Hillary's Superdelegate Hunter Holds Firm

You can thank or blame one Democrat for the rise of superdelegates and demise of the party's winner-take-all primaries—but strategist Harold Ickes, who negotiated the primary system 20 years ago, is likely too busy to hear you. He's calling up superdelegates for Hillary Clinton, and using such a nasty tongue that Time couldn't print what it overheard.

Ickes’ superdelegate hunt once seemed futile, but with Reverend Wright’s flare-up, and Barack Obama’s failure to attract blue-collar workers, Clinton may just have a shot. Despite being fired by husband Bill, Ickes is still loyal to her and fearlessly badgers her opponents and staffers alike. He even calls her top officials “the thought police.” (More Harold Ickes stories.)