MB Civic

To The Editor:

Re Senator Hillary Clinton’s continued presence in the Democratic race, Tim Russert asks, “What is the rationale? What do we say to the undeclared superdelegates…?” (“TV’s Pundits Pronouce Judgment: It’s Over,” May 8 ). Setting aside whether anyone should even care what the pundits think, here is what I would say to the superdelegates:

-If the Democratic Party had a winner-take-all system like the Republican Party, right now we would all be saying “Barack who?,” since Senator Clinton would have sewn up the nomination weeks ago.

-The states that Senator Clinton has won represent 251 electoral college votes, while the states Senator Obama has won represent only 217. And no matter how one may feel about the electoral college system, it is ultimately what determines who wins the general election.

-Senator Clinton is less than one million popular votes behind Senator Obama – an insignificant number given that over 31 million people have voted. And if we include the Florida votes (since all candidates were on the ballot there), Senator Obama’s lead drops to 700,000.

-An analysis of the popular vote shows that, in some states in which Senator Obama did well but lost (e.g., Pennsylvania, Indiana), and even in some states in which he won (e.g., Missouri), Senator Clinton carried the overwhelming majority of districts, with Senator Obama obtaining almost all of his votes in only a handful of districts with large population centers or college campuses.

-Senator Clinton’s “coat-tails” (i.e., ability to bring other Democrats along with her in this election and the midterm election) are as long or longer than Senator Obama’s.

-The most recent national polls show that Senator Clinton would do better than Senator Obama against Senator John McCain in the general election – and her numbers have been growing while his have been decreasing.

Senator Obama and the pundits would have us believe that the superdelegate system was created simply to validate pledged delegates and/or popular vote. But that is not their function. While certainly taking those two things into account, the superdelegates’ are empowered to consider many other aspects of a presidential race, including some of those noted above. It will be a serious dereliction of their unique office to do otherwise.

Ian Alterman
New York City