2008 Woodie Awards
Super delegates taking power from the people
Erich Pilcher
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Opinion
As you read this article many people across this nation have one thought on their mind, "who am I going to vote for?" Right now those candidates are being decided via caucuses and primaries. However, it may not come down to the people who caucus at all, especially on the Democratic side.
As of Feb. 13 Democratic Sen. Barack Obama holds a slight delegate advantage over Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, once the super-delegates are taken into consideration, Clinton, according to a CNN poll, takes an estimated 27-delegate lead.
The problem here is the super delegates are officials of the Democratic National Party and party leaders, and given the closeness of this year's Democratic race, they could play a pivotal part in deciding who gets to run for president.
Earlier I stated that Obama had the delegate lead following Super Tuesday's primaries. However, there have been 359 super delegates that have declared their support and 224 of those support Clinton. That gives Clinton the approximate delegate lead of 1,148 to Obama's 1,121. Now, given that approximately 400 super-delegates have yet to align themselves with a candidate and that candidates need 2,025 to get the automatic nomination, nothing is settled.
Once again the people's votes are NOT heard. As of right now Obama has won 13 states compared to Clinton's eight. This affects college students the most.
Currently both candidates are targeting the younger voters. Whether it is Clinton promising a candidate who can stand up to the Republican nominee or Obama talking about "Change we can believe in" they are targeting us and us the young people have responded.
According to the Pew Research Center, in the age demographic of 17-29 there have been increases in caucus/primary turnout in every state in comparison to the 2004 election. This has led to a to a total increase of five percent more young voters going out to caucus.
Based on the same poll, 57 percent of young voters are supporting Obama. If super-delegates come into play they could take away some of the young people's voice.
This reminds me of the 2000 presidential election, you know the one where the man who won the popular vote did not get elected due to the electoral college and a certain state where voting chaos ensued, which led to our vote pretty much being voided out.
I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THIS HAPPEN AGAIN. The Democrats need to get it right; either tweak the super-delegate system or get rid of it. If the young people's vote is so important, why are their voices not being heard?
As of Feb. 13 Democratic Sen. Barack Obama holds a slight delegate advantage over Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, once the super-delegates are taken into consideration, Clinton, according to a CNN poll, takes an estimated 27-delegate lead.
The problem here is the super delegates are officials of the Democratic National Party and party leaders, and given the closeness of this year's Democratic race, they could play a pivotal part in deciding who gets to run for president.
Earlier I stated that Obama had the delegate lead following Super Tuesday's primaries. However, there have been 359 super delegates that have declared their support and 224 of those support Clinton. That gives Clinton the approximate delegate lead of 1,148 to Obama's 1,121. Now, given that approximately 400 super-delegates have yet to align themselves with a candidate and that candidates need 2,025 to get the automatic nomination, nothing is settled.
Once again the people's votes are NOT heard. As of right now Obama has won 13 states compared to Clinton's eight. This affects college students the most.
Currently both candidates are targeting the younger voters. Whether it is Clinton promising a candidate who can stand up to the Republican nominee or Obama talking about "Change we can believe in" they are targeting us and us the young people have responded.
According to the Pew Research Center, in the age demographic of 17-29 there have been increases in caucus/primary turnout in every state in comparison to the 2004 election. This has led to a to a total increase of five percent more young voters going out to caucus.
Based on the same poll, 57 percent of young voters are supporting Obama. If super-delegates come into play they could take away some of the young people's voice.
This reminds me of the 2000 presidential election, you know the one where the man who won the popular vote did not get elected due to the electoral college and a certain state where voting chaos ensued, which led to our vote pretty much being voided out.
I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THIS HAPPEN AGAIN. The Democrats need to get it right; either tweak the super-delegate system or get rid of it. If the young people's vote is so important, why are their voices not being heard?
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