For many weeks, Howard Dean, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have urged and demanded that the remaining superdelegates pick a candidate that they will stand by. Pelosi said that the remaining superdelegates cannot afford to remain on the fence any longer. Dean has demanded that the superdelegates pick a candidate as soon as possible.
In regards to the Democratic contest, frontrunners Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama are still fighting it out for the party’s nomination, in which the winner will go up against the presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona in the general elections. Both frontrunners are virtually tied while Obama has a marginal lead in Clinton in the delegate race.
Obama said that the superdelegates should get behind the candidate with the most pledged delegates. Clinton said the superdelegates should get behind the candidate who has the popular vote. Even when all the contests end neither Obama nor Clinton will get enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination. This is due to the delegate rules set by the DNC.
In the case of the rules set by the Republican National Committee, it is winner take all. However, an interesting predicament had come out from the prolonged Democratic contest. Ever since the last seven contests, there have been a large number of newly registered Democrats coming out from all walks of life. However, due to the prolonged Democratic race, the deciding factor will be up to the remaining superdelegates.
So far, both the Democratic Party and presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona seem to benefit. On the DNC side, there is an increasing number of newly registered Democratic voters. On McCain’s side, there are those fed up with the prolonged race that they may end up voting for him this coming November.
But in the case of the superdelegates, Dean said the remaining superdelegates should decide by the end of June. However, he said he prefers that they would make their choice sooner. Dean said that the Democratic Party will ultimately lose of there is division at the Democratic National Convention. The convention is set to take place this August in Denver, Colorado.
There are fears that this could be a recreation of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.