Wis. Democrats oust delegate over McCain support
Wisconsin Democrats strip woman of delegate position for saying she will vote for McCain
By JAMES A. CARLSON Associated Press Writer | AP
Jul 25, 2008
(MILWAUKEE) Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.
Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.
Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
The June comments from Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old nurse and mother of two from Waterford, were seized on by the McCain campaign as evidence of his appeal to former Clinton backers. Within hours, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution at its state convention supporting a challenge of her credentials with the national committee.
The party's rules and bylaws committee said the state party could decide the matter, clearing the way for Friday's vote. Committee members agreed Bartoshevich had lost her privilege to be one of the state's 92 Democratic delegates because of her comments and affiliation with "Citizens for McCain," a branch of his campaign designed to recruit independents and Democrats.
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