Clinton superdelegate who flipped to Obama loses DNC seat

A Democratic National Committeewoman who was one of the first superdelegates to switch from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama was defeated for re-election tonight. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee replaced Christine "Roz" Samuels with Stephanie Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman from Essex County.

A Democratic official says that Samuels' defeat was unrelated to her defection to Obama in a state where most of the party leadership lined up behind Clinton. Sources say that the DNC seat traditionally goes to Essex, and Democratic County Chairman Phil Thigpen decided today to replace Samuels with Bush-Baskette.

Citing comments former President Bill Clinton made about Obama, Samuels dropped her support of Clinton just after she won the February 5 New Jersey primary. A week later, she endorsed Obama. Samuels, a state NAACP Executive Board member, is a former Newark Teachers' Union, Local 481 official.

Another Clinton supporter, attorney Joseph DeCotiis, did not seek reelection as a National Committeeman. He was replaced by Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who had endorsed Clinton. Two other incumbents who backed Clinton, June Fischer and Tonio Burgos, were re-elected.

South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, who endorsed Obama a few days after Samuels switched, was re-elected to his national committee seat. He is the brother of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross III, and is considered a leading candidate to replace Camille Andrews as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey's first district.

Bush-Baskette did not play an active role in the presidential primary, although Thigpen was a Clinton supporter. A Rutgers University professor, she is also Of Counsel at former Gov. Jim Florio's law firm. Florio had endorsed Clinton.

No vote totals were released at the meeting, held tonight at the Labor Education Center at Rutgers University.