With every passing week, the role of "superdelegates" is growing in the Democratic race. Together, they represent twice as many delegates to the national convention as California will send. But nobody voted for them.
The Washington Post explains:
Though Clinton and Obama have pursued the support of superdelegates for
a year, the courtships have intensified in recent weeks as it has
become clear that the two are locked in a virtual dead heat for
delegate support. Party insiders say this could be the first campaign
in more than two decades that reaches the national convention in August
without a clear nominee, making the votes of superdelegates -- a group
made up of current and former top elected officials and Democratic National Committee (DNC) members from around the nation -- potentially decisive.
"Right now, everyone is busting their chops to try to get the remaining
superdelegates to commit. And they're having a real hard time of it,"
said Mike Berman, a Clinton supporter who worked on Walter F. Mondale's 1984 campaign, the last one in which superdelegates were a factor.
So far, 213 superdelegates have publicly committed to backing Clinton
and 139 have pledged their support to Obama, according to a survey by The Associated Press.
The potential for superdelegates to play a critical role has some party
leaders worried that the situation could lend the appearance that the
nominee will be selected by insiders rather than by rank-and-file
voters.
That appearance is not helped by the fact that so many
superdelegates have clear allegiances. Bill Clinton, for instance, is a
superdelegate by virtue of his tenure as president, as are Clinton
campaign chairman Terence R. McAuliffe and longtime Clinton ally Harold Ickes. Though Hillary Clinton has a clear edge, former senator Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), a strong Obama supporter, and Alan Solomont, Obama's Northeast finance chairman, are superdelegates as well.
Some have significant financial ties to the campaigns. The Clinton
campaign paid Ickes's company, Catalist, a broker of voter contact
lists, more than $125,000 last year. Obama's campaign also paid Ickes's
firm, spending $25,000 to rent a mailing list.
A company run by Mark S. Weiner, a Clinton supporter who became a superdelegate by virtue of his party leadership role in Rhode Island, has been paid more than $800,000 for campaign bumper stickers, signs and other paraphernalia.
