2205 is the magic number for Hillary or Barack. It is the number needed to clinch the presidential nomination of their political party. After this weekend's primaries and caucuses Clinton leads Obama in delegate count, 1,125 to 1,087. It is likely that the delegates won by each candidate through the election process will remain close and this sets up a highly undemocratic possibility for the Democrat Party. Unlike the Republican Party where all delegates are elected in statewide primaries and caucuses, the Democrat Party has 796 superdelegates. Superdelegates are powerful party insiders who may decide who the Democrat candidate for president will be.
According to an Associated Press (AP) report, "Both campaigns are aggressively pursuing superdelegates" ("Clinton leads among insiders, 2/11/08). Who are these superdelegates? 720 of them are appointed by the party and the remaining 76 superdelegates are elected at state party conventions. Their number includes senators, non-elected party leaders and labor bosses.
In the same AP report cited above, 399 superdelegates have already endorsed a candidate irrespective of the will of the people as expressed in primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates could decide for the party who will run for president in November, against the will of the majority of democrat voters and against the candidate who accumulates the most delegates through the primary and caucus process. This would make the Democrat Party highly undemocratic.
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