Unpledged Delegate History
Because of the intense interest in unpledged delegates, I asked Phil McNamara of the DNC to give us a little history. His comments follow:
“Super delegates — or as they are technically known ‘unpledged delegates’ — were first introduced by the Party in 1982 for the 1984 nominating cycle.
These individuals serve as delegates because of some prominent office they hold or have held. While unpledged delegates probably do have a presidential preference, this is not a factor in why they are delegates. Rather, they serve as delegates because the Democratic Party wants the important perspective they bring to the decision-making process at the National Convention.
In recommending the creation of unpledged delegates the Commission on Presidential Nomination (the Hunt Commission) sought a way to more effectively bring elected official and Party leader participation back into the Convention. The Hunt Commission found that elected officials made up just 14% of the total delegates at the 1980 Convention.
Political scientist William Crotty wrote about the super delegates in 1983 and said the following:
‘As presented to the Hunt Commission, then, the gains from increased participation in nomination decision-making by party professionals would be substantial:
These leaders and officials, as experienced politicians, would bring seasoned and sensitive judgment to the selection of a nominee and to the conduct of other party business.
Convention participation would create stronger ties between the party and its officeholders, promoting a unified campaign strategy and teamwork in government.
The inclusion of more elected officials would strengthen the party’s ties to their constituencies and its broad mainstream approval.’
Also DNC member Elaine Kamarck has a pretty good historical background of super delegates on the Harvard Kennedy School website. Link is:
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgnews/Features/opeds/021408_kamarck.htm
March 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
De-rate Super Delegates by 5/8ths: Allow Florida & Michigan Re-vote:
I do agree there is value in super delegates, but if the DNC feels politically motivated to do a re-vote, I have an idea. In the 2004 Democratic primary, the political momentum was for Kerry before Michigan or Florida or Colorado for that matter had a chance to vote. People felt disenfranchised by the system, so Florida and Michigan took a political risk to break the DNC rules and vote early — figuring the media bump from the primary would be worth more than going later. Clinton used the Florida vote count in her totals to say she was winning, and she probably did gain political momentum from winning Florida right before the all-important Super Tuesday. I am very leery of changing the rules after the contest has begun. Obama is currently ahead and the Clinton campaign wants to extend the delegation process by approximately 300 delegates (Michigan 125, Florida 175). Because Obama is the non-establishment candidate, he has a higher bar to cross, but I think it is clearly unfair to extend the nomination process three-quarters of the way through. If the DNC wants to give Michigan and Florida a re-vote, a possible fair solution is to allocate 300 delegates out of the approximately 800 non-pledged super delegates. Each super delegate vote would only count for 5/8 of a vote; it’s a 5/8ths compromise. It keeps the road to the nomination the same length and allows Clinton to possibly gain a few delegates from her strongest supporters, older women.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I’m a teacher here, as is my daughter-in-law. My oldest son works for the Colorado Attorney General and my youngest is still a college student. I’m very happy that Governor Ritter has endorsed Hillary Clinton, and I’m writing to urge you to do the same.
Hillary Clinton is so much more experienced in foreign policy experience and she has an understanding of how to turn around an economy about to go into recession. The news wants to say she wasn’t shot at in Bosnia? The point is, she went to Bosnia to support our troops over ten years ago and she negotiated on behalf of their refugees in a war we prosecuted quickly and well! Hillary has been supporting troops and getting foreign policy experience that long.
Obama’s coalition of elite liberals and African Americans is not nearly as diverse as the working women, working men, and the community supporting Hillary, and Hillary’s strong support for the African American community and college students is longer and more impressive than Obama’s. Hillary has a diverse coalition who can win a General Election–and she represents all of us better.
Quite frankly, I’m really worried about Obama’s judgment as we’ve learned about his 20 years in church with Jeremiah Wright. Obama can’t win a General Election. Against John McCain, he loses EVERY demographic over the age of 30 except African Americans! Now that Obama’s affiliation with Wright has become main stream knowledge, I think it will be impossible for him to win.
Thank you for your time, this election is very important to me.