A reader asks about Super Delegates

Here's a question that was emailed to me:

Mr. Bold

Is it realistic that Super Delegates can determine the Dem nominee? I think that the leader after all the primaries are completed should be the nominee. I would expect very bad feelings if the Super Delegates did not endorse the overall primary leader. An energized Dem party should easily win the general election. A splintered Dem party might put the splintered Repub party back in the race.

An opinion from the heartland

Is it realistic? No probably not. I don't think any voter Republican or Democratic would like the idea of a party's elite determining a nominee that also didn't properly win the majority of the regular delegates. How ticked off the voter would be would probably be proportional to how close the delegate counts were.

You go on and speculate that a splintered Dem party would put the Republicans back in the race.

I don't know about that. Most Democrats are happy with both candidates. The Democratic Party right now is-from my dedicated Dem point of view-remarkably united. I'm not saying there won't be acrimony in the future, but right now it's not trending that way. That should, I think, ameliorate any bad will generated by a overturn of a delegate majority by the super delegates.

There are primaries today and tomorrow. I just hope there's a pretty clear winner for the Dems.