Superdelegate Totally Explained

Everything about Superdelegate totally explained

ť This article is about superdelegates in general. For a list of 2008 superdelegates, see List of Democratic Party (United States) superdelegates, 2008."Superdelegate" is an informal term commonly used for some of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the United States Democratic Party.

Unlike most convention delegates, the superdelegates are not selected based on the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, in which voters choose among candidates for the party's presidential nomination. Instead, most of the superdelegates are seated automatically, based solely on their status as current or former party leaders and elected officials ("PLEOs"). Others are chosen during the primary season. All the superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the nomination.
The Democratic Party rules don't use the term "superdelegate". This article follows the most common media practice in using the term "superdelegate" to refer to unpledged delegates, who fall into two categories:

delegates seated based on other positions they hold, who are formally described (in Rule 9.A) as "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates"

Comparison to pledged delegates

Democratic Party rules distinguish pledged and unpledged delegates. Pledged delegates are selected based on their announced preferences in the contest for the presidential nomination. In the party primary elections and caucuses in each U.S. state, voters express their preference among the contenders for the party’s nomination for President of the United States. Pledged delegates supporting each candidate are chosen in approximate ratio to their candidate’s share of the vote. They fall into three categories: district-level pledged delegates (usually by Congressional districts); at-large pledged delegates; and pledged PLEO delegates. The party rules state (Rule 12.J): "Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." and (Rule 12.I): "No delegate ... shall be mandated by law or Party rule to vote contrary to that person’s presidential choice as expressed at the time the delegate is elected." The other superdelegates, the unpledged add-on delegates (Rule 9.B), who need not be PLEOs, are selected by the state parties after some of the pledged delegates are chosen, Under the original Hunt plan, superdelegates were 30% of all delegates, but when it was finally implemented for the 1984 election, they were 14%. The number has steadily increased, and today they're approximately 20%.
   In 1984 only state party chairs and vice chairs were guaranteed superdelegate status. The remaining spots were divided two ways. The Democrats in Congress were allowed to select up to 60% of their members to fill some of these spots. The remaining positions were left to the state parties to fill with priority given to governors and big-city mayors. In 1988 this process was simplified. Democrats in Congress were now allowed to select up to 80% of their members. All Democratic National Committee members and all Democratic governors were automatically given superdelegate status. This year also saw the addition of the distinguished party leader category (although former DNC chairs were not added to this category until 1996, and former House and Senate minority leaders were not added until 2000). 1992 saw the addition of a category of unpledged "add-ons", a fixed number of spots allocated to the states, intended for other party leaders and elected officials not already covered by the previous categories. Finally beginning in 1996 all Democratic members of Congress were given automatic superdelegate status.
   In the 1984 election, the major contenders for the Presidential nomination were Gary Hart and Walter Mondale. Each won some primaries and caucuses. Mondale was only slightly ahead of Hart in the total number of votes cast, but won the support of almost all superdelegates and became the nominee.
   The superdelegates have not always prevailed, however. In the Democratic primary phase of the 2004 election, Howard Dean acquired an early lead in delegate counts by obtaining the support of a number of superdelegates before even the first primaries were held. Nevertheless, John Kerry defeated Dean in a succession of primaries and caucuses and won the nomination.
   In 1988, a study found that superdelegates and delegates selected through the primary and caucus process are not substantively different in terms of viewpoints on issues from each other. But it also found that superdelegates are more likely to prefer candidates with Washington experience than outsider candidates.

In 2008

In 2007 and 2008, various media sources including CNN and Fox news initially differentiated superdelegate from Unpledged DNC and Add-on delegates but the term eventually came to be used in reference to all Democratic Party Unpledged delegates.
Superdelegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention will include approximately 720 unpledged PLEO delegates and approximately 80 unpledged add-on delegates, with the exact number in each category being subject to events.
   The unpledged add-on delegate slots for the various states total 81, but the Democratic National Committee has ruled that delegates from Florida and Michigan won't be seated; subtracting those states' five slots leaves 76 unpledged add-on delegates.
   There is no fixed number of unpledged PLEO delegates. The number can change during the campaign as particular individuals gain or lose qualification under a particular category. The unpledged PLEO delegates are: all Democratic members of the United States Congress, Democratic governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, "[a]ll former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders, as applicable, and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee." There is an exception, however, for otherwise qualified individuals who endorse another party’s candidate for President; under Rule 9.A, they lose their superdelegate status. (In 2008, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut endorsed Republican John McCain, which, according to the chairwoman of the Connecticut State Democratic Party, resulted in his disqualification as a superdelegate. Lieberman's status had, however, previously been questioned because, although he's a registered Democratic voter and caucuses with the Democrats, he won re-election as the candidate of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party and is listed as an "Independent Democrat". The count for Connecticut's delegates in the state party's delegate selection plan, issued before his endorsement of McCain, appears to exclude Lieberman, and he wasn't included on at least one list of PLEO delegates prepared before his endorsement.)
   As of February 13, 2008 one analysis found that the 2008 Democratic National Convention would have 794 superdelegates. The exact number has changed several times because of events. For example, the number decreased as a result of the death of Representative Tom Lantos, the move from Maine to Florida of former Maine Governor Kenneth Curtis, and the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. (Because New York's new Governor, David Paterson, is an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, he was already a superdelegate before becoming Governor.) On the other hand, the number increased when special elections for the House of Representative were won by Democrats Bill Foster, André Carson, Jackie Speier, and Travis Childers. As of May 15, the number is 796, although the number can continue to change until the beginning of the convention (Call to the Convention Section IV(C)(2)). (More current information may be available at the List of Democratic Party (United States) superdelegates, 2008.)
   Pledged delegates from state caucuses and primaries will number 3,253, resulting in a total number of delegate votes of 4,049. A candidate needs a majority of that total, or (as of May 15) 2,025, to win the nomination. The numbers in this section for pledged delegates and for superdelegates assume that Michigan and Florida delegates are not counted per current Democratic National Committee rules. Some Democrats have urged that full or partial delegations from those states be seated, which would change the numbers. The Politico found that about half of the superdelegates are white men, compared to 28% of the Democratic primary electorate.
   In the Republican Party, as in the Democratic Party, members of the party’s national committee automatically become delegates without being pledged to any candidate. In 2008, there are 123 members of the Republican National Committee among the total of 2,380 delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention. Despite this similarity in procedure, the term "superdelegate" is generally used only about Democratic delegates, although there are exceptions.

Criticism

The term "superdelegate" itself was used originally as a criticism of unpledged delegates. Susan Estrich argued that these delegates, who would be predominantly white and male, would have more power than other delegates because of their greater freedom to vote as they wish.
The Democratic Party has faced accusations that it has been conducting its nominating process in an undemocratic way, because superdelegates are generally chosen without regard to their preferences in the presidential race and are not obligated to support the candidate chosen by the voters. Television commentator Dan Abrams has called it "troubling" that the superdelegates might decide the 2008 race, arguing, "Each of the superdelegates' votes is now equivalent to about 10,000 Democratic voters." There are online petitions calling on the superdelegates to support the candidate who does best in the primaries and caucuses. On the other hand, Geraldine Ferraro, who served on the Hunt Commission, has defended the inclusion of superdelegates as being beneficial to the party; she argues that they should exercise independent judgment in voting for a presidential nominee.
Delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses may not exactly reflect the votes cast, but Democratic party rules require proportional allocation rather than winner-take-all.

Further Information

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