Superdelegate Questions

Since every single news outlet in the country is harping on it, we figure we can devote even more time to the question of superdelegates, because, as you might have heard, SUPERDELEGATES MIGHT DECIDE THE OUTCOME!!—of the Democratic primary at least. We’ve been getting a lot of questions/pitches about what are superdelegates, because apparently people read the SUPERDELEGATES MIGHT DECIDE THE OUTCOME!! headline and then don’t actually read the article where it explains.

If you are a Democratic member of the House or Senate, you are a superdelegate. If you are a Democratic governor, you are a superdelegate. If you are Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, or Bill Clinton (i.e. former Democratic Presidents and Vice Presidents), you are a superdelegate. Finally, if you are a high-ranking party official (how you get to be that, we’re not sure), you are also a superdelegate. Once you are a superdelegate, you get to go to the convention, where, remember THE SUPERDELEGATES MIGHT DECIDE THE OUTCOME!!, and vote for the candidate of your choice. In fact, you’ve probably already endorsed them.

This site can help make it even more clear. Click for a list of the already decided superdelgates, for a list of the undecided superdelegates, and for a breakdown of superdelegates who are voting differently from the primary voters of their home state.

On the Republican side, the superdelegates work somewhat differently, and since it is not true for Republicans that THE SUPERDELEGATES MIGHT DECIDE THE OUTCOME!!, we’re not going to get into it, except to say that it’s probably a lot more simple than the Democrats, much like their winner-take-all primaries are much more simple than the Democrats’ winner-take-the-same-amount-as-the-loser primaries, which have resulted not in a more fair election, but in a race where THE SUPERDELEGATES MIGHT DECIDE THE OUTCOME!!