01-30-2008, 02:23 PM
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Difference Between Delegates and Superdelegates
Here is a clearly written article on this, kudos to this guy for the explanation.
Quote:
The 44th: The Difference Between Delegates and Superdelegates
Superdelegates are elected Democrats -- congressmen, governors -- and party officials who will be invited to the 2008 Democratic Convention and will be asked to pledge their support to a certain candidate. Many of these superdelegates have already made their candidate choice public. They are represented in my numbers to the right. These numbers are unofficial, and are the ones being reported by CNN. Other websites are counting the superdelegates differently. Demconwatch has a complete list of all committed and uncommitted superdelegates.
There will be a total of 4,049 delegates at the Democratic Convention, which happens at the end of August in Denver. More than half of those delegates -- 2,025 -- must support one candidate in order for that candidate to be officially nominated by the party.
Of those 4,049 delegates, about 800 are these "superdelegates." The remaining 3200+ are the ones being fought for at every primary and caucus. They are apportioned according to their voting population.
So, there are TWO sets of delegates that the candidates are fighting for -- the bigger group at the primaries, the smaller but very influential group in the background.
It's important to know two things:
1) The convention is what makes everything "official." Even a candidate who receives more than the required half during the primaries isn't really the nominee until the convention. As recently as a generation ago, the conventions were much more riotous, much more suspenseful. They've only become civilized since the '70s. Another candidate -- a John Edwards or an Al Gore, for instance -- could attempt to "bust" the convention (sway delegates), even after a candidate has theoretically "secured" the necessary 2,025.
2) Delegate counts -- whether you're counting only the state-won delegates or the superdelegates as well -- aren't important at this exact moment in time. They will become important on February 5th, when so many of them are up for grabs. But for now, it's all about momentum and media coverage and the perception of viability.
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