Published: May 14, 2008 10:38 pm         

Byrd, Manchin still mum on Democratic convention favorite

Hillary Clinton punched out Barack Obama with the ease of a veteran heavyweight taking on a flyweight in Tuesday’s primary, but two key West Virginia super delegates are keeping their votes secret.

At least for a couple of weeks, anyway.

Democrats in West Virginia made it clear they prefer the New York senator, handing her a landslide triumph over Obama.

Unofficial results gave her 239,118 votes, or 67 percent, while Obama finished with 91,715 votes, or 26 percent. John Edwards of North Carolina garnered 26,096 votes, good for 7 percent in third place.

Even so, neither Gov. Joe Manchin nor Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., two of the 10 super delegates to the national convention in Denver, would say how they intend to vote once Democrats gather to choose a presidential nominee.

Lara Ramsburg, communications director for Manchin, said the governor wants to see how the remaining primaries go in four states and Puerto Rico before making his choice known.

“I heard him yesterday say that he was really excited in West Virginia and the amount of people that turned out to vote and with the new voters we had, and that he’d like to see that experience continue in the next states that are up,” she said.

“We wanted to have our moment. He respects the fact that they want to have their moment. So I think you won’t hear from him until after June 3. He knows how important that was for the people here in West Virginia, and he’d like to give that same courtesy to the remaining states.”

Manchin felt the turn-out in the Tuesday primary was “great,” she said.

“At this point, his preference is to wait until after the other primaries are completed,” Ramsburg said. “And we’re almost there.”

Byrd never said when he plans to announce his favorite, and Clinton’s big victory Tuesday apparently did nothing to change his mind as far as timing.

“He’ll announce when he is ready to announce,” is how one of Byrd’s aides put it Wednesday.

Super delegates are those allowed to vote by virtue of their status as major office holders or key leaders within the Democratic Party and don’t have to be elected by voters.

Obama has two committed to him — Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall. In Clinton’s camp are Marie Prezioso, Pat Maroney and Belinda Biafore.

Besides Manchin and Byrd, the others are state Chairman Nick Casey, Democratic National Committee member Alice Germond and Rep. Alan Mollohan.

— E-mail: mannix@

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