So what's the deal with Superdelegates?

Many people aren’t really aware of what superdelegates are exactly. Sure, we hear of them in passing in the media, but I have yet to hear on news station, radio or television, say what they are.

Wikipedia defines them as such: “Superdelegate" is an informal term for some of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, the quadrennial convention of the United States Democratic Party.

They have the same role as delegates – they can vote in the primaries, and enable them to get the nomination. BUT, they do not have to be elected not do they vote based on our votes. They vote how they feel like it, and they make up 1/5 of the delegate vote. Which may not be much, but if there is a close race as we have now between Obama and Hillary, they can turn the race.

Right now, Obama leads in number of delegates, but if the superdelegates put in their vote, then Hillary is ahead.

And guess just who two of these superdelegates are? Our two friends Bill and Hillary, who, mind you, already voted in this election once. They get to vote yet another time as superdelegates, which essentially gives them 2 votes – a normal one that you and I have, and a super vote.

Also taken from Wikipedia, these are the democratic members who are allegeable to cast a super-vote: “all former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders, as applicable and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee.”

All of these people get TWO votes. Last time I checked, isn’t that unconstitutional? They just join the ranks of the illegals and people that live in two states who vote.

And before you ask, yes, Republicans have these type of delegates too. But they are called “unpledged delegates” and are not as much of an issue, as there is not a tie to break on the republican side. I do believe, however, that it is wrong for either party to have such a thing and people need to be more concerned about them to want to get rid of them completely. On CNN's website, had this to say: "Although the national Republican Party does not have these superdelegates, 123 members of the Republican National Committee are free to vote for any candidate at the GOP convention this summer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of those, 26 have already expressed support for McCain and three for Huckabee."

But I guess gas prices, free healthcare, and whining about tax cut checks are much more important.

For more on Superdelegates, check out these websites:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/11/delegates.explainer/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdelegates
http://superdelegates.org/Main_Page