the nomination due to being out voted by the Democratic appointed superdelegates WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE SUPERDELEGATES *boortz.com* wikipedia I've been getting a lot of questions about these "superdelegates." For those of you who are too lazy to do your own research, I have created a quick Boortz re-cap of the purpose of superdelegates. Superdelegates are a way for Democrat office holders and party officials to make sure that their preferred nominee wins the nomination. These superdelegates are not awarded because of any primaries or caucuses. They are simply Democrat politicians who get a say, without having to reflect the popular vote. Call them a firewall against the dumb Democrat masses, if you will. Hey ... they know their voters. Now the Democrat Party does not actually use the term "superdelegate," probably because it makes it look like these people have more power. Their formal designation is "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates." At the 2008 Democrat Convention, superdelegates will make up about one-fifth of the total number of delegates deciding who will be the nominee. So now the infamous question, why? The quick version goes ... back in the 1960s the Democrats changed their delegate selection process to make the nomination more responsive to the voters. This is when they started to move away from caucuses and toward primaries. But then the 1980s rolled around and Democrat party leaders felt like they weren't getting their "fair say." They felt like they knew better than the people, who were weakening the Democrat ticket. So after the 1980 election (when Ronald Reagan won) they instituted this superdelegate rule that gave these politicians a greater role in selecting their nominee. So when the 1984 election hit, Gary Hart almost claimed the nomination ... that was until almost all of the superdelegates decided that Walter Mondale was their man. And so he won the nomination. In other words, superdelegates give Democrat party leaders more power to select the candidate they want running for president. Got it? Now ... the question ... quickly fading into irrelevance, I might add ... is whether or not these superdelegates will step in to derail Obama and hand the nomination to Hillary. If they do, you can expect black voters to cry foul like fouls never been cried before, and then to sit on their hands in November. What fun.
White men hold superdelegate power balance Superdelegates get campaign cash Many of the superdelegates who could well decide the Democratic presidential nominee have already been plied with campaign contributions by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a new study shows. "While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials serving as superdelegates have received about $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years," the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported today. About half the 800 superdelegates -- elected officials, party leaders, and others -- have committed to either Clinton or Obama, though they can change their minds until the convention.
