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