Hillary’s statement on superdelegates

[nilram]

This was from an interview from, as best I can tell, around May 7, 2008. I did the transcription and added emphasis.


BRIAN WILLIAMS: How does this end, and when?

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I think, Brian, it ends after everyone’s had a chance to vote,
after we have decided how we’re going to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates, which
I hope happens on May 31st. We have less than three weeks to go until everyone’s had
a chance to be heard. And then it’s going to be up to the Democratic party, all of the
delegates, ah, most particularly those who are still uncommitted, ah, to make their
determination as to who they think would be the best president and the better candidate.
But at some point, we’ll know who has 2,210 delegates. I think we’ll have a nominee, um,
I really believe that, but, again, we’ll know a lot more on June 4th and, uh, maybe I just have,
ah, more patience than, ah, the average person these days but, ah, for me it’s ah, a privilege
and a joy to travel around our country to make my case to, ah, people from one coast to the
other and, ah, to ah, continue to ah , you know, work as hard as I can to win this nomination
and that’s what I intend to do and, you know, we’ll get to, ah, June the 4th, ah, after the last
votes are cast on June the 3rd and I think we’ll have a better idea about where we stand.

BW: For you to be the nominee it would take a wholesale shift of ah, super-delegates,
in effect, overturning, um, the pledged delegates and those individual state elections.
Would you be comfortable with that?

HC: Well, I think that, ah, the super-delegates are there for a purpose, that is to, ah,
determine who they think would be the stronger candidate and the best President. Ah,
super-delegates are not bound to vote any way, they can change their minds, ah, they
can go to the convention and change their minds, there is no , ah, guarantee— and in fact,
it’s equally true for pledged delegates for most states. Ah, obviously people are going to
look at the results, but I think that it’s also important to look at where the delegates came
from, ah, how many people actually elected those delegates, what the kind of, ah, ah,
outcomes were, who has a, a bigger base to build an electoral majority on. But at the end
of the day, Brian, you know, maybe it’s because we live in such a, a media bubble and it’s
24-7 and there’s such an intense interest in this campaign—Everybody should just take a
deep breath. We’re gonna know a lot more in about three weeks than we do right now and
and that is More than enough time for us to unify our party for us to be, you know, absolutely
committed to ah, ah winning in November and I, I believe that’s what’s going to happen.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Yep. She was correct then, she's correct today.

Supers are there to make sure that, ah, someone who is, well, ah, an undesirable extremist will not be representing the Democratic party in the general.

[nilram]

3. What she did say in this interview was

the super-delegates are there for a purpose, that is to, ah, determine who they think would be the stronger candidate and the best President

[Buzz Clik]

4. I read it. She gave the diplomatic reading of the rule. I gave the literal interpretation.

Sanders is the type of candidate we want to avoid; thus, we have superdelegates.

[nilram]

6. I can agree with the literal interpretation

But to me, an undesirable extremist is a politician who takes extreme amounts of money from financial institutions and votes to start unnecessary wars.

[IamMab]

2. And this argument worked out so well in 2008, she won the nomination, right? Right?

Oh, right...

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I don't think she suggested a contested convention.

[nilram]

7. Seems like she essentially said 'yes' to BW's second question

and that seems like the essence of a contested convention. (Though I'll admit I don't know the formal definition of 'contested convention,' if there is one.)

[frazzled]

8. That was a far different contest

Most of the large states had already voted on Super Tuesday (including California and New York), which had 23 contests as opposed to this year, which had only 12. At that date, the candidates were in a virtual dead heat, with Clinton leading 1,056 to Obama's 1,036 pledged delegates. By early May (again, the schedule was very different that year, and the total number of delegates considerably smaller), Obama had gotten ahead by about 100 pledged delegates--a number thought to be too big to catch up to. By the end, the pledged delegate count was nearly even: 1,794½ for Obama, 1,732½ for Clinton. And the super delegates had been much more divided all along. Since candidates have a good idea, based on internal polling how subsequent states would turn out in general, there was reason for Clinton to believe there was a fighting chance, at least. She conceded after the last primary. True, Obama had gained the necessary number of pledged delegates at that point. But she was very close: never did she vow to take it to the convention in the hopes that the super delegates would erase Obama's lead.

This year, Sanders trails by some 300 pledged delegates and millions of the popular vote, a story I do not have to repeat here; and there are only a dozen or so contests left. Short of the anticipated plane crash or indictment many here hope for, there is little chance for Sanders to close the gap enough to move a preponderance of super delegates. If Clinton couldn't close that gap with a much much tighter race in 2008, I see the hope-clinging among Sanders supporters to be hanging by a very fragile thread indeed.

[RobertEarl]

9. Bernie and she see it the same

At the convention the nominee will be decided and not one minute before. All of the supers can change their minds and so now it is up to the People to make sure the supers vote correctly by voting to nominate Bernie!

[JoePhilly]

10. Hillary withdrew before the convention.

I think Bernie will as well.

[StevieM]

11. A new precedent was set in 2008. Clinton's argument was rejected and we decided as a party

that the pledged delegate winner would be considered the rightful nominee.

Hillary hadn't been told that heading into the 2008 race. Sanders was well aware of that heading into the 2016 race.

[pampango]

12. As a Bernie supporter, if he takes the lead in pledged delegates hopefully in these last 10 states -

it will be interesting to see which camp (or both?) switch their take on what the role of superdelegates should be.

As path narrows, Sanders asks party insiders to back his bid

Bernie Sanders acknowledged Sunday that his “uphill climb” to the Democratic nomination depends on winning over superdelegates, the elected officials, lobbyists and other party insiders who are free to back either candidate.

It’s an admission that even some of his own aides call ironic, given that Sanders has focused his campaign on taking down what he calls a corrupt political establishment. The Vermont senator formally joined the Democratic Party a year ago, after serving decades in Congress as a self-identified democratic socialist.

In a press conference organized to mark the year anniversary of his insurgent bid, Sanders called on superdelegates to reflect the vote in their state. He also cast himself as more electable against Donald Trump, arguing that superdelegates should prioritize beating the GOP frontrunner over other concerns.

To win the nomination, Sanders would have to flip hundreds of superdelegates, far more than the several dozens that changed from Clinton to support then Illinois Sen. Barack Obama eight years ago. Sanders would also have to convince superdelegates to vote against the national pledged delegate leader — an unprecedented political maneuver.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-path-narrows-sanders-asks-party-insiders-to-back-his-bid/2016/05/01/13aaedd4-0ffb-11e6-a9b5-bf703a5a7191_story.html

Most of us seem to have serious reservations about the existence and power of superdelegates. When you are behind in pledged delegates going into the convention as Hillary was in 2008 and as Bernie will likely be in 2016 (though I hope he somehow takes the lead in the remaining 10 states), I guess the superdelegates become a lot more of an appealing option than they should be in theory.