Who Are The Superdelegates? »
Posted By JamesMarcus 1 year, 6 months ago in NewsBarring a huge late turnaround, the deciding votes for the Democratic nomination will come from the approximately 800 "superdelegates," automatically seated and free to vote as they please. Who are these powerful insiders? Why are they there? The story goes back 40 years, to the bloody debacle of the 1968 convention and subsequent loss to Richard Nixon.
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JamesMarcus
James Marcus is a writer, translator, critic, and editor. He is the author of Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot-Com Juggernaut and ...
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MilesAway1 year, 6 months ago
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GHOSTWHOWALKS1 year, 6 months ago
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Right one one but I'm not sure of the other. Of course that has happened a couple of times. Screwed up any way one looks at it. The people no longer have a say in which candidate will be, or get the nomination and little to none on who gets elected.
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Locky121 year, 6 months ago
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"As usual"? Get over it, already. Bush would have won Florida anyway.
What a party. Obama could have won every state by a landslide and the "Super delegates" could still decide to give John Kerry another go at it.
Oh yeah, Michigan and Florida, just shut up. You don't get a voice.
Nice party.
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slate1 year, 6 months ago
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but Supreme Court will, as usual, chooses Republican president... LOL.
Say it enough times and everyone will believe it and change history to reflect your lie. Next thing you know some nut job will say Bush pulled off 9/11 to make a little cash.
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Blackacereturn1 year, 6 months ago
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I will say this first. The GOPers has one up on us. I think they will win and here is why. McCain will pick Colin Powell as his VP. I saw where he said bush should sign the home owners relief bill. He hasn't said anything for the last year and now this. What they will do is have him hammer bush on everything for the next few months then McCain will announce him as the VE. In one instance the off set the black thing and add a man the entire nation loves and respect. Given the fact that Most DEM's have a soft spot for McCain and like Colin, that would be a tough ticket to beat. We never saw this coming. But Obama could cross party lines and pick a Conservative opponent. It's an idea what do you think?
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DaneL1 year, 6 months ago
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slate1 year, 6 months ago
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From what I hear about SDs is that they can change their votes all the way to the time of the convention, is that correct?
Now for some reason every SD decides to go with Hillary and put her over the top, would the Obama Supporters in the Democrat party be OK with that?
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lum-chate1 year, 6 months ago
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Sen. Barack Obama plans to claim the Democratic presidential nomination on the evening of May. 20.
Latest W. Va poll May 8 Clinton 63 Obama 23, Clinton up from 56-27 twi days ago. So Clinton up 40 pts. in West Va. and up 34 pts in Kentucky & on the day of the Kentucky primary where he'll lose by astonishing numbers for the 2nd straight week Obama is going to announce victory.
If he does that he'll look as foolish as George Bush did on the Air Craft Carrier announcing victory in Iraq almost 5 years ago. Good fodder for McCain & the 527's.
That's why the superdelegates are there, to prevent an unelectable candidate who for some unknown reason won a few early primaries from embarrassing the party by lopsided loses like those of McGovern, Dukakis & Mondale!
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slate1 year, 6 months ago
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Have you notice that the Media is already claiming Obama the winner? On all the Pundit TV on Sunday, Front Pages of Major Magazines etc. I though the media was suppose to "REPORT" what the news is not PROJECT what they want it to be.
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canadianrancher571 year, 6 months ago
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Thanks for this artical, I have been a little confused about the super delegate issue and I feel this explained it quite well, but it also covered most of the things I feel makes the average voter a little hostile about the process.
When I look at your country I can see it heading in a general direction and this is just my opinion but it is not in the direction of interest of the average American, when I factor in the super delegates that the Democrats use when selecting a presidential candidate it seems to confirm my fellings that the direction the country will go is not in the hands of the average American.
The average American that I am refering to is a person who still believes in the United States of America and works hard to provide for their families, believes in law and order, believes that their government will be accountable to them and above all will treat all equally whether rich or poor. Equally is what I feel the Average American is losing to all governments.
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lestparker1 year, 6 months ago
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Actually the USA is not a democracy.. never has been and hopefully never will be. It is a republic.
The democratic party may be a different issue however. Maybe they want to run their affairs as a democracy, but wait why would you have SDs in a democracy?
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mackiemesserComment removed: Retracted by user3 Replies
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rdy2rckComment removed: Hard Banned10 Replies
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simonsez1 year, 6 months ago
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One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
We don't create tax policy ... they do
We don't run deficits ... they do
we don't take money from lobbyists ... they do
We don't go to war ... they do
Then they give themselves a nice reward ... we don't get one.
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nostalgia1 year, 6 months ago
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It is amazing that there is such an emphasis on the Super delegates
Many of them are elected politicians. They won't risk the wrath of their constituents
As I have posted before, the Democrats should be more worried about the "pledged" delegates
According to a news article Clinton's presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.
Pledged delegates are not really pledged at all, not even on the first ballot. This has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened.
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nostalgia1 year, 6 months ago
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"Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot," a recent DNC memo states. "A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required."
But, in fact, the actual rules of the party allow for such switching. The notion that pledged delegates must vote for a certain candidate is, according to the Democratic National Committee, a "myth."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8583....
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doppich1 year, 6 months ago
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The superdelegates were "created" to prevent a repeat of 1972. I suspect that after the GE, we'll find that they failed.
BTW...I wonder, at the convention, will superdelegates John Kerry and Ted Kennedy vote for the popular vote winner in their state?
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RickyDawkins1 year, 6 months ago
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Super delegates? This is a job for Super Obama Girl!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu0m8iCFbr8
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