Former governor Howard Dean is going to use his superdelegate vote for Hillary Clinton, regardless of his state choosing Bernie Sanders in the primary.
In a snide response to a tweet, Dean stated that he didn’t need to explain his support for Clinton, even if it meant going against voters’ wishes:
@D_Born @BernieSanders Super delegates don't "represent people" I'm not elected by anyone. I'll do what I think is right for the country
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) March 5, 2016
The most troubling part of this tweet is that Howard Dean is correct — superdelegates don’t represent Democratic voters, but rather vote autonomously for whomever they choose. This is simply the first time any of the 700+ superdelegates have been so open about the intent of the superdelegate system.
Superdelegates are a relatively new invention of the Democratic Party. While it takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, one third of that number (and one sixth of the total delegate count) comes from party elites, like Democratic governors, members of Congress, well-connected Democratic state legislators, and state party officials. As the New Republic wrote, superdelegates were put in place to stop grassroots populist candidates, like George McGovern and Jimmy Carter, from winning the nomination over establishment-approved party insiders.
And Gov. Dean isn’t the only superdelegate to pledge to vote for Clinton regardless of what voters want. As I reported for US Uncut last month, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, also of Vermont, promised to use his superdelegate vote to support Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, even if Vermont Democrats overwhelmingly picked Sanders.
Dean, who ran a populist campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, was positioned to beat Massachusetts Senator John Kerry for the nomination until his campaign was buried by the awkward and legendary “Dean scream.” He now works as a lobbyist for the law firm Dentons, which represents the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Some of PhRMA’s top members include Merck and Pfizer — two of the most profitable prescription drug manufacturers in the world.
Both Democrats and Republicans have superdelegates, but ironically, Republican superdelegates are more Democratic than the Democrats’ superdelegates. While Democratic superdelegates are autonomous and make up 15 percent of the total delegates needed to win the nomination, Republican superdelegates only make up 7 percent of the delegates required to win the Republican nomination, and each one of those superdelegates must vote for the candidate their respective state voted for.
The post In One Tweet, Howard Dean Reveals Why Superdelegates Should be Abolished appeared first on U.S. Uncut.