Primer on 2008 DNC delegate selection process

[Perky]

from Wikipedia


On February 2, 2007, the Democratic Party published its Call for the Convention, which are the rules governing the convention.

There will be 3,515 pledged delegates which will be selected by primary voters and caucus participants

852 unpledged delegates, colloquially known as superdelegates, which are DNC members, Democratic members of Congress and Governors, and other important figures in the party.

The pledged delegates are allocated among the states in rough proportion to the proportion of votes each state gave the Democratic candidate in the last three Presidential elections and the percentage of votes each state has in the Electoral College.

In addition, fixed numbers of delegates are allocated for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad.

Under the party's Delegate Selection Rules, delegates are awarded via proportional representation with a minimum threshold of 15% of votes in a state in order to receive delegates. In addition, the delegate population must reflect the state's ethnic distribution, and at least 50% of the delegates must be women.



Everybody clear?

[Yukari Yakumo]

1. Current "Super-Delegate" Status

(As of the end of May '07)

Hillary Clinton 44
Barack Obama 22
John Edwards 15
Chris Dodd 9
Bill Richardson 5
Joe Biden 2

Source:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/6/20/205406.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_democratic_primary

BTW, your definition of super-delegate is off. DNC members are not super-delegates. Super-delegates are the Democrats in the House and the Senate, Democratic Governors, and two "shadow senators" representing DC. The total number of super-delegates is 314 (not 852).

[Perky]

4. Then I guess wipedia is wrong

[Perky]

5. Then I guess wipedia is wrong

Do you have a link?

[UrbScotty]

2. More details at the following website

www.demconvention.com

The Call to the Convention is LONG - I copied it to MS Word, and it ended up being more than 40 pages!

[Yukari Yakumo]

3. All-in-all...

The Dem Primary Race looks like it's going to be rather boring, unless Hil's campaign falls apart in spectacular fashion.

The Repukes, on the other hand, looks like it's going to be a blast to watch. I wonder how much longer will they refrain from attacking one another? Right now, it looks like no one is going to get enough delegates to win the nom. Romney, McCain, and Thompson are siphoning enough delegates away from Ghouliani to prevent him from getting the nom.

[Perky]

6. RNC Delegate allocation method

Delegations
The size of delegations to the Republican National Convention are determined by the national rules of the party, which as of 2004 indicate the following:

Ten delegates at large from each of the fifty states.
The national committeeman, the national committeewoman and the chairman of the state Republican Party of, each state and American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Three district delegates for each member of the United States House of Representatives from each state, six from DC, and between six and twenty delegates from each of the territories.
From each state having cast at least a majority of its Electoral College votes for the Republican nominee in the preceding presidential election: four and one-half delegates at large plus a number of the delegates at large equal to 60 percent of the number of electoral votes of that state, rounding any fraction upwards
one additional delegate at large to each state
which elected a Republican governor since the preceding presidential election
whose Republican members of the United States House of Representatives represent a majority of that state's representatives
where Republicans control any chamber of the state legislature
where Republicans control all chambers of the state legislature
one additional delegate to each state per Republican it elected to the United States Senate in the six-year period prior to January 1 of the year in which the next national convention is held.
The composition of the individual state and territory delegations is determined by the bylaws of their respective state and territory parties. Since 1972, almost all have appointed delegates by primary election results, although some, notably Iowa, use caucuses, and others combine the primary with caucuses or with delegates elected at a state convention.

In the past, competing factions of a state party sometimes drew up separate lists of delegates, each claiming to be the official one. One of the first agenda items at a convention is therefore credentialing, whereby the Credentials Committee determines which group is recognized as the official delegation.