795 Superdelegates Could Pick Nominee,
Wiping Out Choices of Millions of Voters

If, as appears likely, neither Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Senator Barack Obama will have the 2,025 delegates they need to be nominated as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate at its August convention, the issue will be decided by an elite group of 795 superdelegates, consisting of party activists, lawmakers, governors and former U.S, presidents, a procedure that was established in 1984.

Under the rules, superdelegates can “vote their conscience,” and are not bound by how their state voted in the primaries and caucuses. They can, if they choose, nominate a candidate who is substantially behind in the delegate race. Or they can pressure candidates to drop out if a stalemate persists. The broad power given the superdelegates is justified on the grounds that it would ensure that the party would have a candidate with credibility if the conflict between the candidates could not otherwise be resolved.

The superdelegate idea might have a somewhat better welcome if its members were bound to follow the results of their state’s primaries instead of disregarding them. An Associated Press review of lawmakers and governors who are superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention found three dozen cases in which they hold positions contrary to the expressed will of their constituents.

There are 21 governors and members of Congress who support Clinton, although their states or districts voted for Obama in primaries or caucuses. There are 14 elected superdelegates for Obama in districts whose constituents went for Clinton, including one governor, two senators and one congressman from Massachusetts, which Clinton won.

There is considerable concern about giving the superdelegates a blank check to select a presidential nominee that does not reflect the results of the primaries and caucuses. If that happened, there would be a firestorm of protests across the nation, with unforeseen consequences. It is hoped that one candidate will be so far ahead in the delegate count that superdelegates won’t be brought into play..

Although Obama has now won ten consecutive primaries or caucuses and leads Clinton in pledged delegates, it is Clinton who has the greater number of superdelegates. As of Feb.17, she had 189.5 to Obama’s 142.5. Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns are in a frantic struggle to win as many free-wheeling superdelegates as possible.

Obama is now considered the front runner on the basis of his victories in 22 states, but Hillary appears to be determined to fight for her candidacy right up to the convention. Clinton’s communications director, Howard Wolfson, says that Hillary will not concede the race to Obama if he wins the greater number of pledged delegates by the end of the primary season in June. She will count on the 795 elected and party officials to give her the nomination. Clinton advisers reject the notion that the candidate and the party would be badly wounded in the general election if the nominee were essentially selected by a group of party insiders.

The next major primaries are on March 4 in Ohio and Texas, and on April 22 in Pennsylvania, which Clinton must win big-time to stay competitive with Obama.

Former President Bill Clinton says that if his wife loses either Texas or Ohio, she can’t win the nomination. If that happens, it is unlikely that she will try to get the superdelegates to nominate her. Obama will have pulled off the most spectacular victory in American political history — in little more than one year.

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