Friday, August 22, 2008

Superdelegate Ups and Downs

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As we’ve all learned this election season, the number of superdelegates, and therefore the total number of delegates and the number of delegates needed to win, is not a constant, but changes for various reasons. Here’s the history since December, 2007.

• In December, 2007, there were 797 superdelegates
• December 11, 2007: Steve Beshear is sworn in as Governor of Kentucky. Up 1 to 798.
• December 15, 2007: Rep. Julia Carson died. Her seat will be filled by Special Election on Tuesday, March 11. Down 1 to 797 superdelegates.
• January 15, 2008: Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco leaves office. Down 1 to 796.
• February 11, 2008: Rep. Tom Lantos died. His seat will be filled by Special Election on April 8. Down 1 to 795 superdelegates.
• February 28, 2008: Former DNC Chairman Ken Curtis’s legal residence changed from Maine to Florida, and therefore he lost his superdelegate voting status. Down 1 to 794 superdelegates.
• March 8, 2008: Bill Foster wins the Special Election for Denny Hastert’s old seat. Up 1 to 795 superdelegates.
• March 11, 2008: Andre Carson wins the Special Election in his grandmother’s old seat. Up 1 to 796 superdelegates.
• March 12, 2008: NY Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns. Down 1 to 795. Note that the DNC has now confirmed that David Paterson is not resigning his DNC seat.
• March 17, 2008: The DNC vacancy from the National Conference of Democratic Mayors has been filled by Mayor Brenda Lawrence of Southfield, Michigan. Michigan has no delegates at this time. Down 1 to 794.
• March 27, 2008: Maryland Congressman Al Wynn announced his resignation bringing the total number of superdelegate votes down to 793. His resignation became official on June 2.
• April 8, 2008. Jackie Speier wins Tom Lantos’ old seat in Congress. Up 1 to 794.
• May 3, 3008. Don Cazayoux wins the Special Election in LA-6. Up 1 to 795. Overall number of delegates is 4,048, and it takes 2,024.5 to win.
• May 13, 2008: Travis Childers wins a huge special election runoff in MS-01 and becomes the 796th superdelegate vote. Total delegate number now 4049 with 2025 to win.
• May 31, 2008. Florida and Michgan pledged and superdelegates are restored at 1/2 vote per delegate. There are now 823.5 superdelegate votes, and 3409.5 pledged delegate votes for a total of 4,233 delegates, and it takes 2117 to win.
• June 17, 2008: Donna Edwards wins the special election in MD-4. She becomes the 824.5th superdelegate vote, making the total number of delegate votes 4,234, so 2117.5 are needed to win.
• August 22, 2008. The final list of superdelegates has been received. The following changes have been made:
  • Two new DNC at-large members have been chosen, to fill the two unfilled DNC at-large positions: Todd Stroger (IL) and Laphonza Butler (MD). This did not change the delegate count.
  • Gov. David Patterson gave up his at-large DNC position, but is still a superdelegate by being Governor. Former NY state chair Dave Pollack is now an DNC at-large member. This increases the total number of delegate votes to 4,235, so 2118 votes are needed to win.
  • Rebecca Gwatney has replaced her husband, the late Arkansas State Chair Bill Gwatney, as a superdelegate. This did not change the delegate count.
  • Moses Mercado moved from TX to the NY delegation.
  Note: The current list was prepared before the passing of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Rep. Tubbs Jones is still shown on the official list of certified delegates. Note: The current list assumes 1/2 votes for the FL and MI delegations. That may be changed to full votes at the convention.

  Note: Joe Lieberman hasn’t been a superdelegate since he was sworn into the Senate as an “Independent Democrat” in January, 2007. (Before any of us even knew what a superdelegate was). His endorsement of McCain in December was just the icing on a cake that has already crumbled. Continue Reading...