There has been much hand-wringing recently over whether superdelegates will hijack the Democrats’ presidential-selection process. In the Rhode Island Democratic Party, we have a number of insiderish old-school-types who long ago committed to Hillary, including party chair Bill Lynch, vice chair and national committeewoman Edna O’Neill Mattson, and most surprisingly (could it be?), Sheldon Whitehouse, for whom Barack Obama came to stump during the former’s 2006 US Senate campaign. Perhaps it’s mere coincidence that Obama and Sherbet Whitebread, in their DC stances and their views on Iraq, match up like a set of long-lost twins.
 
Also on the Clinton list is Mark Weiner, that old Democratic political operative and friend of Billary, who, P+J imagine, is putting the hard word on people like Bill Lynch and Whitehouse to call in favors and drum up support for Hillary. (Speaking of superdelegates, Phoenix contributor Matt Jerzyk has a nice summation of the process on his Rhode Island’s Future blog at rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1212.)
 
Fortunately, we have seen the Patricks — first US Representa¬tive Kennedy, and then Attorney General Lynch, see the light and come out in support of Obama.
 
This situation bears watching, because superdelegates can cast their ballot for whomever they wish right up to the national convention. Although the tide seems to be turning in Obama’s favor, let’s keep a close eye on this little group of our own players, so Vo Dilun voters can use their own good sense, rather than being co-opted by the deal-cutting Mark Weiners of the world.

Spalding’s job well done
Your superior correspondents don’t even pretend to be objective concerning Curt Spalding, our friend and former colleague, who last week announced that, after 20 years, he will be leaving his position as executive director of Save the Bay.
 
His contributions, along with those of his predecessors, John Scanlon and Trudy Coxe, made Save the Bay into a national model of what a grassroots NGO can become when it such an obvious sense of stewardship for its resources and for the wonder that is Narragansett Bay.
 
Curt guided STB through a transition, from establishing a hold in mainstream business and decision-making circles, to being omnipresent at the table in helping to guide major state and regional policy.
 
All the accolades that greeted his announcement were well-deserved. On a personal note, P. knew that it would be difficult for Curt to follow in the footsteps of the demure, shy, and low-key Trudy Coxe. But Curt, long the silent manager in the background who kept Save the Bay on an even keel, won us over during his first news conference after Coxe’s departure. He wore argyle socks, as much of a stepping-out fashion statement as we had ever seen him present. From that point on, we knew all would be in good hands.
 
Congrats and thank you, Captain Spalding.

Hot wiener gossip
Might Phillipe + Jorge suggest to a certain state senator that he show up earlier at the New York System wieners in Olneyville, perhaps a bit less tired and emotional, if he wishes to be seated at the counter and given the same preferred status as Providence’s finest at closing time?
 
But then again, “It wasn’t that pathetic.”

Is Pawtucket a mecca?
“A blue-collar, gritty mill town that needed a way to revitalize itself a decade ago, Pawtucket just might be God’s Mecca for Working Artists.” So reads the lead sentence in an article about Vo Dilun’s Mighty Bucket, part of the cover story in the March issue of Art Calendar: “10 Great Towns for Working Artists.” The publication calls itself the “business magazine for visual artists.”
 
With many fine efforts, on a number of art fronts, all over Providence, it is Pawtucket that seems to have the best model for integrating creative arts projects with municipal economic development goals.
 
Pawtucket has worked hard to fashion artist-friendly tax and zoning policies, aggressively pursuing renovation projects, and it then walks artists through the steps needed to set up shop. And who knew that the face of the future would look just like . . . Herb Weiss?
 
P&J nonetheless find Art Calendar’s comparison of Pawtucket to Mecca a bit strained. Maybe Fay¬ette or Nauvoo would be a more appropriate locale, as the history of the Latter Day Saints is far more colorful and amusing than that of Mohammed.

As we were saying
A very nationalistic friend of P+J’s in Sri Lanka delighted us with his little party trick of asking, “Do you know why the sun never set on the British Empire? Because God didn’t trust Queen Victoria in the dark!”
 
We offer this as a reminder to keep an eye on the Clintons, who make Lord and Lady Macbeth look like Ward and June Cleaver. If there is a conniving way to try to legitimize Billary’s bogus Florida “win” in their non-primary (where Senator Pantsuit made a stop, despite a pledge not to campaign there), or to find a way to snatch her delegates from Michi¬gan, where Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot, and Billary had a resounding 15 percent win over that tough and wily politico, Uncommitted, the Clintonistas will either find it or buy it.
 
To quote Don Imus, Hillary and Bill will do anything — including poisoning a municipal water supply — to win. Keep the lights on, boys and girls.

Elementary, my dear Watson
The quiet genius that is Mr. Morgan sends along his nominee for headline of the year, despite it being so early in the season. Lest we forget this one as the months roll by, he offers up an Associated Press story of Febru¬ary 1 from Hagerstown, Maryland, about a drug bust:

Police: Crack Found in Man’s Buttocks

Kudos + congrats
 . . . to Casa Diablo fave-rave Nico Muhly, the subject of a glowing profile, by Rebecca Mead, in the current New Yorker. Nico is the Vermont-born/Providence-bred composer who creates beautiful and modern, yet accessible, classical music while working and hanging around with the likes of Bjork, Philip Glass, and Rufus Wainwright.
 
That Nico’s parents, Bunny Harvey and Frank Muhly, are charter Casa Diablo regulars may have something to do with how we are asking Barack to consider Nico for vice-president. But as to the music, just check it out for yourself (Speaks Volumes is available on the Bedroom Community label, and his new one, Mother Tongue is due in a couple of months). And read the New Yorker article, especially fans of Mama Bunny, one of this town’s truly original swinging geniuses and a pretty powerful painter, who is quoted at length.

Send Bunny paintings and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j@thephoenix.com .