What's the real role of a superdelegate?

[tgnyc]

Is it to ratify the preferences of the pledged delegates? Or to follow the preferences of their constituents? Or do what s/he thinks is best for the party? For the country? There seems to be a fair amount of disagreement on this. When I hear some superdelegates, particularly black ones, saying they have to follow the will of their constituents, I think, really? Says who? Why is that a meaningful role?

What is the deal here?

[seriousstan]

1. To maintain party control of chosing the candidate.

God forbid they leave it in the hands of the stupid voters.

[LucyParsons]

6. Yep, see:

Original contitutional selection of US Senators my state legislators; electoral college; etc.

$0.02

[misanthrope]

11. Little did the framers realize...

...that one day the hoi polloi would have the nerve to read the language used in the DOI and Constitution and hold the government accountable for it by demanding full citizenship. How dare we!

[LucyParsons]

8. self delete

dupe

[mkultra]

2. to do what they think is best

They where put in place to stem a tide of bottom up initiatives.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Superdelegates were made part of the process in 1982.

The rationale was that they'd prevent a nominee like McGovern, who won the nomination and only carried his home state in the general election, or like Jimmy Carter, who was a relative outsider without connections to the party elite.

[MediaBabe]

4. This link may help

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/2008elections/tp/super_delegates.htm


Rationale For Super-Delegates

The Democratic Party established this system in part in response to the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. McGovern took only one state and had only 37.5 percent of the popular vote. Then in 1976, Jimmy Carter was a dark-horse candidate with little national experience.

The purpose of the super-delegate system is to act as a check on ideologically extreme or inexperienced candidates. It also gives power to people who have a vested interested in party policies: elected leaders. Because the primary and caucus voters do not have to be active members of the party (in New Hampshire they can sign up and sign out going-and-coming at the polls), the super-delegate system has been called a safety-value.

[tgnyc]

5. So if there is no "extreme" candidate, like now, what is their meaningful role?

[misanthrope]

12. Translation: To make the party...

...more responsive to the power brokers and further entrench a ruling elite.

[Gore1FL]

7. To prevent an issue that occrued in 1972

When many party officials were not delegates at the convention.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. To Vote For The Winner Of FL And MI

I hope that the DNC let's them do their job.

:sarcasm:

[backscatter712]

10. To veto democracy.

That's all there is to it.

It's the mindset of "If the peasants don't vote for the correct candidate, the nobility must have to power to override them."

[Tarc]

13. It is to cast a vote for whichever candidate they choose to endorse

There is really nothing else to it. The "abide by the will of the people" bullshit is a disingenuous meme generated by the Obamabots who are looking at the end of the tunnel with the possibility of not seeing their Anointed One standing at the end of it.

[tgnyc]

14. So you wouldn't have a problem if the vote of the supers resulted in the candidate

with fewer popular votes becoming the nominee?