Spencer endorses Obama, urges a shared ticket

Maine Democratic National Committeeman Sam Spencer endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President this evening, and said he will strongly urge a shared ticket with Hillary Clinton as his Vice President.

“While it is clear that Senator Obama has won the nomination, it is also clear that the election is close to being a virtual tie. I call on other delegates to the national convention who agree with me that an Obama/Clinton ticket is our best path forward, including pledged delegates to both candidates, committed superdelegates, and superdelegates who are still uncommitted, to make similar statements,” Spencer said in a statement.

He is the second Maine superdelegate to make a decision this evening – National Committeewoman Jennifer DeChant endorsed Obama earlier today. This leaves U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud as the only Maine superdelegate who has not endorsed.

Obama clinched the necessary number of delegates needed this evening.

Spencer said it was important to wait until all of the primaries and caucuses were over.

“My decision, in part, is based on the fact that Senator Obama has won a majority of pledged delegates (which I believe is the most important measurement) and is expected to attain a majority of all delegates by tonight. Senator Obama was the majority winner of Maine’s caucuses. In short, Senator Obama is the democratic winner of the nomination,” Spencer said.

Spencer gave the following reasons for waiting:

1) “I disagree with the superdelegate system, and consistent with that, nearly a year ago announced that I would remain neutral until we had a presumptive nominee or all voting had ceased.

2) “Since I believe my role should be to represent all Maine Democrats, and because supporters of Hillary Clinton won approximately 40% of the delegates during the Maine Democratic caucuses on February 10th, I believed that the most democratic thing as a representative of Maine Democrats was to let those results stand as is.

3) “Just as Maine voters expressed their views and their votes got to be counted and matter, I believed that, in such a close race, voters in other states deserved the same chance to have their voices heard.

4) “I believed the ultimate cause of uniting the Democratic Party and winning back the White House was best served by making the nomination process as fair and inclusive as possible. While many disagreed with my decision to wait, I feel strongly that it was the right and fairest thing to do.”

During his decision making process, Spencer had set up a Web site soliciting advice from voters.

“In the coming years, I hope that the Democratic National Committee will work to make the Presidential nomination process simpler, fairer, and more democratic,” Spencer said. “Maine Democrats on both sides of this race feel tremendous passion for their candidate. Now that voting has ceased, I am confident that we can put our differences behind us and work in a spirit of unity to take back our country.”