Posted on 02/15/2008 5:10:31 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Once upon a time, it was party bosses in smoke-filled rooms who decided who would run for president. Then came the primary system and the novel concept of letting voters make the choice.
But if you're a party boss, the problem with democracy is that the voters don't always do what you want them to do.
That is why the Democrats created the superdelegate, who can leap over the will of the voters at a single bound, is faster than an exit poll and is more powerful than a thousand pundits.
Here's the history behind it: the last time the Democrats had a contested convention was in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter was challenged by Ted Kennedy. The bitterness of that convention led party leaders to create a new class of convention delegate not selected by voters. Superdelegates are the party elders -- elected officials and other higher ups -- who choose which candidate to support regardless of what the voters decide.
Usually, they side with the voters' choice. But this year, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama running neck-and-neck toward the finish of the primary season, there is no clear frontrunner.
In the 32 states that have held primaries and caucuses so far, Obama has won 20. In only two of the 10 states Clinton has won has she had a victory margin greater than 20 points. Obama has won 15 states by better than 20 points.
The Clinton camp says she is more electable and that her wins in New York, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts show she has more national appeal. But Obama has won states from coast to coast and has attracted more new voters in process.
A contested race is the last thing the Democratic Party leaders want. The whole point of the ridiculously compressed primary calendar they created was that a candidate would be chosen quickly and there would be nine months to campaign hard for the November election.
That strategy hasn't worked, and now there is growing pressure on the superdelegates to commit themselves -- even before the voting is over.
Vermont has seven superdelegates. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is neutral. Vermont DNC representative Billi Gosh of Brookfield backs Clinton. Vermont Democratic Party chairman Ian Carleton, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch have announced their support for Obama. Party vice-chairwoman Judy Bevans of Craftsbury and Vermont DNC representative Chuck Ross of Hinesburg say they are both leaning toward Obama.
Vermont sends 23 delegates to the national convention. Under party rules, the votes in the March 4 primary choose 10 of Vermont's delegates, and those 10 in turn select the final six delegates. Obama is expected to win by a wide margin in Vermont, which could mean that as the numbers stand now, he could receive nearly all of Vermont's 23 delegates.
That's pretty straightforward, but that's not the case in other states. For example, Michigan and Florida held primaries, but because both states moved their primaries up early against the wishes of the DNC, neither state was allowed to award delegates. Most of the candidates obeyed party leaders by not campaigning in either state, since neither primary would count toward the delegate count.
But Clinton did not follow those rules and "won" both primaries. Her camp is claiming that since she was the victor, even though the primaries weren't supposed to count, she should get the delegates from Florida and Michigan.
Dean now has a big mess on his hands, and he and three other Vermonters with longtime ties to Dean could end up deciding the election.
Brattleboro native and longtime Dean aide Kate O'Connor, current Welch chief-of-staff Bob Rogan and former state Administration Secretary Kathy Hoyt are all on the DNC's credentials committee. In effect, these three and others on the committee decide who will be delegates. That will determine, in fact, who the candidate will be.
Will Dean, as he hinted recently, seek some sort of "arrangement" to settle the race by the end of March? Or will he let democracy takes its course and let the voters pick the party's nominees and urge the superdelegates to obey the will of the voters?
We hope Dean chooses the latter course. Voters want a free and fair nomination process, one where they, and not the party pooh-bahs, have the final say.
Look it all depends on the meaning of the word “is”, since the Clintons are involved.
Since Hillary won the elections which weren’t supposed to count in Florida and Michigan, they want them counted now.
If Obama had won those states, Billary would be arguing that we have to follow the rules that the DNC and all candidates campaigns had agreed to.
But since Billary won those states, they say they are standing up for democracy and the will of the voters.
The argument they take is based on whatever is best for Billary. They don’t stand on principle for anything.
Unless you consider totally unabashed, ruthless lust for power a principle
I find this quite amusing coming from this “Progressive Central” rag!
In that other major political party, there are also a bunch of old men in the smoke-filled backrooms who are also doing the same thing. The difference is that the GOP doesn't call theirs Superdelegates; they just call them 'uncommitted' delegates. But they are still selected from the ranks of the party elite.
The Superdelegates for the Dems make up about 27% of the delegate count.
The GOP is a tad more democratic in that their 'uncommitted' delegates only make up about 19.5% of their delegate count.
All are equal, but some are more equal than others, because the party elites in both parties don't trust the voters to select the right candidates.
As history shows, the Stalinists in the democrat party and this poor local fish wrapper are only for democratic principles when they are getting the results they want. Otherwise they work to overturn the will of the people, usually by finding a friendly federal court. Looks like they are stuck between a rock and a hard place here. This is not a court issue. Some one at the DNC will have to decide. What to do...select an empty suit or an empty pantsuit. Keep the popcorn and oil at the ready, it is possible, though unlikely, we will see a Dim convention like the one in Chicago in 1968. Man that was fun to watch!
But people around here are still complaining that the GOP is “forcing” a nominee on them. And we don’t even have superdelegates!
The Founding Fathers didn't trust the "mob" either. That's why there is an electoral college and only property owning white men could vote for our first 100 years or so.
This situation is a full-on cluster bomb and I am enjoying it immensely. Strike a deal before the end of March? That is to laugh! Pennsylvania doesn't vote until April 22nd! Ha ha ha! What are they going to do? Go into the back room and cut some deal with the superdelegates and the disqualified cheaters from FL and MI and announce the "selected not elected" candidate before Pennsylvanians even go to the polls? Right! "Here's your nominee already selected folks. Be sure to come out in November and support him/her." Not a good approach, I wouldn't think.
Isn’t Larry Sinclair a super delegate?
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