Super delegates...
The debate over the role of super delegates continues to top the discussion surrounding the Democratic nomination.
Bottom line, if super delegates who have committed to either Obama or Clinton hold firm, there probably are not enough remaining uncommitted super delegates to actually tip the scale at this point to either candidate. It would probably take every last uncommitted super delegate to unanimously line up behind one and that might not be enough without any resolution to the Florida/Michigan mess. (Splitting those two state delegations between Obama and Clinton doesn't help anyone).
Lost in all of this is the reason why super delegates exist in the first place.
The Democratic Party "created" the super delegates after the 1976 election when a little known Georgia governor by the name of Jimmy Carter came out of nowhere and won the nomination -- that following an even lesser known South Dakota senator by the name of George McGovern won the party's nod four years earlier. Neither McGovern nor Carter where the favorites at the beginning of the presidential races -- and certainly not the "choice" of party leaders.
So...to avoid having non-establishment candidates continue to emerge and take over the party, party leaders created the super delegates -- the so-call primary police to ensure the will of the party was the top priority.
But it never became an issue again....so super delegates became this elite group of Democratic elected officials and party insiders who essentially got a free ride to the convention and all the parties.
Now...it's time for them to do what they were initially created to do -- and they can't seem to figure that out, or how to go about doing it.
As divisive as Obama and Clinton have been in jeopardizing the Democrats chances of actually winning in November, what happens with the super delegates later this summer could become the nail in the coffin.
Bottom line, if super delegates who have committed to either Obama or Clinton hold firm, there probably are not enough remaining uncommitted super delegates to actually tip the scale at this point to either candidate. It would probably take every last uncommitted super delegate to unanimously line up behind one and that might not be enough without any resolution to the Florida/Michigan mess. (Splitting those two state delegations between Obama and Clinton doesn't help anyone).
Lost in all of this is the reason why super delegates exist in the first place.
The Democratic Party "created" the super delegates after the 1976 election when a little known Georgia governor by the name of Jimmy Carter came out of nowhere and won the nomination -- that following an even lesser known South Dakota senator by the name of George McGovern won the party's nod four years earlier. Neither McGovern nor Carter where the favorites at the beginning of the presidential races -- and certainly not the "choice" of party leaders.
So...to avoid having non-establishment candidates continue to emerge and take over the party, party leaders created the super delegates -- the so-call primary police to ensure the will of the party was the top priority.
But it never became an issue again....so super delegates became this elite group of Democratic elected officials and party insiders who essentially got a free ride to the convention and all the parties.
Now...it's time for them to do what they were initially created to do -- and they can't seem to figure that out, or how to go about doing it.
As divisive as Obama and Clinton have been in jeopardizing the Democrats chances of actually winning in November, what happens with the super delegates later this summer could become the nail in the coffin.
posted by Ray Hackett at 2:17 PM
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