2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumLet's stop worrying about super-delegates. They are utterly meaningless.
Their only real power is to endorse a candidate.
Let's assume the unlikely scenario that Bernie wins a majority of pledged delegates, but the super-delegates decide to throw the nomination to Hillary. The result would be a loss for the Democrats in November (I would surely vote against her in such an event, as I am sure many others would do) and a Hillary Clinton more hated than Bush and Nader combined (which I am sure she knows and would want to avoid).
I should add that the fact that they exist in the first place is ridiculously undemocratic (and it is telling that people here have argued in favor of them with authoritarian reasoning). It is almost like a Mullah system if one thinks about it. Luckily game-theory prevents them from wielding the power that they theoretically possess.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)The super delegates are going to stay, the DNC saw in advance of the clown car situation in the GOP, we do not need the same in the DNC.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)TDale313
(7,820 posts)I don't have a lot of faith they will. There are many of these Superdelegates who seem pretty anti-Bernie and very locked in for Hillary. They've made commitments and I can easily see them figuring they'll stick with Hillary and deal with the general the day after she gets the nom. Frankly I think that would be the end of the Democratic Party as we know it.
Stallion
(6,476 posts)there's a very good chance of that happening and in that case the Super delegates will be necessary to be nominated. FACT, you can't win the nomination with only 50.01% of the Pledged Delegates from all the primaries and caucuses-you need several hundreds more Super Delegates too. . They are not irrelevant-they will in fact decide the election in that case. I think some of you are pretty naïve to think Bernie Sanders can get substantial Super Delegate support. The Super Delegates that are officeholders will not want to run with a Social Democrat at the Top of the Ticket. They are speaking clearly to any one paying attention. They are more concerned about their own general election race against a Republican than the Presidential contest
pangaia
(24,324 posts)Stallion
(6,476 posts)I'm pretty sure they break-out pretty much the same up and down the ballot of Super Delagates who are officeholders or running for office
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Party_superdelegates,_2016