Ooh,
superdelegates, you have Bernie supporters shaking in our boots.
For those that are fuzzy on superdelegates, or as they are formally known,
unpledged delegates, they represent one fifth of the vote, at the Democratic National Convention, which officially chooses the party's candidate for President, and the only "super" thing about them, from the party's point of view, is that they are chosen by the party and can vote for whomever they like, regardless of how well the candidate has done in the primaries. In practice, they only really come into play when there isn't a clear winner. In 2008, Hillary also had an sizable early advantage in superdelegates, but as the primary wins came in for Obama, he picked up almost all the undecided "supers" (currently 50%) and some defectors too.
The Hillary camp and the establishment media, have actually scored an own goal, by highlighting that half the superdelegates have already pledged their allegiance to the Democratic Party's preferred candidate, the candidate that, to this day, defends the death penalty, even with the inevitable human tragedy of sending a single innocent person to the death chamber, the candidate that voted for the 2002 Iraq war, when Sanders and Obama had the good sense to vote against it, the candidate who still wants to wreck the lives of people for merely smoking marijuana, the candidate who previously referred to the TPP as the "gold standard" and after months of dragging her feet, finally
claims she's against it, the candidate that thought she could curtail the excesses of Wall Street, by merely asking them to "Cut it out", the Goldman Sachs poster child.
This just provides more fuel for the unparalleled Bernie Sanders grassroots movement, and for that, we can thank the establishment
. And if you want an anecdotal indication of the large disparity in grassroots support, between the campaigns, try finding a Hillary debate watch party; they're practically non existent and although attendance numbers for Bernie's parties are likely to be down significantly, you
can probably find one near you (I'm going to my local).
Bonus Topic! For those who tried to "poo poo" me questioning the accuracy of polls today, you should check out the
What's the Matter With Polling NYT article, which raises the exact point I highlighted, on conducting polls with people who still have and use a land line.
