NC Senator Opposes DNC's Decision To Eliminate Superdelegates

NC Senator Dan Blue Opposed Ending Superdelegates


NC State Sen. Dan Blue offered a dissenting vote on a commission studying how the Democratic Party nominates its presidential candidate.

The Fix's Chris Cillizza reports that the Democratic Change Commission has recommended the party eliminate its Superdelegates, who can vote for any candidate regardless of how a primary election turned out. The superdelgates were mostly irrelevant until last year's hotly contested primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Clinton urged superdelegates to choose her and the fight dragged on well into the primary season. North Carolina had a rare important presidential primary last year.

North Carolina state Sen. Dan Blue, a member of the Commission, offered a dissenting voice on a call announcing the proposed changes:

"There is no escape when something unforeseen occurs," said Blue of the potential consequences of eliminating unpledged delegates.







Democratic Commission Recommends Elimination Of Superdelegates


Eighteen months removed from a protracted presidential primary fight, a Democratic group convened to examine the nominating process has recommended that so-called superdelegates be eliminated.

The Democratic Change Commission, which was formed last August by President Barack Obama, plans to recommend that superdelegates -- also known as unpledged delegates -- will be required to vote in accordance with the electoral performance of the state from which they represent.

"We need to show deference to what the party members in our state have done," said Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the co-chairs of the commission.

The elimination of free-agent superdelegates comes in response to the outcry from many within the party during the 2008 primary fight when then Sen. Hillary Clinton made the argument to unpledged delegates that it was their responsibility to not vote as their state had voted but rather cast their votes for the candidate they thought would be the best person to represent the party.

Obama allies insisted this was an attempt to suborn the will of the people. Clinton loyalists shot back that the creation of superdelegates was for just such a purpose -- a close race in which the will of the people is very closely divided.

The creation of superdelegates -- members of the Democratic National Committee, House Members and Senators and former party leaders -- in the early 1980s was designed to give the establishment of the Democratic party more say in the identity of the nominee. Since their creation, superdelegates had never been a serious factor in a presidential race until the 2008 contest.

The Commission included several Obama loyalists including Jeff Berman, who spearheaded the delegate operation for the campaign, and David Plouffe who managed the then Illinois Senator's candidacy.

North Carolina state Sen. Dan Blue, a member of the Commission, offered a dissenting voice on a call announcing the proposed changes. "There is no escape when something unforeseen occurs," said Blue of the potential consequences of eliminating unpledged delegates.

The Change Commission recommendations will now go before the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee.





(Politico) Dems Move To Sack Superdelegates


Democrats are moving to eliminate from the party's national convention the Superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders whose role in the presidential nominating process came under intense scrutiny in last year’s closely-contested primary.

Those Superdelegates provided, for a time, a lifeline to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton's flagging campaign, and the effective end of their independent role would be a major step toward reshaping the Democratic Party — and its internal politics — in President Barack Obama's image.

A group created by the Democratic National Committee to examine the role of the superdelegates, the Democratic Change Commission — steered by the Obama campaign's top delegate counter, Jeff Berman — held a conference call Wednesday to recommend that these unpledged delegates cast their votes based upon the electoral results of their states rather than on personal preference.

The recommendations of the commission, co-chaired by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, will now go before the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.

While the elimination of Superdelegates isn’t likely to have any impact in 2012, when the party is all but certain to renominate President Obama, commission members say it will help democratize future presidential primaries.

"I think the goal here was to get away from what felt like almost a disenfranchisement at some point in time to the voters and to the caucus members in the various states,” McCaskill said.

The move follows an epic 2008 Democratic primary process in which all 50 states and the territories cast votes in a race that was effectively deadlocked between Obama and Clinton. For a time, there was grave worry among some in the party that the superdelegates, who were not bound by their states’ votes, could decide the nomination in favor of a candidate who received fewer elected delegates from primary voters and caucus-goers.



View Larger Map


Sources: Washington Post, The Fix, Democratic Change Commission, Politico, McClatchy Newspapers, Under The Dome, NC General Assembly, Youtube, Google Maps