Less than a month ago there was extensive talk about the possibility the GOP convention would be a brokered between McCain, Romney et al and the Democrats would be ordaining Hillary as their candidate of choice.  With the tables turning and McCain gaining momentum after Super Tuesday he is the presumptive nominee for the Republicans and it is Hillary and Barack Obama who are slugging it out for the nomination.  To secure the Democrat nomination the candidates need to garner 2,025 delegates out of the 4,049 total.  With Clinton and Obama neck and neck in the delegate count the race may very well come down to who can win the most super-delegates.   

A Democrat super-delegate is an individual who is seated based on their status as a current or former elected official and they are not required to pledge their support to any candidate for president.  The rule granting super-delegate status was instituted after the1980 in an effort to give party leaders a greater role in the presidential nomination process.  This number includes all Democrat members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, current members of the DNC, according to the DNC rules: “all former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders, as applicable, and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee.”  .  In 2008 the Democrats will have 796 super-delegates and they will make up 19.6% of the total delegate vote.  The one exception will be Senator Joe Leiberman who has endorsed John McCain for President and will not be allowed to vote in the Democrat convention. 

Here's the rub; with the Democrat delegate count so close, it is possible that the 796 super-delegates will get to decide who the Democrat nominee for president will be, effectively negating the votes of the delegates who were selected via the caucus and primary system. Hillary Clinton with 181.5 super-delegates and Barack Obama with 161.5 super-delegates, means that 391 super-delegates (or about 10% of the Democrat delegate total) are undecided.  Needless to say, both campaigns will be making promises to each and every one of these super-delegates, who may very well decide their fate, in an effort to sway their vote.

To be fair, the Republican Party does have 168 automatic delegates to the national convention.  These individuals are the Republican state party chair, national committeewoman and national committeeman from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, America Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marina Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  As elected representatives from each state and territory they comprise the executive committee of the RNC and oversee the operations of the national committee.  They have been, in accordance with the rules of the RNC, granted automatic seats at the national convention and make up 7% of the delegate total.  To be clear, these delegates are not selected via a caucus or the primary system like the other 2,212 delegates. 

The Republican Party has wisely steered away from making current and former elected officials into super-delegates and possibly kingmakers.  While there are automatic delegates to the GOP national convention, percentage of the vote is much lower than the Democrat super-delegates and while GOP governors, senators and the like might be miffed that they have to run for delegate just like everyone else, it is good to know that they will not be kingmakers like the Democrat super-delegates.