A superdelegate is a person appointed to state delegations after voters have chosen among delegates to Democratic conventions in primary elections. While most elected delegates have pledged to support a specific candidate on the first ballot, some run on “uncommitted slates.” Superdelegates comprise approximately 20 percent of the number of delegates necessary to designate a presidential nominee. After the chaos that ensued at the Democratic national convention in Chicago (both inside the hall and out) and the circus activists committed to peacenik George McGovern put on in 1972, pressure arose within the party to designate a certain number of grown-ups to maintain at least a semblance of decorum. Party elders became apoplectic when a college student committed to McGovern defeated Averell Harriman for delegate in the New York primary, a McGovernite majority denied Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and his delegation seating at the convention, efforts by feminists to foist a Texas politician Cissy Farenthold onto McGovern’s ticket, delaying McGovern’s delivery of Bob Shrum’s prepared acceptance speech into the wee hours of the morning.
After a little-known peanut farmer from the state of Georgia by the name of Jimmy Carter won the nomination by taking advantage of rules that, for the first time allocated delegates on a proportional basis, party elders decided to take action. (“Jimmy Carter cannot be president,” proclaimed the same Averell Harriman. “I don’t know him.”) By 1984, Democrats decided that there would be a sufficient number of Harrimans at their convention even if voters decided otherwise. In the ensuing years, an increasing number of party big shots, eager to escape the embarrassment of having their neighbors reject them at the polls, opted to attend as superdelegates. These voter-shy delegates can be present and former officials, party donors, celebrities, or seasoned political operatives.
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