wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
Monday, February 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM EST
The Superdelegate Dilemma
photo

And you thought the Clinton-Obama horse race was already hot — the candidates virtually tied for votes and delegates. Now the party is locked in a behind-the-scenes horse race for the votes of superdelegates.

Those are the 795 party elites — free agents — whose votes at the Democratic convention this summer will not necessarily be bound by the will of Democratic voters.

That’s right. Talk of backroom deals and a brokered convention is real. So is talk of a Democratic train wreck as the party heads into November.

This hour, On Point: the Democrats’ superdelegate dilemma.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Gary Hart, former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator from Colorado, now a professor at the University of Colorado and a supporter of Senator Barack Obama.

Elaine Kamarck, lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, former aide to President Bill Clinton, and a superdelegate supporting Senator Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Gwen Moore, Democratic congresswoman from Wisconsin and superdelegate supporting Barack Obama.

Matt Bai, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of “The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

 

Tags: , , , ,

 
 

Comments are closed.

Recent Shows
The Future of Aging
Thursday, November 5, 2009 image

A surge of new strategies to “manage” aging — from diets to testosterone. We’ll get the story.

Comments [31]
 
Climate, Congress & Copenhagen
Thursday, November 5, 2009 image

The Copenhagen climate conference is one month away. US climate action is going nowhere in Congress. We’ll look at the global implications of America’s domestic climate politics.

Comments [73]
On Point Blog
California, here we come! And we need your questions!

On Point is headed west!
No, no. Not for good. Only for one show. But it’s a very special show!  The NPR station in Thousand Oaks, California – KCLU – is celebrating their 15th anniversary. We’re lucky to have been on their airwaves for nearly seven years, and they invited us out west to host a live [...]

More » | Comments [9]
 
For Love of Science – or Money?

A new study supports the idea that U.S. dominance in engineering and science is threatened — but not for lack of training and education. It has more to do with a lack of social and economic incentives.

More » | Comments [5]
 
Matthew Hoh’s Resignation Letter

Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain, became the first foreign service official to publicly resign in protest over the war in Afghanistan. The move has generated a lot of reaction. You can read Hoh’s resignation letter, posted by The Washington Post, which reported on it here.
It’s a topic for our news roundtable today. What [...]

More » | Comments [4]