Obama or Clinton: Will Party Elite or Voters Decide?
Democratic Rivals Woo Super Delegates in Historic Nomination Battle
Most Super Delegates Undecided
Of the almost 800 super delegates, less than half have decided whom they will support at the convention; the rest are sitting on the fence, according to ongoing calls by ABC News to the super delegates.
Of the 400 super delegates who have committed, Clinton is leading, with the support of 213 super delegates; 142 are committed to Obama, according to the latest ABC News survey.
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This week Obama warned super delegates to vote the way their states have voted.
"If this contest comes down to super delegates, we are going to be able to say we have more pledged delegates, which means the Democratic voters have spoken. Those super delegates, those party insiders would have to think long and hard how they would approach the nomination," Obama told reporters this week.
Despite the assertions by liberal bloggers that super delegates are contrary to the principles of the Democratic Party, the party decided more than three decades ago that party leaders and former Democratic politicians should become the ultimate deciders in a tight race.
Super delegates were created to essentially blunt any party outsider who built up a head of steam in the primaries.
After the insurgent outsider campaigns of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter won the Democratic party nominations in 1972 and 1976, many party officials felt the need to have a greater role in the process.
Democratic National Committee press secretary Stacie Paxton said super delegates play an important role in the party's nomination process.
"Unpledged delegates, aka super delegates -- about 19 percent of the delegates to the Democratic convention -- represent a range of people from party activists to elected officials to rank and file Democrats who are active in grassroots politics," Paxton argued.
"Unpledged delegates are elected and entrusted by voters to represent their states," she said.
Former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., who lost his 1984 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to Vice President Walter Mondale, blames super delegates for scuttling his bid.
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