| As we noted, the DNC's Democratic Change Commission met yesterday to discuss a number of potential changes to the election process, including primary calendar, caucuses, and the role of superdelegates. In the morning, DNC Chair Don Fowler made a proposal to reduce the number of superdelegates from 850 or so to approximately 300. In the afternoon session, four options were proposed, and then three additional options were discussed: Option 1: eliminate unpledged delegates into non-voting delegates – honored delegation members
Option 2: 40-50% reduction:
1. No add-ons
2. Reduce # of dnc members & congressional members
Option 3: increase PLEOs to accommodate a portion of the DNC members & members of congress –
Option 4: unpledged turned into pledged delegates. Rules and Bylaws Commission. would determine how they would be pledged (the Mondale)
Option 5: DNC leadership only, Party chairs, Govs. & Senators, Distinguished party leaders, Expand PLEOs
Convert remaining congresspeople and DNC members into “honored guests”
Option 6: Eliminate superdelegates, greatly expand PLEOs, any supers not selected as PLEOs become special non-voting delegates
Option 7: Keep them, but give each superdelegate 1/2 vote. (As a reminder from last year, the 81 add-on superdelegates were unpledged delegates chosen late in the process to reward people or constituencies that were missed in the process. Originally requested by Jesse Jackson supporters in the late 1980's, these are probably the easiest to eliminate. PLEO - party leaders and elected officials - are pledged delegates, picked in the same proportion as regular delegates determined by the voters). Looking at the options, we really see that Options 2, 3 and 5 are similar. Reduce the number of superdelegates by half to 2/3rds, and make the former superdelegates either pledged delegates or honored guests of some sort. Options 1, 4 and 6 get rid of superdelegates completely, converting them into pledged delegates or honored guests. It actually seems pretty obvious what they will do. They won't get rid of superdelegates completely, as they serve a purpose - encouraging party leaders (Governors, leaders in Congress) to come to the convention, something they often didn't do during the 1970's. The add-on's are low-hanging fruit - they'll be gone. Then we've got the many House members, and the many DNC members. Will DNC members vote to remove their own delegate status? That's the biggest open question. One other thing that was discussed: a recommendation that superdelegates don't announce their support for a candidate before some point in time - maybe when their state votes, makes sense. It can't really be enforced - in the extreme case, Obama and Clinton were both superdelegates - but a strong recommendation from the DNC would provide cover for any superdelegate to say - sorry, Senator, I can't commit to endorsing you right now due to DNC guidelines. Much of this post was based on detailed blog posts by meeting attendees Suzi Levine and Frank Leone. Josh will have more upcoming on the primary schedule discussions. |
