How Does Someone Get A Democratic National Committee Membership?

[orleans]

from my understanding everyone who is a member of the dnc is a superdelegate.

and a superdelegate vote is worth 10,000 "regular" votes

i would like my vote to be worth 10,000 votes also

i am also wondering if "members" of the dnc are elected as members. i doubt it--and the more i'm reading about these superdelegates the more i think it is really fucked up.

[caligirl]

1. Ummm, check ebay.

[ashling]

2. Members of the DNC

are elected to the committee from their states at heir state conventions

[islandmkl]

3. I have been advising everyone to vote more than once, if possible...

you know, try to ensure that one of their votes would actually get counted. But, Jesus...10,000 votes for just one person? I can't even do the math. Where did that number come from? Wait, don't tell me...do the Super-Delegate votes (at 10,000:1) in any way offset the regular delegates? I'm just asking because all this math is tough for me. Anyway, do the Super-Delegates have to vote 10,000 times versus the regular delegates voting once? Or do they just get like 10,000 fuckin' votes for just being alive and breathing and selling their party down the river so the big corporations are covered in case, by some fuckin' miracle, the Democrats get back 'in power' and no one wants to have to wait through 1 or 2 more elections before the GOP gets back in charge and just gives the country away to the highest bidder and removes any semblance of the American middle-class, let alone the poor, and turns us all into the serfs, that they know in their hearts, we are pre-destined by their God to be. I feel better, now.

[orleans]

5. i believe the superdelegates get 10,000 votes for just being alive

welcome to du btw

randi rhodes was talking about this on her show today
http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Rhodes.html
(friday, 2/8)

she said dan abrams has been talking about this on his show and this is what i found:

We continue our campaign tonight to try to make sure the Democratic voters, not party insiders known as superdelegates ultimately make the decision between Obama and Clinton. Tonight: the delegate count is still being sorted out, Obama now leads with 861 pledged actual delegates, Hillary Clinton with 855. And in close third, the 796 superdelegates, yes, the superdelegates, the Democrats in Congress, the governors, the members of the Democratic National Committee, the VIPs who hold nearly 40 percent of the necessary votes needed to win the nomination.

So far, nearly 18.5 million people who voted in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. More than 1, 800 delegates have been awarded, that means a delegate is worth approximately 10,000 votes. And then there are the 1.5 million voters from Florida who don‘t count because party officials decided Florida shouldn‘t count. And now, the same power brokers decide whether it‘s Obama or Clinton.

I‘ll say it again, scrap the superdelegates. If the superdelegates have to vote, and let them reflect the voters of their state or district. Here with us, Congressman Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington and a superdelegate who is supporting Obama; Rachel Maddow, MSNBC political analyst and Air America radio host; and Peter Beinart from the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the book, “The Good Fight”. All right. Adam, can you possibly justify your vote being worth 10,000 of the voters‘ votes?

REP. ADAM SMITH, (D) WASHINGTON: Absolutely not. I don‘t think we should have superdelegates.

snip

PETER BEINART, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Here‘s the reason the superdelegates are useful. You need 50 percent to win. It‘s not a plurality, most elections in America, you only need a plurality but to win the nomination, you need a majority. Let‘s say there are three or four candidates and the leading one gets 35 percent of the votes, that means that nobody‘s going to get 50 percent. One of the reasons for superdelegates would they would go with the winner to put you over 50 percent. There are better ways of doing that but it‘s worth noting that if you have proportional representation and you demand a majority, you‘re headed for trouble down the road.

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: You‘re not headed for trouble though, you‘re just headed for a second vote. I mean, there‘s all sort of parliamentary ways -

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: Let‘s be clear, that‘s a broker convention, let‘s be clear about that.

ABRAMS: All right. Look, if there‘s a tie, Rachel, I‘m happy for some group of party elders or VIPs and the Adam Smiths will get together and they will say, you know what, we‘ve got to make a decision here because there‘s a tie. I‘m fine with that. But absent a tie, it seems to me that you‘ve got an insane system in place where they have so much power, there are so many of them, I think a lot of people didn‘t know this going into the process.

MADDOW: I‘m not happy with the idea of the council of elders taking over in the case of a tie. I mean, elections are sometimes about things being very close and you let the voters decide. I mean, in this case, you let the voters‘ delegates to decide. I don‘t think there needs to be a star chamber or some group of wise men to put the brakes on what the voters are going to decide. It could get messy; it could be a process that takes a long time. That‘s OK.

snip

ABRAMS: Let me tell you about the absurdity of this, alright? You got a teamsters member as superdelegates, you got the president of United Federation of Teachers, you got an attorney who represents the Washington State Democratic Party, you got an Oregon political activist and blogger, I mean, you know, this is nuts. These people have the equivalent of 10,000 votes each.

MADDOW: And that tells you, this is designed to be a council of elders that‘s designed to make things better when the voters don‘t do the right thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: It‘s worth here noting that the vast majority of these superdelegates are elected. In fact, most of them are elected by a much broader cross-section of the population than a small group of activist who tend to turn to out -

ABRAMS: But they weren‘t elected. They weren‘t elected to vote on the presidential candidate.

BEINART: I agree. But, it‘s still worth noting by their very lively -

ABRAMS: But a lot of them aren‘t elected, I mean, you‘ve got Democratic Party members.

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: But here‘s the problem, Peter. There‘s going to be a crisis of confidence, OK? If people don‘t talk about this, we‘re going to have another Bush V. Gore coming out of the convention. People are going to claim, it was unfair, they‘re going to say that the people weren‘t represented. And I feel like, you know, I‘m the sole voice out there saying, look, let‘s come to a solution now, today, before it gets too close.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23069793

randi was saying we should call howard dean at the dnc and tell him to not let the superdelegates vote at all--let the voters pick the nominee

[TexasObserver]

4. You'll need a pair of Knee pads and an ability to use them for hours

You'll need to kiss a lot of ass, work a lot of campaigns, and earn brownie points with party activists and pols.

You don't want to do it if you have a soul.

[DesEtoiles]

6. donate money to the DNC

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. How to Become a Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention...LINK.......

http://www.democrats.org/a/convention_2008/delegate/

How you become a delegate to the Convention depends on which state you live in. Each state will have their own Delegate Selection Plan that will describe how delegates are chosen in that state. These Plans must comply with rules adopted by the National Party that provide guidelines to ensure a fair and open process. In the summer of 2007, state parties will publish their delegate selection rules and clearly explain how to participate.

If you want to be a delegate, your first step should be to contact your state party to determine what their process is. For information on running for a delegate position, an individual should call or write his or her respective State Democratic Party Headquarters and request a copy of the Delegate Selection Plan (or summary) and filing forms. These documents provide the information candidates need to know in order to run for delegate positions. All states require delegate candidates to file a "declaration of candidacy" in order to run. The deadline for this declaration varies among the states but is specified in each state's plan. In some cases, the declaration must be accompanied with signatures of registered Democratic voters from that area. All filing requirements must be precisely followed.

Finally, whether or not you're becoming a delegate to the 2008 National Convention -- stay informed and involved. Be sure to: (1) stay informed about the presidential campaign; (2) follow the 2008 Convention; (3) support the Party's presidential and vice presidential nominees; and (4) Vote on Election Day!