Iowan secured spot for superdelegates

DES MOINES - An Iowan championed the idea of superdelegates, the piece of the presidential nominating process that is drawing fire from Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and his supporters.

Charles Manatt, who grew up in Audubon and died in 2011, was chairman of the national Democratic Party in the early 1980s. He oversaw the introduction of superdelegates into the party's presidential nominating process.

The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are nominated by party members called delegates, the vast majority of whom are required to vote according to the results of their state's primary election or caucus.

But the Democrats' process also includes votes cast by superdelegates, who typically are elected officials and other party leaders not bound by election or caucus results. Superdelegates may vote for any candidate they choose.

This year, Hillary Clinton holds a narrow lead over Sanders in pledged Democratic delegates, those bound by election and caucus results. But she is a near lock to soon clinch the nomination, thanks in part to her commanding lead in superdelegates - better than a 12 to 1 ratio, according to the Associated Press.

Sanders: ‘undemocratic'

Sanders has criticized the role of superdelegates and called for changes.

'There's something absurd when I get 46 percent of the delegates that come from real contests, real elections, and 7 percent of the superdelegates,” Sanders said this week on CNN's 'State of the Union.”

'I think we need a serious discussion about the role of superdelegates,” he said.

1983 was start

Superdelegates were introduced into the Democrats' nominating process in 1983, the result of a party evaluation commissioned by Manatt. The party was exploring ways to increase national convention attendance by elected officials, who did not have a say in the nominating process.

Democratic leaders also still were reeling from George McGovern's landslide loss to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election. McGovern earned the nomination after rules changes weakened the influence of elected officials and party leaders.

Manatt appointed then-North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt to lead a commission to study the party's presidential nominating process, and part of the commission's solution was superdelegates, giving elected officials and party leaders a presidential vote.

‘MOST COMMITTED'

Manatt was born in Chicago but grew up on a farm near Audubon. He married his high school sweetheart, Kathleen Klinkefus, graduated from Iowa State and obtained a law degree from George Washington University. He lived most of his adult life in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

He defended superdelegates in 2008 while back in Iowa to receive an award from Iowa State University, his alma mater. The role of superdelegates also was debated during that year's protracted primary duel between Clinton and Barack Obama.

'I speak especially about public officials. They are the most knowledgeable; they are the most committed,” Manatt said at the time, according to an AP report. 'They are the best for peer review and understanding the talents of those who would run for president.”

Role exaggerated

Manatt's son, Dan, of Bethesda, Md., a documentary filmmaker, said his father's interest in party rules was cultivated in Iowa.

'He noticed going to the Iowa State College Democrats' convention and the state party conventions that the party activists and the lawyers who knew the rules were really the ones who were at an advantage,” he said. 'So, very early on, he was drawn to the inside party politics. ...

'He saw how the party insiders and the lawyers who know the rules really can have a big say in things.”

Dan Manatt said because superdelegates are yet to play a direct role in nominating a presidential candidate - it appears Clinton also will be able to secure this year's nomination without them - he thinks criticism is exaggerated.

'To some extent, I think all the hand-wringing is a little much ado about nothing in the Democratic Party,” he said.