I Want To Be a Super-Delegate

Talking to my mom... she asked me what I knew about the Democratic Super-Delegates... I had no clue. First thing I found was THIS ARTICLE on msnbc that said:

Voters don’t choose the 842 unpledged “super-delegates” who comprise nearly 40 percent of the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

oh... the article got even more interesting...

The category includes Democratic governors and members of Congress, former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former vice president Al Gore, retired congressional leaders such as Dick Gephardt, and all Democratic National Committee members, some of whom are appointed by party chairman Howard Dean.

Hmmmm... hidden under an ad was the following line:

The Republicans do not have a similar super-delegate system.

and then it went on to say:

These super-delegates don’t have superhuman powers, but unlike rank-and-file Democrats, they do automatically get to cast a vote at the convention to decide who the party’s nominee will be.

Further research was a necessity... particularly since I am not that sure about what I read on the net...

I found this site of the 2008 Democratic Convention Watch that had a list of super-delegates. I liked the chart off to the left that showed what the count was with delegates and super-delegates.

There is lot of information on it, but most everyone has the same stuff to start with and just opinions added. Anyone have really good information on this? I checked a couple of Democratic sites, but there was nothing I could really get a hold of to make it worth more of a post. Thoughts?

Posted by vw bug at February 7, 2008 05:38 AM | TrackBack