June Kronholz writes in the Wall Street Journal Democrats’ Nightmare: Back to Smoke-Filled Rooms If Primaries Are a Draw, Elite Superdelegates Could Pick Candidate
Here’s a nightmare for the Democrats: The party’s bigwigs, rather than its voters, may end up choosing the presidential nominee.
If neither Illinois Sen. Barack Obama nor New York Sen. Hillary Clinton manages to pull decisively ahead in the next few weeks, the nomination could depend on the convention votes of 796 party leaders, or superdelegates, who are free to ignore the preferences of Democratic voters.
…RealClearPolitics.com calculates that 211 superdelegates have announced plans to support Mrs. Clinton, compared with 128 for Mr. Obama, and political experts expect a steady trickle of additional superdelegates to choose sides in an effort to force the party to settle on a nominee.
Picking a candidate who can win demands pragmatism. If the GOP selected someone more partisan than McCain then the Democrats could back a partisan Democrat like Clinton and count on the unrest of Independents to win the election. However McCain is attractive to independent voters and he could easily sweep those voters if the Democratic Party choice is someone perceived as less moderate. If the Democratic convention is close and the superdelegates choose Senator Clinton they risk losing the independent voters who may provide the margin for victory.
Obama attracts a disproportionately high number of wealthy independents, and even some Republicans, and should be the choice of the superdelegates if the balloting is close. I can already feel the heartbreak if the Democrats choose loyalty over pragmatism and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Born 1950, Married, Living in Austin Texas, Semi
Retired Small Business owner and investor. My political interest
evolved out of his business experience that the best decisions come out of an objective gathering of information and a pragmatic consideration of costs and benefits. I am interested in promoting Centrist candidates and Policies. My posts are mostly about people and policies that I believe are part of the solution rather the problem.