media

Last night, CNN’s John King had the following to say about media reports of delegate counts:

"I think the best thing for us to do as analysts going forward is take the super delegates out of the equation for a moment. They might matter hugely at the end. But over the next several days and weeks, just look at pledged delegates, because that is what the elder statesmen of the Democratic Party will be looking at. And he is beginning to open up a lead there."

Now, on the front page of CNN’s Election Center website, for the first time pledged delegate totals are shown separately from the overall delegate totals. Victory! Thanks CNN! Most of all, thank you BlogPac members, since all of this is almost precisely how 655 of you requested that CNN report delegate counts back on Friday. It might seem small, but winning is still fun. Sign up for BlogPac’s email list at Blogpac.com, and join in the fun.

Regardless of who you support in the race for President, in a race as important as this one for the Democratic nomination, the media owes us a fair and accurate reporting of vote totals, including delegate totals. It's highly likely that unelected superdelegates will end up choosing the Democratic Party nominee, so how they are treated in media coverage is especially sensitive.

It's important that media outlets distinguish between pledged delegates, who are chosen by voters and caucus goers, and so-called superdelegates, who are unelected and independent. A pledged delegate is someone representing voters and caucus-goers and they will vote for the candidate for whom they were elected to vote. A super delegate can make their own decision, and change their mind. John Lewis just did so today, changing his vote (but not his endorsement) from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.