Some Superdelegates more Super than the rest

[Limelight]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Some of those presidential superdelegates Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are pursuing are more super than others. One delegate, one vote doesn't apply to them. These prominent Democrats can name additional superdelegates, giving them control over multiple convention votes, and that could be the difference in a race that may not be decided until the August convention.

The clout of the nearly 800 superdelegates is unprecedented in this year's race because neither Obama nor Clinton can clinch the nomination with only the delegates won in state primaries and caucuses. Largely overlooked in the arcane process, though, is the power of a select few to complete the superdelegate ranks by naming 76 newbies, and Clinton and Obama are fighting hard over every one of those from state conventions to back rooms.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080405/ap_on_el_pr/super_sized_delegates

---

Yeah, I'm an Obama supporter, but the thing is the more and more I hear about this system that is basically built to subvert the will of the Democratic faithful if party leaders get a wild hair up their ass to do so, the more I think this garbage system should be trashed.

[DesertFlower]

1. i totally agree. nt

[annabanana]

2. Just how many "shiny new superdelegates" can these guys create?

I SO do not like this.

[Liberal Veteran]

11. It's based on a simple formula.

The number of new superdelegates is directly proportional to the number of superdelegates one lacks in order to claim the nomination divided by the fallout one can expect from attempting to reach the number to achieve critical mass and the number of anti-superdelegates that are created by the opposition that cancel each other out like matter and anti-matter. Should such multiplication be allowed to continued it will open a hole in the space time continuum and subvert the laws of reality which will result in a parallel reality superimposing itself over the current one from the R-universe and leaving us with a President McCain.



See how simple that is?

[Journeyman]

3. And some animals are more equal than others. . . n/t

[Mist]

5. Beat me to it! nt

[Pastiche423]

12. A visual...

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. The whole process is built to subvert the will of the Democratic faithful or the

voters in general. :shrug:

[DeeDeeNY]

6. They should re-think the whole superdelegate process

It should be scrapped after the election

[WyldRogue]

7. Why...

... essentially make it so that your MAINSTAY voters can be stabbed in the back by a group of appointed SDs if those SDs decide to buck the trend and will of the voters?? Talk about making a difficult situation even more difficult... from my viewpoint and of those of my constituents, the Dems are shooting themselves in the foot, face, and @ss with this election debacle.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. Don't we always? Shoot ourselves in the foot, etc, that is?

[antigop]

9. Key quote from Ickes: ""They basically are gifts to the state party chairs,"

He and other state party chairmen will appoint most of the additional 76, known in Democratic ranks as "unpledged add-ons."

"They basically are gifts to the state party chairs,"

When are people going to figure out that it's the Dems in the leadership positions that call the shots regarding the nominee?

[antigop]

10. Oh, and who is going to hold these "unpledged add-ons" accountable for their votes? n/t

[corporatemedia]

13. Super Duper ?

[Freedom Train]

14. I also totally agree.

We need to sit down and take a good, hard look at this essentially undemocratic system after the election, regardless of whom wins. That it was we and not the Republicans who came up with the idea of Super delegates from the beginning is quite frankly embarrassing.