All This Talk About Democratic Superdelegates
 Sunday, February 17th, 2008

If you voted for either of the Democratic candidates in your state's caucus - Senator Hillary Clinton or Senator Barack Obama - you have obviously have a say in how they place in each state.  But there is a measure above and beyond state-to-state delegates' votes:  you may have heard this word, "Superdelegates."  No, they don't have capes and they can't fly, but they do have more pull than ordinary delegates do.  So who are they?

Superdelegates are "super" due to their current or former status as elected officeholders and party officials, and can support whichever candidate they want to.  Although the Republican Party also has some seated party officials with delegate status, "superdelegate" is most commonly applied to the Democratic Party.

And in the 2008 election, the superdelegates are one-fifth of the total number of delegates.  They include all Democratic members of Congress, Democratic governors, and "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...and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee."

They can change their mind about which candidate they chose at any time.  The L.A. Times has an article that further describes the importance of these nearly 800 Democratic office-holders "who may end up holding the [Democratic] nomination in their hands."

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