Quote:
Originally Posted by Duppin  I have to say, I still don't really get the whole superdelegate thing. |
Cliff notes:
There are a total of 4,049 delegates available in the Democratic primary. You need half + 1 (2,025) to win.
60% of that 4,049 come from state primaries and caucuses. That is what the delegates are winning now.
40% of the delegates (796 total) are individuals. Party leaders, party insiders, many are elected members (senators and house reps etc), and they each get a vote at the Convention.
The idea is that these "party loyalists" are there as a backstop against anything stupid that might have happened when Joe Public had their vote. These party loyalists are supposed to be a kind of "insurance" for the good of the party.
I don't much care for the system, I don't agree that 1 of their votes should count as much as 10,000 (or god knows how many this year) of the publics votes.
But they do.
One candidate or the other HAS to get 2,025 total delegates. Once a candidate does, their General Election and all the legal doors that opens can officially begin.
To get 2,025 delegates JUST from the state delegates, you really have to have a front runner running the table from the very start (as Clinton expected to do once upon a time.) When two candidates are splitting the vote however and 40% of the delegate total don't even vote until August.....well, then you have a problem.
One two things has to happen. Either one candidate steps out of the way leaving the remaining candidate standing as the de facto winner. Or you go to the Convention and fight shit out one delegate at a time until one or the other gets to the 2,025 mark.
Technically, popular vote never enters the equation. Ever. The only place the popular vote matters at all is in the minds of the super delegates.
Don't you love our democracy sometime?