Superdelegates

After his hard fought win in the North Carolina primary, superdelegates realized that Obama could win and began to publicly support Obama.

Ted Kennedy, shown here with Obama in Connecticut, gave his endorsement to Obama, which many believe was the most important Democratic endorsement Obama could receive. In the end, 438 superdelegates would support Obama.

The Democrats instituted the use of superdelegates because they were concerned about the lack of a role for party leaders in the process. They automatically set aside 20% of the delegate slots for Democratic office holders, such as governors, senators, and members of the House of Representatives, and for members of the Democratic National Committee.

Remember it’s the parties and the individual state laws that set the rules for how they will select delegates. Each state’s laws and rules are slightly different and candidates have to pay attention to those rules in order to navigate a successful campaign.

Why was their a controversy about whether the Democratic delegates from Florida would get seated at the Democratic National Convention?

Florida moved its primary earlier in the process against the wishes of the Democratic National Party. As a result, the National Party punished Florida by refusing to seat the delegates. Ultimately a reduced number of the delegates were seated.