Black caucus chairman opposes DNC plan to weaken superdelegate influence

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



By DAVID SIDERS 08/14/2018 07:31 AM EDT

Intensifying a dispute over superdelegates ahead of a Democratic National Committee meeting next week, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond on Monday urged committee members to oppose a plan to weaken superdelegates’ influence in the presidential nominating process.

In a letter to DNC Chairman Tom Perez, Richmond (D-La.) said the proposal would “disenfranchise elected officials” who serve as superdelegates.

“There should be enough room in the process to include the perspective of local party activists and officials, and Members of Congress,” Richmond wrote. “One group should not be harmed at the expense of the other.”

He added, “to add insult to injury, it appears that this is a solution in search of a problem. Unelected delegates have never gone against the will of primary voters in picking Democratic presidential nominees.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/14/dnc-super-delegates-cedric-richmond-776345

[NewJeffCT]

1. Interesting

The current system came into being following the Dukakis loss in 1988, so we had four presidential victories and two additional popular vote wins in that time frame. The only clear loss was 2004, and even that was a close one.

[dembotoz]

2. you just run into problems when the supers vote the complete opposite of how the primary went

like in my state

why even bother with the vote.....

[NewJeffCT]

4. What state was that?

where superdelegates went against the state results?

[dembotoz]

10. Wisconsin

[GulfCoast66]

9. Sure you don't mean caucuses?

Because Superdelegates have never changed the outcome of the primary vote. Caucuses sure have.

[dembotoz]

11. Nope, vote went one way, supers the other

[Igel]

16. They didn't change the outcome.

86 delegates in WI from the primary.

Sanders got 48, Clinton 38. The vote broke 57% - 43% was the vote (rounded to the nearest integer).

There were 10 superdelegates. Clinton got 6, Sanders got 4.

For a total of Sanders, 52; Clinton 44.

The objection is 2 out of 96 delegates.

I suspect if the totals were reversed all the way through, superdelegates would be a fine thing.

[vi5]

3. It just seems like a pointless system....

...I've yet to see a convincing explanation as to why it is needed. If to his point that they've never gone against the will of the primary voters then what is their purpose? If we want people to believe that every vote counts equally and that everyone has an equal chance then this is as good a place as any to start.

And using the term "disenfranchise" with regard to removing the superdelegates heightened authority is disingenuous. Nobody is proposing taking away their right to vote, just their right to have their vote mean more and have more influence within the party.

[leftofcool]

5. Get rid of the supers and you'll piss off the very people who put you over the top to win.

[George II]

6. I don't think there are going to be any major changes, if any, to the super delegates

The four people who will be at the meeting at the end of the month to address this are all against any changes.

Unfortunately many of those most adamantly calling for changes or elimination aren't members of the Party anyway.

[Gothmog]

7. I stand with CBC

Link to tweet

[OnlinePoker]

8. Can't call yourself a "Democratic" party if some people have more electoral power than others

It's basically saying to the rank and file you can vote but we're more important than you so we should have a bigger influence on the outcome. It's not a fair system.

[pnwmom]

12. Then no one who opposes supers should support caucuses, which give some people

more electoral power than others.

In my state 3 times as many people participated in the primary, yet all the delegate slots were assigned in the elitist caucuses that most people can't attend.

[OnlinePoker]

13. Exactly. It should be one person, one vote. n/t

[Ace Rothstein]

14. Does anyone here actually defend the caucus system?

I see the caucus system brought up all the time in the threads about superdelegates but never actually see anyone defending it. The caucus system is broken, I think everyone here agrees with that.

[KPN]

15. Bingo! The obvious seems to elude some.