Who wins the Superdelegates?

February 14, 2008

Unofficially/officially, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will claim the required 2,025 pledged delegates to earn the Democratic party nomination. Unofficially because it could happen. Officially because it won't.

Therefore, the remaining caucuses and primaries become a battle between the two to persuade the superdelegates, elected Democrats and party leaders, for votes. Superdelegates are given the advantage of voting independently.

Obama, along with many experts, says that whoever wins the majority of delegates and popular vote, which he has just recently taken the lead of over Clinton, should claim the superdelegates. If not, it could create fractions within the party and come off as undemocratic.

That sounds legitimate, but wait just a second. If we're worried about primaries and caucuses not counting, what about Michigan and Florida? That's 366 delegate votes that aren't being counted because the two states moved their primaries ahead without permission. It was Clinton who won big there, even though neither candidate actively campaigned there. It's now created an interesting position in this year's tight contest because those are delegates that could get one of the candidate's number to 2,025 and eliminate the superdelegate debate altogether.

Obama is emerging as the front runner here but if Clinton can pull out wins in Ohio and Texas it could, coupled with the fact that she won in both Michigan and Florida where votes weren't acknowledged, persuade the superdelegates to give her the win this summer.