The People Vs. The Superdelegates

In what is becoming a close race for the Democratic nomination, it seems that the who receives that nomination might be decided in a very undemocratic way.

Superdelegates, a group of 800 or more elected officials or political party leaders that are not selected as delegates, but are merely given the power to vote for any candidate they choose without having to make a commitment to either. These superdelegates make up approximately one-fifth of the total number of delegates in the Democratic Primaries, and most political advisers believe that it's those votes that will decide whether Obama or Clinton come out on top.

According to CNN, Obama's camp is urging the superdelegates not to vote against the popular vote. And Moveon.org, a liberal activist website has started a petition demanding that the superdelegates let the people decide who receives the democratic nomination by also voting for the candidate who wins the popular vote, but Clinton's camp has stated that they believe the superdelegates should cast their vote for whatever candidate they believe will make the best candidate in the general election.

Although Obama is leading at this point with a total of 1,253 delegates to Clinton's 1,211, according to the polls Clinton has more "pledged" superdelegates.

The superdelegates were created in 1982 to avoid a deadlock in the primaries, but their vote has never been as important as it is in the 2008 primaries. With record voter turnout and a magnitude of new registered voters, a lot of political analysts as well as members of the Democratic Party believe that the political process would be irreversibly damaged if superdelegates votes would somehow tip the scales against the popular vote.

"If a perception develops that somehow this decision has been made not by voters participating in primaries or caucuses, but by politicians in some mythical backroom, I think that the public could react strongly against that," Democratic strategist Tad Devine said.

"The problem is [if] people perceive that voters have not made the decision -- instead, insiders have made the decision -- then all of these new people who are being attracted to the process, particularly the young people who are voting for the first time, will feel disenfranchised or in some way alienated," he said.

Political analyst and advisers aren't the only ones that realize how important the vote of the superdelegate is in this election, the candidates themselves have been scrambling to get as many superdelegate votes as possible. People from both the Clinton and the Obama camp have been calling superdelegates all over the country trying to secure their votes. CNN reported that Clinton herself contacted superdelegates including Jason Rae, a 21-year-old Wisconsin superdelegate. Crystal Strait, a party activist from California, told CNN that she's also received calls from Clinton as well as daughter Chelsea but she has yet to decide who will receive her vote, but you can believe that up until the day that this election is decided, that both the Clinton and Obama camps will be doing all they can to secure that prized vote.

Sources: CNN.com