Bernie Sanders is pushing for concessions from the Democratic Party establishment in return for his promised support for Hillary Clinton once she indisputably nails down the 2016 presidential nomination. One change he wants is an end to the superdelegate category to the party's national convention.
He certainly isn't going to get it this time around. Hence he argues against the automatic delegate status given high national and state officeholders, members of the Democratic National Committee and certain other party bigwigs. He insists they should support the candidate who has won their state primaries or caucuses.
Ms. Clinton, according to the Bloomberg Newscount, has 537 superdelegates in her pocket to Mr. Sanders' 42. She is leading Mr. Sanders by 271 elected delegates, and she is only 78 delegates short of the majority needed for the nomination. As there are 921 delegates left to be allocated, the chance of Mr. Sanders winning enough to stop her looks slim to nonexistent.
The whole idea of party big shots getting automatic enrollment at the convention, and free votes in choosing the nominee, doesn't sound terribly democratic, big D or small. If Mr. Sanders is able to win agreement to do away the superdelegates, which the Republicans don't have, that would be a worthwhile outcome.
The phenomenon was an outgrowth of party reforms in the wake of the 1968 and 1972 Democratic National Conventions. In 1968, after President Lyndon Johnson suddenly decided not to seek re-election, Vice President Hubert Humphrey stepped in and inherited his support. After the assassination of candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Humphrey won the nomination without entering a single primary.
In 1969, a Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection chaired by Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota significantly opened the party to more women, youth and minorities. In 1971, the commission was taken over by Rep. Donald Fraser of Michigan, and in 1972, a rash of states decided to hold primaries at which convention delegates would be selected, rather than state caucuses and conventions.
Many high party officials like state governors and members of Congress, having supported losers in the presidential nomination, failed to win convention delegate seats and pressed for automatic admission to the big show. In 1984, another commission chaired by Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina pushed for a superdelegate category made of all Democratic National Committee members, Democratic members of Congress, governors, and other party and distinguished leaders.
The original proposal was for the superdelegates to constitute 30 percent of the convention, but the figure was reduced to about 14 percent, and then raised to about 20 percent for 2008. The category was justified on grounds that their experience and political skills were needed as a sort of seasoning of the convention composition.
In the 1984 election, the superdelegates put Vice President Walter Mondale over the top against Colorado Sen. Gary Hart for the Democratic nomination. In 2004, they gave Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont an early lead, but he ultimately lost the nomination to Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Then in 2008, Barack Obama won a majority of both pledged and superdelegate categories over Hillary Clinton.
As the 2016 campaign heads to California and four other states on June 7, Mr. Sanders is arguing that most superdelegates pledged to Hillary Clinton made their decision early in the nomination process. That was, he says, well before his own late string of victories (most in state caucuses) demonstrated the scope and strength of his support.
California has 548 delegates at stake, and New Jersey has 142. They will almost certainly deliver the delegates needed to put Ms. Clinton over the top. Unsurprisingly, however, she has dismissed Mr. Sanders' call for a final televised debate in the Golden State, which he obviously hoped would somehow turn the tide.
But this likely outcome does not negate his argument that the superdelegate category runs counter to both democratic and Democratic procedures in the exercise of equality among voters, and it deserves to be scrapped in time for the 2020 election cycle. But don't bet the rent money on that happening, politicians being the self-serving souls they most often are.
Jules Witcover is a syndicated columnist and former long-time writer for The Baltimore Sun. His latest book is "The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power," published by Smithsonian Books. You can respond to this column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.