I owe immense thanks to Stan & Tricia for helping me get this letter out to every Super Delegate we can find, no matter who they're for right now. I never intended to write one of these, but after this week's debate and fallout, I didn't feel like I had a choice. --Kelly

April 18^th, 2008

Dear Super Delegates,

In a few months, you will be asked to make a final and immensely difficult choice that will likely decide the Democratic nominee for president. Unfortunately, that choice is not between Senator Obama or Senator Clinton – for everyone’s sake, I wish it were that simple. The choice you must make is really much more personal – it’s the type of choice all of us must make at some point in our lives, and it’s never easy. It’s the choice between what we personally want and hope will work vs. what we know is probably the greater good and best for others. OK, that’s the kindest way I can put it. The more blunt way is this: it’s the choice between doing what is best for yourself vs. doing what is best for everyone else, even and especially when it isn’t what you personally want.

Over the last several months, and right up until the day of the national convention, you will continue to be wooed from all sides; the candidates want you to do what’s best for them, the party wants you to do what’s best for it, and the voters of your area want your vote to reflect their preference. The pressure will only get worse, and no matter which way you go, you’re probably going to make someone unhappy. That’s OK. I’m guessing no where in the "Super Delegate Handbook" does it say one of your responsibilities is to make people happy. Hang on to that thought. It’s one of two you’re going to need to remember most when you make your final decision on the convention floor.

So – how are you to make this decision? Let’s be honest – many of you will never have so much power to shape history, nor your own personal future, as you will have with this vote. And it’s that last bit – the personal future part – where this starts to get complicated. At some point in this process, don’t be surprised if someone suggests to you something along the lines of "if you play your cards right and vote for so-and-so, you can write your own ticket," or "stick with me and I’ll make sure you have a seat at the table"’ or "so-and-so is who we want, and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of this when the day’s over"’ or, my personal favorite, the short and sweet, "you owe me"’ or some other version of a carrot or stick arm twist. The less power you currently enjoy, the greater the pressure you’re likely to feel to do what someone with more power wants you to do. This isn’t meant to be an indictment or condemnation of anyone. It’s just what happens, so there’s no point in telling ourselves it doesn’t.

I’m not sending this out in order to tell you who I think you should vote for. My state had its say on Super Tuesday. I’m here to give you slightly different advice – presumptuous of me, I know – but it’s advice I don’t hear anyone else out there giving you. So here goes…

Because you will cast the last votes in this contest, you have an incredible advantage over the general public voters; the advantage of time. You will have had at least two months’ more time to examine each candidate than every other voter – for the nearly half of the country who voted by Super Tuesday, that’s six and a half months’ more information you’ve gained than we had when we voted. That’s huge! Consider how much more we’ve learned about the candidates in the last few months than in the previous year. What more will we learn in the coming months? I don’t know, but the longer the battle goes on, the better the odds we’ll get a clearer picture of the true mettle of these two people and the more informed your vote can be.

A second advantage you have is that you’re party insiders. You are privy to information, gossip, rumor, history and facts most of us will never know. Those of you who are sitting politicians especially – you know how the game is played – you know the difference between sponsoring bills, co-sponsoring bills, and writing bills and what kind of leadership and talent is evidenced by each. You know the difference between sitting on committees and working on them. You know why these candidates have cast their senate votes as they have in detail we will never hear, which of the hundreds of votes were critical, which weren’t and who showed up for each. You know the kind of stress and pressure you and your colleagues face every day – and how much more intense it is for a president – and you’ve likely witnessed how each of these two candidates bears up under those stresses and pressures. You know, better than any of the rest of us, the full breadth and depth of the problems the next president will have to face. Rip through this information without mercy, but with every ounce of objectivity you can muster. Close your ears to the charismatic cadence of campaign speeches and promises. Ignore the polls – you know most of them are bullshit. Forget who you like or hate. Remember who gets the jobs done and who gets problems solved. Those of us general public voters have the luxury of ‘falling in love’ with a candidate – you don’t. You have to be smarter than us. And don’t seek the counsel of others in the party – you’re on your own this time and you’ve got to suck it up and trust your own instincts and brains. Let me repeat that: trust only your own instinct and brains. This time our future really does depend on your ability to do just that.

It is because of these two advantages, your votes carry the power to essentially save us from ourselves. In all likelihood, that’s precisely what you may have to do. You must not falter. Earlier, I told you it wasn’t your responsibility to make people happy, and to hold on to that thought as it was one of two you would most need to remember. Here’s the second one: in this vote, your responsibility isn’t to choose the best person for the party – but to choose the best, strongest, most capable person to lead the country. They may not be one and the same, and this is why Party must never come before Country. Forgetting this dooms us all.

I know what I’m asking of each of you is far from easy, and I’m sorry for that. I do understand the political risks you face should your choice go against the wishes of allies and friends.

Good luck, God speed, and thank you,

K.A. Flinn