Will the Ted Kennedy endorsement have an effect on superdelegates?

[NJSecularist]

Since Ted Kennedy pretty much is the establishment. Could we possibly see the superdelegate situation change over the next few weeks?

[dkf]

1. Good question.

Seems like Obama has been getting quite a few supers lately.

[skipos]

2. It will sure help Obama

How much, who knows?

It doesn't look very good when politicians who have known you for years endorse someone else.

[NJSecularist]

4. At the very least

A Kennedy endorsement (along with Kerry's endorsement) could help Obama bridge the gap in Mass., a very important state.

[skipos]

5. It very well could.

He has an uphill battle there, but he had an uphill battle in Iowa and South Carolina too.

[NastyRiffraff]

3. Ted Kennedy IS a superdelegate

What effect his endorsement will have over other superdelegates remains to be seen. Some, certainly, will follow his lead. Some won't.

[HughMoran]

6. Yes, Obama is +1

Kennedy is a superdelegate by default (if I understand correctly)

[BenDavid]

7. let me explain about the super delegates okay so there is no

misunderstanding......as of today obama has pledged delegate count of 63 and total delegate count of 152.....HRC has pledged delegate count of 48 and total delegate count of 230.....

Now to the super delegates:
221 Democratic House members, including nonvoting delegates and the District of Columbia's one shadow congressperson, 48 senators, including the District of Columbia's two shadow senators, and 31 state and territorial governors, 397 members of the Democratic National Committee, 23 distinguished party leaders, and 76 other unpledged delegates, are unpledged delegates to the convention.
221 + 48 + 31 + 397 + 23 + 76 = 796

This total of 796 superdelegates(see above) is almost 20 percent of the total of 4,049 delegates. While officially uncommitted and thus "unreplaceable", they can publicly endorse a candidate, adding to his or her total. As of January 12, 2008, the totals were: Hillary Clinton 154; Barack Obama 52; John Edwards 33; Bill Richardson 19; Dennis Kucinich 1. Note that all numbers in this section do not count Florida and Michigan. If Florida and Michigan's delegates are seated, then the numbers of superdelegates in each category will increase.

[BobMorr]

8. system sucks

So basically the superdelegate's will decide the candidate. Elections and caucasus are a waste of time. The corporate slave owners will tell their puppets who to vote for at the convention. How do you fight the system? It needs to change!! Fascism is just digging deeper into our country.

[Bitwit1234]

9. Heck no....remember HIS endorsee said he was too old to matter

and should resign...it's on the net.

[sfam]

10. Yes - it tells the Democratic luminaries its OK to jump ship

This is the real value here I think. Kennedy is one of the leaders of the party luminaries. In this sense his voice carries weight. If someone was afraid of ditching Clinton, this endorsement gives them top-cover.

[BluegrassDem]

11. Superdelegates can change their votes at ANYTIME!

I think we need to keep this in mind. The Superdelegates are nothing more than politicians and they can change their vote at a whim, so if it looks like Obama is starting to win, they will jump off of Hillary's bandwagon in a second. And they could just as easily jump back. So Superdelegates mean nothing right now.