"Superdelegates aren't party bosses of old, and they are as split as the voters have been."

WSJ: Got Your Superdelegates Added Up? Count Again
Blogs Notwithstanding, About Half These Voters Remain Uncommitted
By JACKIE CALMES
February 22, 2008; Page A6

Liberal groups and bloggers have been sounding alarms that Democratic Party insiders -- the so-called superdelegates -- could tip the presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Clinton behind closed doors. MoveOn.org and Democracy for America are advertising and even raising money on the issue. "Will party insiders overturn your vote?" DFA asks recipients. But the superdelegates aren't party bosses of old, and they are as split as the voters have been.

About half these free agents remain determinedly uncommitted -- in hopes the voters will decide the nominee soon. Those few who lately have taken sides are tipping to Sen. Barack Obama. Contrary to the conspiracy theorists warning of backroom deals against the will of voters, these superdelegates have committed to the Illinois senator because voters in primaries and caucuses have given him 10 straight victories, and a lead in the separate pledged delegates won as a result.

New York's Sen. Clinton still leads in superdelegates, having signed up scores of them last year while Sen. Obama still was introducing himself nationally. However, her recruitments have not only stalled as she has been losing, but a few supporters have jumped ship....

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Tad Devine, a veteran strategist of past campaigns, who is neither a superdelegate nor otherwise committed to a candidate, said, "I've always felt that even though we call them party leaders, super-delegates are in fact followers" -- of the popular votes. Yet the pro-Obama bloggers' imagery of superdelegates as establishment powerbrokers poised to cut a pro-Clinton deal has taken wider root. That caricature has been stoked by the comments from Sen. Obama and his campaign, even as he was successfully recruiting superdelegates.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Carol Fowler, herself an uncommitted superdelegate, decided to confront the issue. Saturday she began training for Democrats who want to be elected by party members to go to the convention as pledged delegates. When she referred to superdelegates, many of the 50 attendees scowled. "I want you to think about this," she said she told them: If the state's two Democratic congressmen weren't superdelegates, they'd likely run for -- and win -- the delegate spots. "This whole system allows grassroots people to participate on equal footing with DNC members and members of Congress," she told them. "Then they started nodding," she said. "That seemed to make sense."

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