Sanders supporters launch website to lobby Clinton superdelegates

OPINION:

Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders — and his supporters — won’t go down without a fight.

Sisters Aleeza, 12, and Shabam Ahmed, 20, two supporters of Mr. Sanders, took over the lobbydelegates.com domain “to help level the playing field” between Mr. Sanders and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, the website says.

The Ahmed sisters identified and researched the email address of 423 superdelegates who have committed to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Sanders’ supporters can lobby these delegates by directly sending them an email.

The girls “strongly feel” that superdelegates “do not proportionately support Senator Sanders and they are not reflecting the opinion of their states and voters.”

Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders in the superdelegate count, 571-48, a gap the two sisters have vowed to help narrow before July’s convention.

Even though The Associated Press called the Democratic presidential primary for Mrs. Clinton Monday, Mr. Sanders has vowed to fight on, saying the press was premature in declaring the race before Tuesday’s contests — which includes the pivotal state of California — and that he will take his fight to the convention.

“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote” at July’s convention, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in statement.

Mrs. Clinton told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in an interview Monday she found Mr. Sanders’ strategy to lobby superdelegates to switch their support to him “perplexing.”

“I find it perplexing, what he basically seems to be saying is that the will of the people should be overturned,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I have this very substantial lead in the popular vote. … I have a very significant lead in pledged delegates. He seems to be suggesting that superdelegates should overturn the will of the people, that’s hard for me to understand. It’s never happened before, it’s not going to happen this time.”