The Democratic Party's Board of Directors

Politically powerful, working in relative anonymity and pulling the strings that make the Democratic party dance like Pinocchio, pre-flesh, they are the Democratic Party's Board of Directors.

As you may have guessed, the Democrat's board is populated by Governors, Senators and Party Chairman, all have varying degrees of influence within the Democratic party. These influential people, called super delegates, play an imperative role in the Democratic Party’s nominating process. Supers are uncommitted, meaning they are free to pledge their support for any of the Democratic candidates; they are independent of the will of the voters.

But that is not what I would like to discuss here. Instead I would like to ask who the super delegates are? And what impact will they have on the '08 election?

Under the system, if an underdog candidate begins winning primaries and looks like they may win the nomination, but would ultimately fair poorly in the general election, the super delegates can swoop in and rescue the party from its own self-defeating spontaneity-- at least that’s how they envision the system. Currently, Clinton is dominating the super delegates, her 159 vastly out number Barack Obama's 53 and John Edward's 34. There are 217 supers yet to make their allegiances known.

With that in mind, what does Hillary Clinton's hoarding of the supers mean for the Democratic Party? Are there apprehensions about giving the nomination to a black candidate? Are the supers jittery about Obama’s inexperience? Or is it simply an indication that experience and Capital Hill connections still matter?

I would hope it is not an issue of race and I do not. It is theoretically a factor and I wanted to at least present the idea.

As Obama gains momentum some in the party might be uneasy about handing over the reins to a candidate with such limited heavy-lifting experience. It is a time of great international turmoil, if the Democrats regain the presidency after eight years and it turns out that Obama was not ready, it would be a disaster for the party. Clinton’s connections and experience also appear to be paying off, among their Senate colleagues with super delegate status, Clinton leads Obama 11 to 4.

Whatever the reasons, it seems undeniable that the movers-and-shakers in the Democratic Party are thus far behind Clinton. It will be interesting to see if she maintains her overwhelming super support as the remaining 200+ members of America’s Board pick their horses.


A list of the super delegates and who they support