미국 민주당 대선경선 예측불허 - Superdelegates의 선택이?

Superdelegates in 2008

Superdelegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention include all Democratic members of the United States Congress, Democratic governors, various additional elected officials, members of the Democratic National Committee, as well as "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."^[1] There is an exception, however, for otherwise qualified individuals who endorse another party’s candidate for President; they lose their superdelegate status. In 2008, Senator Joe Lieberman was disqualified as a superdelegate because he endorsed Republican John McCain.^[5], although Lieberman's status was questioned because of his status as being elected in the Connecticut for Lieberman party.^[6] However, Connecticut has always had 11 superdelegates assigned to it, even before the state Democratic party's decision to exclude Lieberman.^[7]

The 2008 Democratic National Convention will have approximately 796^[8] superdelegates, although the number can change up to the beginning of the convention (Call to the Convention Section IV(C)(2)). Delegates from state caucuses and primaries will number 3,253, resulting in a total number of delegate votes of 4,049. A candidate needs a majority of that total, or 2,025, to win the nomination.^[8] Superdelegates account for approximately one fifth (19.6%) of all votes at the convention. Delegates chosen in the Democratic caucuses and primaries account for approximately four-fifths (80.4%) of the Democratic convention delegates.^[8][9] Note: All numbers in this section assume that Michigan and Florida delegates are not counted per current Democratic National Committee rules. If those rules are changed before or during the convention, the numbers above will change as appropriate.

In the Republican Party, as in the Democratic Party, members of the party’s national committee automatically become delegates without being pledged to any candidate. In 2008, there are 123 members of the Republican National Committee among the total of 2,380 delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention.^[9] There are three RNC delegates (the national committeeman, national committeewoman, and state party chair) for each state, except for the ones who had primary contests before Super Tuesday. ^[10] Despite this similarity in procedure, the term "superdelegate" is generally used only about Democratic delegates, although there are exceptions.^[11]

[edit] Pledged and unpledged delegates

The Democratic Party rules distinguish between pledged and unpledged delegates, with the selection of the former being based on their announced preferences in the contest for the presidential nomination.^[1] In the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, voters express their preference among the contenders for the party’s nomination for President of the United States. Pledged delegates supporting each candidate are chosen in approximate ratio to their candidate’s share of the vote. In some states, the delegates so chosen are legally required to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged, at least on the first ballot at the convention. By contrast, the superdelegates, selected by virtue of their status as current or former elected officeholders and party officials, without regard to their presidential preferences, are all unpledged delegates. Many of them have chosen to announce endorsements, but they are not bound in any way. They may support any candidate they wish, including one who has dropped out of the presidential race.^[12] There are also "unpledged add-on delegates" selected under Rule 9.B and "pledged party leader and elected official delegates" selected under rule 9.C.^[1]

The process of selecting delegates is described here and here. To sum up, the Democratic Party's delegates fall into seven categories:

• District-level delegates
• At-large delegates
• Unpledged party-leader delegates
• Unpledged elected-official delegates
• Pledged party-leader delegates
• Pledged elected-official delegates
• Unpledged add-on delegates

Both the Democratic and Republican party have a number of state level unpledged delegates that are chosen by each state's party through convention, caucus, or state party leader vote (depending on how that particular state-party body has decided to choose them).^[13] The state level unpledged delegates tend to vote for the candidate who received the most votes from their state (although they are not required to and some state parties give them more leeway than others). Many state Republican party delegations are made up entirely of unpledged delegates which gives them the distinction "winner take all". Even with these traditions, unpledged delegates are allowed to change their vote at any time before the national convention. This is why both the Republican and Democratic parties have the potential for a brokered convention. This is far less likely for the Republican party where the traditions are more strict and there are far fewer unpledged delegates who are given a free hand.

[edit] Criticism

The Democratic Party has been criticized for conducting its nominating process in an undemocratic way,^[4][14][15] because superdelegates are generally chosen without regard to their preferences in the presidential race and are not obligated to support the candidate chosen by the voters. There have been repeated calls to eliminate the superdelegates from the nomination process to more accurately reflect the popular vote, including an online petition.^[16]

Delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses may not exactly reflect the votes cast, although party rules require proportional allocation rather than winner-take-all.^[17]

[edit] See also

• List of 2008 United States Democratic Party superdelegates

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