Dems Consider Downgrading Role Of Superdelegates In Primaries

The Caucus:

A group of Democratic leaders said Wednesday that it has recommended revamping the party’s presidential primary calendar and eliminating the much-talked-about superdelegates from the presidential nomination process.

The Democratic Change Commission — established in the wake of the grueling 2008 nomination battle between President Obama and his now secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton — has proposed that the elected officials and party higher-ups known as superdelegates cast their votes based on state primary or caucus results. In recent battles for the Democratic nomination, superdelegates, also called unpledged delegates, were not obligated to follow the primary or caucus result in their state.

“Openness, fairness, and accessibility are central to our ideals as Democrats, and the commission’s recommendations to reform the delegate selection process will ensure that voters’ voices and preferences are paramount to our process of nominating a Presidential candidate,” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement.

The commission, a group of 36 headed by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, also recommended that voting not begin until at least Feb. 1 in future presidential election years. In 2008, Iowa held its caucuses on Jan. 3, while the New Hampshire primary was held on Jan. 8.

The commission’s recommendations now head to the D.N.C.’s Rules and Bylaws Committee