2008.02.06: February 6, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Brazil: Politics: State Government: Election2008 - Clinton: Election2008 - Obama: Denver Post: Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important
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2008.02.06: February 6, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Brazil: Politics: State Government: Election2008 - Clinton: Election2008 - Obama: Denver Post: Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important
Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important
With Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama less than 100 delegates apart in the chase for the Democratic nomination, the party's so-called super delegates — roughly 20 percent of the total delegates available — are garnering attention from the campaigns. Consider Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak. Chelsea Clinton called her cell phone and her home, wanting to talk about her mom. Bill Clinton personally asked her to support his wife. Obama supporters found her private e-mail address, urging her to "fight against back-room deals" and support the man who won the Colorado caucuses Tuesday night. "I'm sure this is just the beginning," Waak said. Pat Waak, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Colorado, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil in the 1960's.
Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important
In tight race, super delegates super important
Candidates going all out to court VIPs who get automatic vote at convention
By DAVID OLINGER and CHUCK PLUNKETT
Denver Post
DENVER — The Democratic duel for the presidential nomination has taken a hard shift from Super Tuesday to the super delegate, opening a kind of shadow primary race for the support of hundreds of elite party members.
With Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama less than 100 delegates apart in the chase for the Democratic nomination, the party's so-called super delegates — roughly 20 percent of the total delegates available — are garnering attention from the campaigns.
Consider Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak. Chelsea Clinton called her cell phone and her home, wanting to talk about her mom. Bill Clinton personally asked her to support his wife.
Obama supporters found her private e-mail address, urging her to "fight against back-room deals" and support the man who won the Colorado caucuses Tuesday night.
"I'm sure this is just the beginning," Waak said.
May hold balance of power
There are delegates, and there are super delegates at Democratic national conventions. Voters in state primaries and caucuses choose the delegates.
Super delegates are party leaders, members of Congress and other VIPs who get an automatic vote on the convention floor — one that they alone decide. For the first time since the Democrats set up the system, super delegates could hold the balance of power.
Though still considered a long shot, the close race means Denver could host a rare brokered national convention in August. If that happens, the winner of the pledged delegates who represent the popular vote could lose to the candidate who wins the most super delegates.
"You would see all kinds of chaos reigning again," said Kenneth Bickers, chairman of political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Though hundreds of super delegates remain uncommitted, Clinton has a clear lead among those who have declared their preferences.
"I would be disturbed if the super delegates ended up tipping the balance," said Dan Slater, a Colorado super delegate who favors Obama. But "if Sen. Obama wins the pledged delegates," he predicted, "the super delegates will come along."
Before 1968, Bickers said, state primaries and caucuses were nothing more than beauty contests that weren't binding. Nominees were selected by party officials.
The system collapsed in 1968, when Hubert Humphrey won the nomination without attending a single caucus or primary. There were riots in the host city of Chicago.
Reforms in 1972 created the beginning of the binding-primary system, where the popular vote created delegates who were pledged to the winning candidate.
The super delegate was born in 1984. Former Vice President Walter Mondale, fearing rising star Gary Hart, used his establishment connections to create the unpledged delegate. The argument was that party leaders needed a say in picking a nominee with "electability."
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Headlines: February, 2008; RPCV Pat Waak (Brazil); Figures; Peace Corps Brazil; Directory of Brazil RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Brazil RPCVs; Politics; State Government; Election2008 - Clinton; Election2008 - Obama; Colorado
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Story Source: Denver Post
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