An Impromptu History of Superdelegates Will Rice Feb. 11, 2008 Party regulars traditionally chose presidential candidates, and did so at national conventions, which were originally known as a "nominating conventions." Far from the gaudy coronations of recent decades, these early conclaves were where the actual business of picking a candidate happened, based on all the messy aspects of politics: who owed who what, as well as who was thought to have the best chance to win. It usually took dozens of ballots to hit on what was often a compromise candidate (party hacks like Abraham Lincoln). Primaries (called "preference primaries") were held as early as the turn of the the 20th Century in certain "good government" states like Wisconsin, but the results were viewed as advisory rather than binding. After the tumultuous 1968 Democratic convention, at which Hubert Humphrey was nominated despite not having entered, let alone won, any primaries, a new guard in the party called for reforms. The result was a committee headed by South Dakota senator George McGovern, which called for an open nominating system, in which Democrats voting in primaries and caucuses would have the power. McGovern benefitted from his own reforms by capturing the 1972 nomination, over the insiders' choice, Ed Muskie. But McGovern lost 49 states to Richard Nixon (Watergate-era bumper sticker: "Don't Blame Me: I'm From Massachusetts"). Then another outsider, Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, again got one over on the party bosses by winning what were then obscure caucuses in Iowa and parlaying the publicity into a string of primary victories and the nomination in 1976. Carter did barely beat Gerald Ford, but in 1980 became the first one-term president in half a century when he lost 42 states to Ronald Reagan. "Enough!" growled the party insiders around their cigars. "Primary voters wouldn't know a winning candidate if he bit them all in their collective, idealistic ass." Be reasonable, they told the bewildered Democrats: you don't vote doctors or plumbers their licenses; you rely on experts to certify they know what they're doing. So too it should be with presidential candidates. Let us use our political expertise to at least help pick our party standard bearer; after all, we're the ones who have to work with him if he gets elected. So were born the superdelegates: governors, senators, congressmen, party officials. They didn't take all the power back, just a little. Just enough, it was thought, to keep starry-eyed primary favorites in check. How has it worked out? Superdelegates made their first appearance in '84 and were big backers of Walter Mondale, a Humphrey protege and about as regular a party man as you can get. And then he lost 49 states to Ronald Reagan ("Don't Blame Me: I'm From Minnesota"). Oh, well. Shall we just draw lots?