Super delegates rich with power

After slugging it out in 48 states plus the territories (Florida and Michigan don’t count this year) and having over 30 million people cast their ballots, it appears the race for the Democratic presidential nomination will end up in a tie unless something magical happens before convention time this summer.

At last count, Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton by a count of 1,725 to 1,588 in the race to achieve the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination. He also held a narrow lead in the popular vote, which, as most of us know, isn’t necessary even during the actual presidential election (see Bush beats Gore 2000).

With only a handful of states to go, it has become apparent no one will earn enough candidates to meet the magic number, therefore meaning the whole question as to the Democratic nominee will be taken out of the hands of the over 30 million people who voted in primaries since New Hampshire and put it into the mysterious hands of what are known as super delegates.

The super delegates were brought about by the Democratic Party to help restore some say-so as to presidential nominees to the party elite after state primaries became popular really beginning with the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey who had his hat handed to him by Richard Nixon back in 1968.

In other words, super delegates were made to wrestle away some of the choice from the voting public and give more power to the party bigwigs since the party leaders feared the rank and file of the party were not making good choices in selecting the party’s nominees. Well, this year, they got what they wanted. The super delegates will decide between Obama and Clinton.

And make no mistake about their power. When you consider there are 795 super delegates, that means each delegate’s vote equals around 10,000 regular votes of the voting public. That’s kind of weighted in favor of the super delegates I’d say.

So who are the super delegates? Well, they are governors, congressmen and party leaders and party elite, some of whom you know very well.

One super delegate was just in Warren County reading to children at Centertown Elementary. Congressman Lincoln Davis is a super delegate, as is Gov. Phil Bredessen. There are others you may know including Rep. Jim Cooper and Rep. Steve Cohen and Rep. John Tanner. The inventor of the Internet, former Vice President Al Gore is one of Tennessee’s super delegates.

While these are well-known names, we also have Democratic party leaders and elite who no one but their mothers has ever heard of. Rounding out Tennessee’s super delegates are party members Bill Owen, Elisa Parker, Myron Lowry, Jimmie Evans, Will Cheek, Lois DeBerry, Gray Sasser, Dr. Inez Crutchfield, Vicky Harwell and Jerry Lee. That’s it.

And you thought telemarketers bothered you at supper time. Just think how many calls these folks are getting, especially when you consider the present super delegate count is very close and changing daily with my most recent research showing Clinton with 256 super delegates and Obama with 234. This means there are well over 200 out there still uncommitted and still looking for a prom date.

What does this hodgepodge of political voodoo all mean? It means that Republican nominee John McCain is getting a head start on the track to the White House while the Democrats haven’t even lined up at the gate.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].