As a good example of what I'm talking about, consider what's going on here in Colorado. On February 5th, voters overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama in the caucuses. However, as Channel 2 News reports in the story attached at bottom, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) has already endorsed Hillary Clinton and is refusing to say whether she will cast her superdelegate convention vote with Colorado voters, or for Hillary Clinton. DeGette refused to comment for Channel 2's story.

The question is whether politicians and party officials with superdelegate votes will be loyal to a fellow politician or loyal to small-d democracy. The history of the superdelegates, which I trace in my upcoming book The Uprising, is one that designed the superdelegates to thwart democracy. In order to stop that this year, I have previously written that we need to start pressuring superdelegates to do what the Maine Democratic Party chairman did: pledge their superdelegate vote to whomever their voters support in primaries and caucuses.

This story about superdelegates led the Channel 2 news tonight. I was interviewed echoing what I have written before: namely, that the only way for "superdelegates" to really respect democracy is for them to follow the lead of the Maine Democratic Party chairman and simply vote the way their states' voters voted. You can bet this kind of story will be reported throughout the country - with the same kinds of issues popping up lots of places.

Some Dems wonder if Clinton-backer will be loyal to politics or principle

By Eli Stokols, News2

February 9, 2008

DENVER (KWGN) — Much has been made of the record turnout of Democratic voters in the presidential primaries and caucuses that have been held thus far. And many of those voters are growing increasingly concerned about a scenario in which their votes don't really matter.

"It really takes the power back out of our hands," said Margit Henderson, who was a precinct captain for Barack Obama on Super Tuesday and is now focusing on the superdelegates, the party elites who account for 20 percent of the total delegates available and, as a whole, 40 percent of the total needed to secure the party's nomination.

"The electoral participation is amazing," Henderson said. "And to have elected officials moving in a direction that isn't consistent with their constituents is disconcerting."

As both Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, separated by fewer than 100 delegates, begin to lobby superdelegates for their support, Henderson, and many other Colorado Democrats, are intensely focused on one superdelagate in particular: Rep. Diana DeGette.

"She's endorsed Hillary Clinton and her state went overwhelmingly for Barack Obama," said David Sirota, a Denver-based columnist and author. "I think that puts her, and people like her, in a very difficult position."

Sirota's forthcoming book, "The Uprising", includes a chapter about the superdelegate process, which he calls "undemocratic."

"We have 40 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination who are unaccountable to voters," Sirota said. "If the super delegates end up deciding the race, I think one side will feel -- correctly -- that the race was stolen from them."

If the race remains close, Denver could host a rare brokered convention, a scenario in which the winner of the pledged delegates who represent the popular vote could actually lose to the candidate who wins the most superdelegates.

Superdelegates are not legally bound to support any candidate. But, politically, many of the superdelegates who are also elected officials, could face ramifications for failing to fall in line with their constituents.

"I've supported DeGette for a long time and I'd like to be able to continue to support her," Henderson said. "But this is a make or break situation. She has a lot of power as a super delegate to silence the voices of the people who came out, who got babysitters, did everything we could to make our voices heard and it doesn't feel right that she override that."

Sirota believes that DeGette and other superdelegates, given a situation when their votes could decide the nomination, should stay true to their constituents.

"The question is who are you more loyal to?" Sirota said. "Are you more loyal to another politician? Or are you more loyal to the democratic spirit?"

Come August, other Colorado still-uncommitted superdelegates could have to make a tough choice.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a pledged Obama superdelegate, will likely face little scrutiny for his vote after Obama won 67 percent of the Colorado vote in Tuesday's caucus.

But, uncommitted superdelegates like Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall could be forced to pick sides.

Udall, who is running for the U.S. Senate and will be on November's ballot, could risk alienating at least a chunk of his electorate.

"I think will have a lot of ramifications for the individual superdelegates," Sirota said. "Most would probably rather not have to make a choice."

cross posted from credo action 

David Sirota is a full-time political journalist, best-selling author and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist living in Denver, Colorado. He blogs for Working Assets and the Denver Post's PoliticsWest website. He is a Senior Editor at In These Times magazine, which in 2006 received the Utne Independent Press Award for political coverage. His 2006 book, Hostile Takeover, was a New York Times bestseller, and is now out in paperback. He has been a guest on, among others, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and NPR. His writing, which draws on his extensive experience as a progressive political strategist, has appeared in, among others, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Baltimore Sun, the Nation magazine, the Washington Monthly and the American Prospect. Sirota was a twice-a-week guest on the Al Franken Show. He currently serves in a volunteer capacity as the co-chairperson of the Progressive States Network - a 501c3 nonpartisan organization.

In the years before becoming a full-time writer, Sirota worked as the press secretary for Vermont Independent Congressman Bernard Sanders, the chief spokesman for Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, the Director of Strategic Communications for the Center for American Progress, a campaign consultant for Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and a media strategist for Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont. He also previously contributed writing to the website of the California Democratic Party. For more on Sirota, see these profiles of him in Newsweek or the Rocky Mountain News. Feel free to email him at lists [at] davidsirota.com Note: this online publication represents Sirota's personal views, and not the official views of the organizations he works with.