This Just In

A one-stop guide to RI’s delegates and superdelegates

Democracy?

By MATT JERZYK | February 27, 2008

If you thought Al Gore got screwed in 2000, or if you think the Electoral College is just another Ivy League school not worth applying to, get a load of how the Democratic Party selects its presidential nominee — and how Rhode Island fits into this process.

Here’s how the system works: 4050 delegates at the Democratic Convention in Denver will select a nominee for president. Of these, 3250 are elected delegates who are chosen through the state-by-state primaries or caucuses. In addition, 800 superdelegates have a vote at the convention.

Superdelegates are quintessential Democratic insiders: governors, senators, representatives, and party officials. Thus, after 37 contests, while Obama currently holds a 1180–1026 elected delegate lead over Clinton, according to The Associated Press, Clinton retains a 239-176 superdelegate lead over Obama.

The power of superdelegates to “anoint” a nominee has raised the ire of party activists. The advocacy group MoveOn.org recently published a full-page ad in USA Today, urging the superdelegates to postpone their endorsements and to allow the elected delegates to determine the winner. More dramatically, Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s former campaign manager, has threatened to resign from the Democratic National Committee if the superdelegates contradict the choice of the elected delegates.

How does this process play out in Rhode Island? A 50-page delegate selection plan available at the RI Democratic Party Web site provides a road-map.

Rhode Island will send 33 delegates to the Democratic Convention: 21 elected delegates, 11 superdelegates, and one delegate chosen at the June state convention. Rhode Island voters will select 13 of the 21 elected delegates in Tuesday’s presidential primary. Six will be elected from Congressional District 1 and seven from Congressional District 2.

These delegates will be proportionately allocated, depending on the popular vote in each district, to Obama or Clinton. For example, if a candidate gets 60 percent of the vote in District 1, that candidate gets four of the six delegates (meaning, the top four vote-getting delegates for that candidate in that district).

Similarly, the remaining eight elected delegates must be proportionately allocated to Clinton or Obama, depending on their performance in each Congressional District. These remaining slots are open to RI Democratic Party members who apply and who are accepted by the party leadership, although preference is given to women and people of color.

Of the 11 superdelegates, Clinton currently has eight, and Obama two, and there remains one uncommitted vote.

Here is a list of the superdelegates, their titles, and who they currently support: Bill Lynch, RI Democratic Party Chair (Clinton); State Representative Grace Diaz, RI Democratic Party Vice-Chair (Clinton); Frank Montanaro, RI Democratic National Committeeman (Clinton); Edna O’Neill Mattson, RI Democratic National Committeewoman (Clinton); Mark Weiner, DNC Member, (Clinton); US Senator Jack Reed (Uncommitted); US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Clinton); US Representative Patrick Kennedy (Obama); US Representative Jim Langevin (Clinton); Attorney General Patrick Lynch, Democratic AG Association (Obama); Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Democratic Mayors Association (Clinton).

Thus, due to Clinton’s strong support among Rhode Island superdelegates, even if Obama wins an upset victory in Rhode Island on Tuesday, a greater number of Rhode Island delegates will be committed to Clinton.

The prospect of such a result and the ongoing controversy surrounding the role of superdelegates have led many party activists to question why the “Democratic” Party has such convoluted and possibly “undemocratic” procedures for selecting its presidential nominee.

Those activists would be wise to follow their own implied advice about the best way to change democracy and its institutions: get involved!

Related: A step forward, Raising Hill, 11. Bobby Jindal, More

A step forward
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Raising Hill
Hillary Clinton took only two questions from the audience at the end of her 35-minute speech at the American Association of Retired Persons conference.
11. Bobby Jindal
In delivering the Republican response to Barack Obama’s first joint-houses speech as president in February, the governor of Louisiana and erstwhile 2012 presidential hopeful was deemed a resounding flop — by members of his own party. His lack of charisma and gee-whiz oratory (as well as his dorkiness) quickly drew unfavorable comparisons to Kenneth the Page from NBC’s 30 Rock , whose political career now seems to have a higher trajectory than Jindal’s. Bonus hurricane-chutzpah points for bringing up Katrina in his speech criticizing government-funded economic-relief programs, for which his state took in billions of federal dough.
Has Obama peaked? No, he hasn't
Barack Obama's popularity should not be judged by the day-to-day, media-driven vagaries of politics — nor by the wishful thinking of his opponents.
Who’s with whom
For Democratic presidential candidates, Boston is the ATM kiosk on the way to New Hampshire.
The enthusiasm gap
The selection of gun-shooting, anti-abortion, creationist, doctrinaire conservative Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee has finally got the GOP’s conservative base excited.
The Granite State’s last hurrah
In a few days, New Hampshire voters will take their quadrennial place at the center of American politics, and this time, the stakes will be even higher than usual.
Star crossed
Rush Limbaugh, pink cheeked and increasingly porcine, has emerged as the de-facto head of the Republican Party.
Lou Dobbs in 2012?
On November 4, the United States will elect a new president. And, on November 5, in this era of the permanent campaign, the Road to the White House 2012 will begin in earnest.
Sarah Palin, Inc.
Confused commenters have no clue as to the opportunities that await Palin — because few understand the extraordinary, multi-billion-dollar marketplace that has developed for movement conservatives.
Can Obama lasso the Bay State?
Nobody around here forgets that Deval Patrick swiped the gubernatorial nomination from the establishment-backed Tom Reilly.
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Topics: This Just In , Barack Obama, U.S. Government, RI Democratic Party, More

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[ 05/27 ] "A Natural Order," photographs by Lucas Foglia @ David Winton Bell Gallery

[ 05/27 ] George Orwell's 1984, adapted by Nick Lane @ Gamm Theatre

[ 05/27 ] "2012 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition" @ Rhode Island Convention Center

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