I hope Clinton continues to flaunt her lead in "superdelegates".

[Bonobo]

There are many vague and hard to define ways in which the "system" appears to be rigged in order to keep the political system in the hands of the establishment candidate.

The superdelegate system is not one of them. It is an obvious slap in the face to the concept of a democratic (with a small D) primary system.

What could make it more clear to a young person, who believes in the power of democracy, what a rigged game this is? The primary system has barely begun and Hillary is already up by an enormous margin.

That weird fact strikes viscerally at the heart of anyone who dared believe their vote was going to be counted equally, and it is a part of the source of the anger felt by many.

The superdelegates are the political establishment and their pre-vote for Hillary, bought or rented through some form of political bribesmanship, is a glaring symbol of what is wrong in the political system.

So please keep touting the superdelegate vote, Secretary Clinton. It will only encourage more people to move to the Sanders side or strengthen our commitment to working against the political elites who play so fast and loose with the concept of a democratic process.

[NorthCarolina]

1. It's intended to be the establishment firewall.

eom

[cascadiance]

2. Unfortunately it might also turn many independent voters to the Democratic Party too...

... when they see that the only party (along with the only candidate) that puts up those super delegate totals is the Democratic Party as shown in this vote total page.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/primary-calendar-and-results.html?_r=1

[ProgressiveEconomist]

3. But HRC has only 1 NH

superdelegate, according to the wiki "List of Democratic superdelegates, 2016. That leaves 31 delegates to be allocated tonight, if I'm reading correctly the continuously uldated Politico page at http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/new-hampshire?lo=ut_d1

Currently, Bernie has been allocated only 13 of 25 so far, with 6 remaining to be allocated. Hillary is only one delegate behind Bernie among those delegates allocated tonight so far.

IMO, the premise of your OP seems at odds with the facts.

[Bonobo]

4. No.

She is sending email to her followers flaunting a 385-29 lead.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511185053

[ProgressiveEconomist]

6. HRC won 23 of 44 IA

delegates at stake in the caucuses. She's running almost even with SBS among NH delegates at stake tonight. So the electoral process so far has them neck and neck. It's not as if superdelegates in IA and NH will have reversed the results of two electoral processes completed or almost completed so far, which is what your OP seems to allege.

[Bonobo]

7. That has nothing to do with my OP

And I implied nothing of the kind.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. IMO delegate allocation

analysis must be done within state to be fair. You can't argue convincingly that superdelegates are unfairly allocated until you've seen the allocation of delegates up for grabs in that state's primary or caucus.

[Bonobo]

12. My main argument is that Hillary's pushing her lead from superdelegates

serves to underscore the undemocratic nature of the system, and by extension, cements her appearance as an establishment candidate with the fix in.

[socialist_n_TN]

5. And those superdelegates are the reason that I don't think.......

that Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic nominee. I haven't from the beginning of this race and I don't now. This is what the superdelegate system was put into place FOR, to stop any sort of "insurgent" candidacy, no matter how mild, that threatens to take the reins of power from the Party bosses.

[moondust]

8. I'd like to know...

how many Democratic superdelegates are not particularly wealthy. I suspect not many if any at all. Somebody should get their names and do a study.

[Bonobo]

9. Here you go.

I suspect there is no one that is not a millionaire and that there are very few minorities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Party_superdelegates,_2016

[moondust]

10. Thanks.

I suspect you're right. Like socialist_n_TN says, to some extent it's the establishment's firewall to prevent insurgents from winning and taking "their" party away from them. It's undemocratic.