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View Full Version : Super delegates what is the point?


vrodsweeper
02-12-2008, 01:01 AM
Have the candidates ask for and get buckets full of money spend it to make J.Q. Public think they are doing something important have the delegates and super delegates decide who will run and again have the Electoral College tell us who will be President.

A vote is placed hoping to get who you want to be available to run and you find that it is out of your hands the whole time and how do the delegates and Super delegates get in position to vote. What is a Super Delegate anyway, it makes it sound like all votes are not created equal. What the hay? Then a second time these same people decide in the summer who will run. Why even have one person one vote at all. It looks like when the Presidential Election is taking place in November I believe, that it is the Electoral College that is making the choice. Why humor the public and spend all this money that could go toward mismanaging the federal debt, destroying foreign countries, getting are men and women killed in war; then spending U.S. tax dollars again to rebuild what we just shot and bombed the h$ll out of IT MAKES THE VOTING SYSTEM LOOK TOTALLY BROKEN TO ME!!!


These next two paragraphs are what was originally in a post that was moved because of the Political bent of this and it was not allowed in the forum I posted it.

Now this makes it seem to me the votes we cast even less important. Part way Thur this article it states " "super delegates," a group of almost 800 Democratic party officials and leaders who also will cast votes at the nominating convention this summer." A nominating convention this summer why have all this other voting go on if it becomes a popularity contest that has nothing to do with the process held up to the nominating convention this summer.

This makes the process more like why do we vote before the Dems have made a choice who is running, as it seems the Electoral College will decide regardless, and in here it states even in the Electoral College not all votes are equal. Back to super delegates.




http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/...rss_topstories

(CNN) -- A string of recent victories and endorsements from key party insiders have Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton running neck-and-neck in the increasingly important battle for delegates.


Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are running a tight race for Democratic delegates.

1 of 3 Clinton holds a narrow 27-delegate lead over Obama, 1,148 to 1,121, down from her lead of more than 100 delegates a month ago, according to CNN's estimate.

A candidate must secure the support of 2,025 delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.

In the Republican race, Arizona Sen. John McCain maintains a comfortable lead in delegates over his main rival Mike Huckabee, despite the former Arkansas governor's wins Saturday in Kansas and Louisiana and a strong showing in Washington state.

Obama's surge in delegates is due primarily to his electoral victories on Super Tuesday and in contests held over the weekend, including Sunday's Democratic caucuses in Maine, which he won by a comfortable margin.

The first-term Illinois senator won at least 923 delegates from those contests, compared with at least 876 delegates for Clinton, according to CNN's analysis of voting results. Another 67 delegates from those races still remain unallocated in areas with particularly tight vote results or local delays in vote-counting. But 60 of those slots are in states Obama won, which may give him the edge as these remaining delegates are allocated.

Overall, Obama has won 986 delegates from contests this year, compared to 924 for Clinton.

CNN's delegate estimate includes both delegates won in primaries and caucuses as well as preferences of so-called "super delegates," a group of almost 800 Democratic party officials and leaders who also will cast votes at the nominating convention this summer. Watch super delegates weigh in on their role in the race »

Because super delegates are not required to make their presidential preferences public and are free to change their minds, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of super delegate supporters either candidate has at any given time.


CNN estimates, however, that Clinton has the support of at least 224 superdelegates compared with at least 135 superdelegates for Obama, according to an ongoing survey. The remaining 400 or so superdelegates either remain neutral, undecided or have not publicly revealed their preferences.

Though Clinton appears to hold a sizable lead among these Democratic officials, Obama has scored a series of high-profile superdelegate endorsements in recent weeks, including nods from Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Democratic superdelegate Sam Spencer said he's not entirely comfortable with the decisive role superdelegates could play in this election.

"I think the best people to decide who our nominee should be ... should be actual voters in primaries and caucuses," Spencer said on CNN's "American Morning." "I think superdelegates are somewhat outdated, and it's not the most democratic way of doing things."

Nancy Larson, another Democratic superdelegate, said she hopes a decision gets made "before we have to step in."

"They never anticipated that we would have two superstars locked in a dead heat, so I think there is no playbook for this," she said.

On the Republican side, McCain leads the shrinking GOP field with 723 delegates to 217 for Huckabee and 16 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney suspended his campaign after Super Tuesday, but still retains the 286 delegates he won in primaries and caucuses.


Though the national Republican Party does not have superdelegates, 123 members of the Republican National Committee are free to vote for any candidate at the GOP convention this summer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of those, 26 support McCain and three support Huckabee.

A total of 1,191 delegates are needed to win the GOP presidential nomination. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Adam Levy and Megan Zingarelli contributed to this report.
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When the bug hits the wind screen or your teeth the last thing to go thru its brain is its A$$ hol3

September
02-18-2008, 04:49 PM
How did the terms "Elector" and "Electoral College" come into usage?
The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution. Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment refer to "electors," but not to the "electoral college." In the Federalist Papers (No. 68), Alexander Hamilton refers to the process of selecting the Executive, and refers to "the people of each State (who) shall choose a number of persons as electors," but he does not use the term "electoral college."

The founders appropriated the concept of electors from the Holy Roman Empire (962 - 1806). An elector was one of a number of princes of the various German states within the Holy Roman Empire who had a right to participate in the election of the German king (who generally was crowned as emperor). The term "college" (from the Latin collegium), refers to a body of persons that act as a unit, as in the college of cardinals who advise the Pope and vote in papal elections. In the early 1800's, the term "electoral college" came into general usage as the unofficial designation for the group of citizens selected to cast votes for President and Vice President. It was first written into Federal law in 1845, and today the term appears in 3 U.S.C. section 4, in the section heading and in the text as "college of electors."



Materials produced by Federal agencies generally are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission.
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#history

September
02-18-2008, 04:50 PM
The process for selecting electors varies throughout the United States. Generally, the political parties nominate electors at their State party conventions or by a vote of the party's central committee in each State. Electors are often selected to recognize their service and dedication to their political party. They may be State elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate. Then the voters in each State choose the electors on the day of the general election. The electors' names may or may not appear on the ballot below the name of the candidates running for President, depending on the procedure in each State.

Materials produced by Federal agencies generally are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission.
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#history

September
02-18-2008, 04:54 PM
Meetings of Electors and Transmission of Certificates of Vote to NARA
The electors meet in their State to select the President and Vice President of the United States. No Constitutional provision or Federal law requires electors to vote in accordance with the popular vote in their States. NARA's web site lists the States that have laws to bind electors to candidates. The electors record their votes on six "Certificates of Vote," which are paired with the six remaining Certificates of Ascertainment. The electors sign, seal and certify packages of electoral votes and immediately send one set of votes to the President of the Senate and two sets to the Archivist. The Federal Register preserves one archival set and holds the reserve set subject to the call of the President of the Senate to replace missing or incomplete electoral votes.


Materials produced by Federal agencies generally are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission.
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2004/dates.html

September
02-18-2008, 05:08 PM
The Democratic Party established this system in part in response to the nomination of George McGovern in 1972. McGovern took only one state and had only 37.5 percent of the popular vote. Then in 1976, Jimmy Carter was a dark-horse candidate with little national experience. Super-delegates were implemented in 1984.

Super-delegates are designed to act as a check on ideologically extreme or inexperienced candidates. It also gives power to people who have a vested interested in party policies: elected leaders. Because the primary and caucus voters do not have to be active members of the party (in New Hampshire they can sign up and sign out going-and-coming at the polls), the super-delegate system has been called a safety-value.
Importance of Super-Delegates

The Democratic Party allocates delegates based on a state's Presidential vote in the prior three elections and the number of electors. In addition, states that hold their primaries or caucuses later in the cycle receive bonus delegates.

It has been 30 years since the Democratic Party had a cliffhanger going into the Convention. If there is no clear winner after state primaries and caucuses, then the super-delegates -- who are bound only by their consciences -- will decide the nominee.

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/2008elections/tp/super_delegates.htm