Next Time…Get Rid Of The Superdelegates
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, History, Super Delegates!!!I’m with Josh Marshall. The argument behind creating the superdelegates in the first place was merely an extension of the political boss system that determined state primary winners by who had the most power and that tradition has absolutely no place in modern politics.
Some history…
Coming out of the 1970s, the Democratic party establishment created the superdelegates precisely to put a brake on the power of “the groups”, which was shorthand for, and not necessarily in this order, the hippies, the blacks, the gays, the feminists, the environmentalists and everyone else suspected of driving the Democratic party to the left of the American mainstream and out of contention in national elections. In this view, there were ordinary Democrats on the one hand and these assorted freaks on the other who came out every four years and out-organized the ordinary Dems to nominate rotten presidential candidates who got slaughtered in national elections.The more palatable argument was that the superdelegates balanced out the idealism of party activists with the more pragmatic experience of party regulars and elected officials who had experience winning actual elections. But however you argue it, the supers were put there precisely to second-guess the results of the primary and caucus process.
In 2008, the supers are part of the process and they can do whatever they want. But come 2012, I hope I don’t have to write about them again. They’re an idea whose time has long since passed.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Democrats, History, Super Delegates!!!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:10 am
the current situation is precisely why there are superdelegates. senior party members get more votes to decide which candidate is best for the party. does no one remember 1972? if you’re going to throw out superdelegates, shouldn’t the party also reconsider caucuses, which are a pretty artificial environment themselves.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:15 am
They’re an idea whose time has long since passed.
Really? Seems to me that these “party activists” represent Democratic special interests. I think the supes are probably more relevant and needed today than in the 70′s because the special interests are stronger, more organized and better funded. And yes, they absolutely can hijack the parties nomination.
Get rid of the supes at your own peril Dems.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Call me old fashioned, but I think the Democrats should keep the superdelegates. It can provide a check against nominating someone that might be loved by the interest groups within the party, but has no pull in the “real world.” I think getting rid of the supers would mean 1972 all over again.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:15 am
It makes me think of that old axiom of democracy: “One man, fifteen-thousand-eight-hundred and twenty-two votes.” At least, I think thats how it goes.