Superdelegates

[ThisIsMyCountry]

Just read this really interesting post and wanted to share it with people. Its from: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/02/07/the_democratic_math.html

The Democratic Math
The Washington Post's Paul Kane: "We've done a bad job of explaining this, but it is now basically mathematically impossible for either Clinton or Obama to win the nomination through the regular voting process (meaning the super-delegates decide this one, baby!).

"Here's the math. There are 3,253 pledged delegates, those doled out based on actual voting in primaries and caucuses. And you need 2,025 to win the nomination. To date, about 55% of those 3,253 delegates have been pledged in the voting process -- with Clinton and Obamb roughly splitting them at about 900 delegates a piece. That means there are now only about 1,400 delegates left up for grabs in the remaining states and territories voting.

"So, do the math. If they both have about 900 pledged delegates so far, they need to win more than 1,100 of the remaining 1,400 delegates to win the nomination through actual voting.

"Ain't gonna happen, barring a stunning scandal or some new crazy revelation. So, they'll keep fighting this thing out, each accumulating their chunk of delegates, one of them holding a slight edge and bothing finishing the voting process with 1,600 or so delegates. And then the super delegates decide this thing. That's the math."

So, I'm new to this whole process, but who are Wisconsin's superdelegates and how do we contact them? I'm sure a quick Google search would answer this, but I just wanted to get your feedback. Plus I thought the article was interesting. Not something I really like to hear though that we don't get a final say.

[mcctatas]

1. I found an interesting site...

according to this DNCer Tim Sullivan and Rep. Tammy Baldwin have pledged support to Hillary while Rep. Gwen Moore and Gov. Doyle support Obama...

more at: http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

Those who have not endorsed, Rep.'s Kagen, Kind and Obey, Sen. Feingold and Kohl and DNC members Lena Taylor, San Gruszynski, Jason Rae, Paul Zellner and Joe Weinke

[dragonlady]

2. Here's some information

Here is a section on what are commonly called superdelegates, taken from the national convention website:

Party Leaders and Elected Official (PLEO) delegates - DNC Members, Democratic House and Senate members, Democratic governors, and former Democratic Party leaders are automatically confirmed to the state parties. In addition, these positions are considered according to the following priority: big city mayors and state-wide elected officials, state legislative leaders, state legislators, and other state, county and local elected officials and party leaders. These delegates can be chosen by a state convention, the State Party Committee, or by a committee consisting of a quorum of district-level delegates. There are both pledged and unpledged PLEO delegates.

http://demconvention.com/how-to-become-a-delegate/

For Wisconsin, the unpledged ones would include the DNC members, our five congresspersons and two senators, and Gov. Doyle.

Wisconsin also gets ten pledged delegates who are party leaders and elected officials. They will be selected in proportion to the votes their candidate received in the primary. The selection is made by the party's Administrative Committee (state party officers, reps from each CD and some others) and will take place at the state convention in Stevens Point on Friday afternoon prior to the start of the convention. From the party delegate selection plan:

Individuals shall be eligible for the pledged Party Leader and Elected Official
delegate positions according to the following priority: big city mayors
(Milwaukee and Madison) and state-wide elected officials (to be given equal
consideration); state legislative leaders, state legislators, and other state,
county and local elected officials and party leaders.

There are obviously many more people who could qualify than the ten spots to be filled, so it would be really interesting to see how the selection process plays out.

[dragonlady]

3. A complete list of the superdelegates, from the Shepherd Express

In case you aren't familiar with all of these people, here is a complete list:

Gov. Jim Doyle (endorsed Obama)
Sen. Russ Feingold
Sen. Herb Kohl
Rep. Gwen Moore (Obama)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (Clinton)
Rep. David Obey (Obama, had endorsed Edwards)
Rep. Steve Kagen
Rep. Ron Kind
Joe Wineke, state party chair, automatic DNC member (had endorsed Edwards)
Lena Taylor, vice chair, automatic DNC member
Tim Sullivan, DNC (Clinton)
Stan Gruszynski, DNC
Jason Rae, DNC
Melissa Schroeder, DNC
Paula Zellner, DNC
Awais Khaleel, VP of College Dems of America (student at UW-Madison)

The article also points out that the mayor of Milwaukee (currently Tom Barrett) is usually bumped to the top of the list of pledged Democratic delegates.

[dragonlady]

4. A story from the Journal-Sentinel about our superdelegates

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=716581

TIMC, you may be interested to learn some of what's happening with the superdelegates, like the phone calls Jason Rae is receiving from Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Madeline Albright. Both campaigns are intensively courting all the uncommitteds. I'll bet Joe Wineke is getting his share, after his candidate John Edwards suspended.