I'm confused how did hillary get 169 delegates and leads the pack?

[ORDagnabbit]

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/

Democrats »
Jan. 03 Del Total DelClinton
Clinton 15 169
Obama 16 66
Edwards 14 47

[RL3AO]

1. Superdelegates.

[salin]

3. yep - important local officials who are free to commit early.

[NYCGirl]

2. Superdelegates, but they're not permanent. They can change. NT

[VenusRising]

4. Obama and Edwards had their names removed from the Michigan

primary ballots. Hillary did not, so she gets all of the delegates for Michigan.

Or that's how I've had it explained to me.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Super Delegates that don't require votes. "Some animals are more equal than others." - Orwell

[madfloridian]

6. Guess who had the most superdelegates going into Iowa in 04?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/17/politics/main593845.shtml

"Heading into the Iowa caucuses on Monday, January 19, Howard Dean leads in the CBS News count of Democratic superdelegates -- the members of Congress and party officials who are automatic delegates to the national convention, and are not pledged to one candidate by virtue of a caucus or primary.

There are 801 superdelegates, about one-sixth of the 4,321 total delegates who will participate in this year's nominating convention in Boston in July.

CBS News and The New York Times conducted a telephone survey of superdelegates from Jan. 7 to Jan. 16.

Dean leads the pack with 137 superdelegate votes pledged to or leaning his way. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri follows with 74 super D's, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has 64.
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark commands the support of 40 superdelegate votes, Sen. John Edwards of Northj Carolina takes 28, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut rounds out the front-runners with 27."

[tekisui]

7. Only the left hand column really matters.

The 16 to 15(although I saw Hill had 14) to 14 are those that have been pledged.

The Superdelegate numbers are the elected officials who get to contribute individual delegates along with their state's people.

These aren't official, yet. These are endorsements.

[Emit]

8. 842 "super-delegates" 40% See this explanation from The Nation

Barack Obama's stirring victory in Iowa was also a good night for our democracy. The turnout broke records and young people – who were mobilized and organized – participated in unprecedented numbers. And now that Iowans have spoken – the first citizens in the nation to do so – here's the Democratic delegate count for the top three candidates (2,025 delegates are needed to secure the nomination):

Clinton – 169

Obama – 66

Edwards – 47

"Huh?" you say. "vanden Heuvel, you made a MAJOR typo."

In fact, those numbers are correct: the third-place finishing Sen. Hillary Clinton now has over twice as many delegates as Sen. Obama, and more than three times as many delegates as the second-place candidate, Sen. John Edwards. Why? Because the Democratic Party uses an antiquated and anti-democratic nominating system that includes 842 "super-delegates" – un-pledged party leaders not chosen by the voters, free to support the candidate of their choice, and who comprise more than forty percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination. Many have already announced the candidate they will support.

In a clear attempt to protect the party establishment, this undemocratic infrastructure was created following George McGovern's landslide defeat in 1972. It was designed to prevent a nominee who was "out of sync with the rest of the party," Northeastern University political scientist William Mayer told MSNBC. Democratic National Committee member Elaine Kamarck called it a "sort of safety valve."

In 1988, Reverend Jesse Jackson challenged the notion that these appointed delegates be permitted to vote for the candidate of their choosing rather than the winner of the state's caucus or primary. He was right to do so. Twenty years later, when the word "change" is being bandied about, isn't it time for the Democratic Party to give real meaning to the word? Strengthen our democracy by reforming the super-delegate system so that the people, not the party establishment, choose their candidate.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=266130