The Superdelegate System Needs to be Trashed

[Bullet1987]

I'm going to be pessimistic and say Obama won't get his storybook ending to the campaign unless the flood happens tomarrow. Here it is almost 11:30 on the east coast and only 2 SDs have endorsed Obama. I've come to the conclusion that the system that enables Superdelegates needs to be scrapped or their numbers severely decreased...because this is a waste of time and their timidness and unwillingness to endorse is dragging this on longer than it should.

The Democratic Party never envisioned a scenario like the one that has played out this year, and their flawed nomination system has been exposed. The SDs were never supposed to CHOSE a candidate to put over the top (at least that's not what it should appear like). They were simply there to reaffirm the victor. Now that the SDs have to actually make a powerful decision and DO THEIR JOBS...they're acting like scared children. I'm serious, if the Party doesn't do something after this election cycle...then they really are dumb as ****.

[Captain Hilts]

1. The fact that they can exercise discretion is like letting the House of Lords decide an election --

right now, in Maryland - which Obama won by a good margin - Clinton has the majority of the pledged Superdelegates.

In Massachusettes, which Clinton won solidly, Obama has the majority of pledged Superdelegates.

THIS PROCESS MAKES NO SENSE.

And having a primary in Puerto Rico - which does not vote in November - is also stupid.

[leftofcool]

The system needs an overhaul that is for sure

[SparkyMac]

11. I would never think of them as Lords.....

The ones they remind me of work in another kind of house :-)

[Captain Hilts]

19. It takes money to get in both!

[NJmaverick]

2. I don't know, I think Rush Limbaugh's tampering with the process

is exactly why we need SDs. They have the ability of countering this and future GOP misdeeds.

[Captain Hilts]

3. R's have crossed over and voted for both candidates. nt

[NJmaverick]

5. Motive has a lot to do with it

Most of the R's that voted for Hillary, will never vote for her in the GE, while many of the Rs that voted Obama may do so again.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Must be great to be omniscient! nt

[NJmaverick]

9. Just looking at the polls and listening to interviews

it's really not hard, to see what is going on. That is unless someone doesn't really want to know the reality of the situation.

[Occam Bandage]

17. Er, you realize that they actually ask them that in exit polls.

They often ask voters if they plan on voting for the Democratic or Republican candidate for President in November. Hillary solidly wins voters planning on voting Republican.

[bobbert]

24. Exactly, the SDs are here to keep other parties from picking the nominee

Also, they are necessary if there is a close race between 3 candidates and nobody can get the 1/2 + 1 vote. There are a lot of them, but not enough that they will cause a disturbance in a rightly contested primary. Had an 'operation chaos' been conducted where Huckabee ended up with a ton of delegates, we would be very happy to have the Superdelegates help our presumptive nominee get their 1/2 + 1

[PoliticalAmazon]

27. I disagree. They are here to ensure that the party Elites will be able....

to override the votes of We the Peeps' voters and istall a candidate that the party Elites want.

This completely eunuchs rank-and-file voters, and holds the party completely unaccountable to its voters.

[Doityourself]

4. "2 SDs have endorsed Obama"

On Morning Joe earlier, Willie said there have 5 today. Of course, I haven't verified it.

[suston96]

7. The entire primary system needs to be trashed - or at least revised - big time.....

1/2 a vote? What a disgrace, especially for a so called Democratic Party.

[mohc]

8. What I would like to see

Keep the Superdelegates, but change the voting for President and Vice President nominations to initially exclude them. Pledged delegates should be locked into their choices, and if a candidate has a majority of pledged delegates going into the convention, they will be guaranteed a win on the first ballot. If no candidate has a majority of pledged delegates, a second ballot will be held which includes the Superdelegates, with the pledged delegates still locked into position. After the second ballot all the delegates would be up for grabs. This would basically make it so Superdelegates are only needed when there are 3 or more strong candidates. With a more typical two candidate race, one will almost certainly get the majority of pledged delegates and the Superdelegates would not be needed. The same voting system would be used for Vice President as President, which would allow a candidate with a pledged delegate majority to hand select their VP.

[RiverStone]

10. Agreed - crazy to give a handful of folks the power to keep everybody...

...else waiting. Eliminate 3/4 of them at the least.

There is NO excuse for their reluctance to get of their ass and endorse.

[Captain Hilts]

30. In MD and MA the pledged delegates are going against voters. nt

[MaineDem]

12. I don't think it should be totally trashed

I would eliminate the elected officials as SDs. I think the state members of the DNC deserve to be delegates because it's basically their event. They should be unpledged. They have the Party's interest at heart much more so than the Governors, Senators, and members of Congress who may have to face re-election and have their vote be more political than strategic.

[rug]

13. Superdelegates should have no role.

In this year's case, neither one has won the election on delegates alone. So, the superdelegates decide the winner. And there is no standard by which they must decide and no check on their decision.

Either go back to the smoke-filled rooms and let them decide up front or eliminate them and let the voters decide. Obviously the latter is preferred.

[Kokonoe]

14. The system gives every candidate all the leeway that is needed.

Its up to our nominee how to use it.

[Beregond2]

15. I have to agree.

If they aren't going to do their job, why have them? They could have put an end to this mess in February, and should have, but they are too nutless to do anything until it is too late to matter, so who needs them?

[harun]

16. I agree with Pelosi's position on this, cut the # of Super's at least by half

That would be the smallest amount to cut.

[Occam Bandage]

18. Cut supers entirely. Make it entirely pledged delegates.

[anonymous171]

20. Correct. It prolongs the primary because people can still win by tearing down their opponents.

[Politics_Guy25]

23. Yeah-you're not the only one frusturated Bullet1987-I'm with you-n.t

[julialnyc]

21. Obama has 3 SD's so far and Hillary has 1

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/

[Imagevision]

22. Yes well, but dealing with the here and now, after Obama is elected we can make some serious changes

[SoCalDem]

25. They want a STATE to put him over the top..

Even though their votes are counted separately, they want SD or MT to actually have their delegates be the ones who allow him to reach the new total..That takes some heat away from them.. Obama's team wants to make it less painful to HRC's campaign. There are probably MANY SDs who are ready and have been ready for a while, but I think the Obama campaign has reined them in, so that the states' delegates got the press. We have all known for a while, that SDs would be the "deciders", but having them dribble in, makes it more palatable.

[PoliticalAmazon]

26. ITA!! WITH AN EXPONENT! SD system is just insurance that the....

party Elites will always decide who is the party's candidate. This completely takes the power out of We the Peeps' voters.

[Prophet 451]

28. Scrap at least half of them

I can see an arguement for retaining supers if their numbers were confined to the elected Democrats in Congress (who have their own careers to prevent them acting crazy) and perhaps a couple of Democratic luminaries (say, surviving former Dem presidents) but the unelected ones, like most of the party insiders, need to go.

[rucky]

29. Oddly enough, I think MI and FL may just be the best case to keep Superdelegates. n/t