Even Bill Clinton is a super delegate Geesh!! Among New York's superdelegates this year are Bill Clinton, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, most of the state's U.S. representatives, as well as several prominent members of the DNC.
Maybe the system really is rigged
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If Bernie Sanders wins the New York Democratic primary, some superdelegates vow to back Hillary Clinton anyway
BY Adam Edelman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, March 29, 2016, 5:08 PM
 Ralph Freso/Getty ImagesEvery single New York superdelegate reached by the Daily News said they would never support the Brooklyn-born Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Maybe the system really is rigged
At least a half dozen New York State superdelegates who have already decided to support Hillary Clinton said Tuesday they would maintain their allegiance to the former secretary of state, regardless of the results of the Empire State's primary in two weeks.
Even if Sanders were to win the April 19 New York Democratic primary, when a whopping 291 delegates are at stake, or was, in any case, able to pull even with or ahead of Clinton in the overall delegate total, every single New York superdelegate reached by the Daily News said they would never support the Brooklyn-born Vermont senator.
"Absolutely not," Elizabeth Stanley, the chief of staff for Westchester Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) told The News, when asked if she could see "any potential situation at all" resulting in her boss switching her support to Sanders.
"Hillary Clinton is Congresswoman Lowey's friend, colleague and her constituent, and she is behind her 100%," Stanley said.
 Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesHillary Clinton has 469 pledged superdelegates.
Spokespeople for another five New York state superdelegates — who can pledge, and withdraw, their allegiance to a nominee based on nothing other than their own personal preference — also said their bosses would never pull their support from Clinton, but all spoke anonymously for fear of insulting either campaign.
The offices for another six known New York state Democratic superdelegates wouldn't comment or didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The iron-willed insistence of so many Empire State pols already in the Hillary camp to not budge from their support of the Democratic front-runner, however, speaks volumes to the difficulty faced by the Sanders campaign — or any political outsider — in securing the party's nomination this year, and every year.
But that challenge isn't merely a product of Clinton having earned so many supporters; it's also because of the complicated set-up of a nominating process that takes into account the desire of party bosses almost as much as the expressed vote of Democratic voters.
 J. Scott Applewhite/APRep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., is friends with Clinton, so she can count on her superdelegate vote.
While the majority of Democratic delegates in New York, and across the U.S. (about 4,000 in all), are "pledged delegates" — typically elected state and local officials — who are awarded proportionally, and bound, to the candidate who wins their state's primary, there are across the U.S. approximately another 712 superdelegates — unelected delegates who are free to support any candidate for the nomination at the party's convention
These superdelegates — who include elected officials like members of the U.S. House and Senate, sitting Democratic governors and the Vice President, as well as members of the Democratic National Committee and "distinguished party leaders" that include former Democratic dignitaries like ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents, ex-presidential nominees, ex-senators and ex-House leaders — can pledge, and withdraw, their allegiance to a nominee based on nothing other than their own personal preference.
Among New York's superdelegates this year are Bill Clinton, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, most of the state's U.S. representatives, as well as several prominent members of the DNC.
To secure the Democratic nomination, either Clinton or Sanders must secure 2,383 total delegates before the party's national convention in Philadelphia this July.
 PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty ImagesSens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are superdelegates this year.
In spite of Sanders winning 15 states — including some by an 80-20 margin — over 94% of the 498 superdelegates have said they are backing Clinton anyway. Clinton currently has 469 superdelegate votes to just 29 for Sanders.
Right now, if Sanders had the superdelegate votes that Clinton currently has, he'd be winning this race handily with 1,444 total delegates to Clinton's 1,272.
Currently, Clinton has 1,712, total delegates, compared with 1,004 for Sanders. Excluding superdelegates (Clinton has 469 to Sanders' 29), however, Clinton's lead is only 1,243 to 975 — a narrower difference that has prompted the Sanders campaign to say it will try to persuade many of them to jump ship and support him.
But the comments Tuesday from those very superdelegates suggest such a task, at least in New York, is likely daunting, if not totally impossible.
 John Locher/APBill Clinton is also a superdelegate and will almost certainly back his wife.
The Sanders campaign, nevertheless, remains optimistic.
"Yes, Hillary Clinton has a substantial lead but there are still hundreds who have yet to make a public declaration of support," Sanders senior advisor Tad Devine told The News.
"We recognize that a lot of them have already made up their mind … and we respect that. We just think that if we can do well on the merits, we can get people to do what we feel is the right thing," Devine added.
Sanders, though, still faces a serious uphill climb just to perform strongly in his birth state, let alone win it.
Despite three huge blowout wins over Clinton Saturday, in the Alaska, Hawaii and Washington State caucuses, and victories in five of the last six Democratic contests, Sanders trails Clinton in New York 63% to 29%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of recent polling in the state. |
