Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Features

It is difficult to follow what is going on with the presidential race if you don't understand the political process, or the words used to describe it. It may seem like the people involved in politics use words and methods specifically designed to make it difficult for Americans to comprehend. And sometimes it seems necessary to translate the political jargon into words that everyday Americans are capable of understanding. If you've been watching any of the broadcasting networks, or reading any of the political articles, you have surely heard the word "superdelegates" thrown around. It may conjure up images of a super hero speaking to a presidential candidate, but in all reality, it is just a word for an important delegate. In the Democratic Party there are two different kinds of delegates, pledged and unpledged which are also known as superdelegates. When you go to a caucus and vote for a Democratic candidate, you are actually voting for the number of pledged delegates who will be able to vote for the candidate you chose. The delegates will be able to cast their vote at the National Democratic Convention. This is where the final decision is made as to who will run for president for the Democrat. So whichever Democratic candidate receives the most votes at a caucus gets the most delegates to vote for them at the Democratic Convention. Superdelegates are taken from the Democratic National Committee, and are important political figures such as former presidents, vice presidents, and members of Congress. They have been around since the 1980's. Superdelegates only hold sway in the Democratic Party, and their votes will only affect the race between Clinton and Obama. There are currently somewhere around 796 superdelegates, and you don't have a say in who they will vote for, they get to choose for themselves. And that is why they could end up deciding who the Democratic candidate will be for the 2008 elections. The reason that you're hearing so much about the superdelegates during this election year is that this is the first time there has been talk of them being a deciding factor since 1984. They may end up being important in the race between Clinton and Obama because both Democratic candidates are currently neck-in-neck. After tallying up the votes from the states that have caucused there is no clear winner. In order for there to be a clear winner, one of the candidates would have to win 2,025 out of 4,049 delegates. And that has yet to happen. If the pledged votes are still too close for there to be a clear a winner by time for the Democratic National Convention, then the unpledged or superdelegates will end up deciding between the Democratic candidates for the first time in history. Peggy Williams is a sophomore majoring in journalism. You may e-mail her at peggy.williams@sckans.edu. (Sources: www.CNN.com; www.poynter.org.)

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