Superdelegates likely to decide Democratic nominee

After Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) wins Tuesday, some New Jersey voters are upset that superdelegates will likely decide the Democratic presidential nominee. Clinton won the Texas and Ohio

News 12 Staff

Mar 6, 2008, 12:05 AM

Updated 6,166 days ago

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After Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) wins Tuesday, some New Jersey voters are upset that superdelegates will likely decide the Democratic presidential nominee.
Clinton won the Texas and Ohio primaries, as well as the Rhode Island race, while Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took Vermont. Obama currently leads the delegate count with 1,257 to Clinton's 1,127.
The Democratic candidate needs 2,025 delegates to become the party's presidential nominee, and some politicians argue superdelegates ? not voters ? will decide the close contest.
In an election year when young voters turned out in record numbers, some are becoming disillusioned. "We're finally old enough to vote," says Rutgers senior Laura Gladney. "We can go out and make a difference out there, and at the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference."
The nearly 800 superdelegates, who aren?t obligated to vote for one specific candidate, are appointed by the Democratic Party. Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and the head of the state Democratic Committee, Joe Cryan, are among New Jersey's high-profile superdelegates.
"The voter has made the call, and frankly, the voter has made a split decision," Cryan says. "Somebody has to make the call at some point."
Corzine, who supports Clinton, has called for a do-over in Florida and Michigan to allow delegates in those states to be seated at the nominating convention. The Democratic National Committee disqualified the states when they moved up their primaries.
AP wire reports contributed to this story.