When 21-year-old
Jason Rae ran to be one of four members of
Wisconsin's Democratic National Committee in
2004, he wasn't thinking glitz, glam, and
national notoriety. Taking on two male opponents who were at
least twice his age, Rae said, "I ran a
grassroots campaign focused on saying that I wanted to
represent America's next generation of voters. I
painted signs, handed out homemade stickers, and ended
up winning the spot."
His successful
bid to become a member of the DNC automatically earned him
a slot as one of those much-talked-about "superdelegates" to
this year's Democratic National Convention. To
be exact, Rae is one of 796 superdelegates -- or
what some refer to as "unpledged" delegates -- who
have the freedom to vote their conscience come
August. They have generated much interest ever
since it became clear that neither Sen. Hillary Clinton nor
Sen. Barack Obama could earn enough "pledged"
delegates (allocated by the state votes) to meet the
2,025 threshold necessary to win the nomination.
As a junior
at Marquette University in Wisconsin, Rae is now the
youngest superdelegate nationwide and has become a political
superstar, appearing on CNN with Anderson Cooper,
MSNBC with Dan Abrams, Good Morning America,
and The Early Show on CBS, to name a few.
"I have gotten very comfortable with the camera
and even more comfortable with that little earpiece I
get all the time," said Rae. "Now I can put it
in with my eyes closed."
Journalists are
mostly interested in how someone so young ended up in his
position. "They have this traditional image that
superdelegates are people who have been around this
process forever and are out of touch with voters," he
said. "I'm able to show them that's not true --
that superdelegates are regular party activists."
But the surprises
don't stop there. Rae is also openly gay -- well,
mostly. He interned at the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund in
the summer of 2006 and came out to members of the DNC
in February of 2007. But the trajectory of his fame
seems to have gotten a little ahead of his process.
"I have
not yet come out to my parents," Rae said in a
telephone interview Thursday afternoon. Though the
subject hadn't surfaced in previous interviews,
"I'm realizing that tonight I may just want to
call them and talk to them. I've been waiting
for the right moment, and now just might happen to be
that right moment," he said rather
matter-of-factly, exhibiting a certain self-possession about
the discussion that only a true generation
"millennial" could. (Rae assured The
Advocate that posting this story was
"a-OK" and that the information was already
available online.)
As for who
he'll cast his vote for, he doesn't know and
doesn't know when he'll know. "I wish I
could tell you -- could be tomorrow, could be three
months from now," he said. "I'm really
torn between both of the candidates. I really think
that they're strong individuals and either one
of them would make a fine candidate. For me, it's
really a matter of when I completely feel like the
choice I'm making is the right choice for the
country."
Of course, the
perks of waiting ain't too shabby either. So far,
he's gotten phone calls from Hillary Clinton, former
president Bill Clinton, and Sen. John Kerry and even
sat down for a meal with Chelsea Clinton.
"There's all this talk that Chelsea
doesn't want to be out there campaigning, that
she doesn't like it. The impression I got from her is
that she really cares about her mom's campaign and is
genuinely interested in supporting a cause that she
believes in with her whole heart," Rae said,
noting that the normally camera-shy Chelsea is quite
engaging in person.
One of the
biggest surprises for Rae -- besides the phone calls
themselves -- was the fact that President Clinton never made
what he called "the hard ask" for
support. "It was, 'I hope you'll
consider supporting my wife.' But never,
'Can we count on your support?' Which I
just assumed he would," recounted Rae. "Ya
know, it would be pretty hard to turn down the
president. I liked the fact that there was no
pressure."
In fact, Rae said
not a single person has put the screws to him, so to
speak. Everyone has been really respectful in simply
offering information about their candidate, and, Rae
added, that had been the experience of the other
Wisconsin superdelegates with whom he had spoken.
With the
Wisconsin primary coming up on February 19, Rae predicted it
would break for Obama. "I have not seen Senator
Clinton in town yet. Senator Obama has been in town
all week," he said, noting that the Obama camp
had paid staffers in the state even before Super Tuesday.
Rae acknowledged
rumors that Clinton was more or less conceding the
state, which has surprised many political observers who
thought the demographics might favor her. In fact, the
Clinton campaign has just hired veteran strategist
Teresa Vilmain to run their Wisconsin operation.
"Teresa knows Wisconsin better than anyone
I've ever met," Rae offered,
"which means they're certainly investing in
the state. But I think it's going to swing to
Obama -- and by a large margin. Part of it may have to
do with the fact that Senator Obama, being from Illinois, is
so close to Wisconsin. He's been here multiple
times and he was here campaigning for the governor in
2006."
Despite all the
fury over superdelegates, Rae believes the party will
have a presumptive nominee by April 22, when Pennsylvania,
the last delegate-rich state, votes. "I just
don't see it getting to that point," he
said of the contest continuing until the convention in
August. "It would be bad for the party as a
whole to drag this out too much longer. Particularly
with the Republicans having John McCain as their nominee,
the longer we wait, the more difficult it's going to
be for us to unify the party. And we need time to get
a general election strategy together."
Spoken like a
true superdelegate.