http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOa3sXjqE4

Super delegates you say. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they'd deliberately run senator Clin-ton to lose and let McCain keep the war machine grinding away another…

And thank you for confirming my recollection... I kept thinking it was familiar!

Interesting philosophical issue is raised here around the role of delegates, whether super of NZ Members of…

It's another one of those really weird things in American politics...

As far as I can make out the story with Florida was –

1. Florida Dems decide they want a bigger share of the action and move to legislate their primary forward.

2. That legisaltion gets to be an…

It seems to me that there would be a good case to just run the Florida and Michigan primaries again
Then there would be an uproar

I'm not sure there would be an uproar, but there just isn't enough time to do this.

Primaries are organised (and paid for) by…

Has there been a case, similar to the one that you described, where the super-delegates effectively changed the nomination, and that nominated person went on to win?

No.

The nomination didn't used to be decided so openly through primaries – up until 1968 it was largely decided by party insiders.…

Candidate A beats Candidate B by a narrow margin. But Candidate A is not inaugurated because Congress and The House of Representatives have 'Superdelegate' status and it is their job to question "is this the best person for the job?" and they give their votes to Candidate B.

Imagine the…

Could it be that we're seeing series six of The West Wing play out in real life? I mean, insurgent candidate with an inspirational message and an ethnic minority background, up against experienced insider candidate.

West Wing writers have recently confirmed that the character of Santos was based on Barrack…

I am not sure why your post is titled "Hillary marches fourth"

A subtle distinction – but it was Hillary Marches fourth – the upper-case M pointing to the date March 4th – when Texas and Ohio hold their primaries (both pretty much must wins for Clinton).

Damn you Sarah Silverman (NSFW)

Dear oh dear oh dear. Still wiping a tear away about the 'close but no cigar' bit....

According to the Florida Democratic Party's website it was the amendments filed in an effort to change the January 29th date to forestall the DNC's sanctions that were turned down by the Florida Republicans.

It's another one of those really weird things in American politics, that republicans – presumably through…

... A role they played in 1984, when they gave the nomination to insider Walter Mondale over insurgent Gary Hart. ...

And Mondale went on to lose. Has there been a case, similar to the one that you described, where the super-delegates effectively changed the nomination, and that nominated person…

According to the Florida Democratic Party's website it was the amendments filed in…

you can't change the rules to suit you after the game has started

ah but you can – all you have to do is put this before the Rules Committee – they can decide to seat Florida – that's well within the rules.

Certainly the Dems have an idiosyncratic method…

they act as guardians, to prevent a candidate in a close race from securing the nomination if it's not in the interests of the party.

The role of the superdelegate is to question "is this the best person for the job?", "does this person – popular within the democratic party…

Could it be that we're seeing series six of The West Wing play out in real life? I mean, insurgent candidate with an inspirational…

I understand that moving your primary forward helps your state and gives more prominence to your issues etc.

Given that they were forewarned of the consequences however – isn't having a later primary better than…