The Supervoters

Rachel Binah, an innkeeper on the Mendocino Coast, turned to Democratic politics more than 30 years ago to defend her beloved region from offshore oil development.

Binah, 65, has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1988. But nothing in her experience has prepared her for the role she could play in nominating the next Democrat to run for president.

She finds herself, a trifle uncomfortably, among the most powerful political players in the 2008 presidential campaign.

She's one of the Democratic Party's 796 superdelegates, a previously obscure group of elected officials and party activists who could wind up picking the winner in the close and increasingly contentious race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

While the other 3,253 delegates are obliged to vote at the party's nominating convention according to the popular vote in state primaries and caucuses, the superdelegates are unpledged -- free to vote as they see fit.

"The ultimate free agents," said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University associate professor of political science.

With Obama and Clinton running a hair apart -- 1,280 delegates for him; 1,218 for her, according to the latest Associated Press count -- a vortex is forming around the superdelegates who might make the final choice between the first woman and first black man to run as major contenders for the presidency.

If the candidates remain virtually tied through the remaining primaries, the nearly 800 superdelegates would have the numbers to determine the outcome.

Binah, a Little River resident now retired from innkeeping, calls herself "an ordinary person who happens to care about the issues."

She resents being labeled as part of a powerful party elite that could overrule the popular will of primary voters in states across the country. More than

4.3 million votes were cast either for Clinton or Obama in California alone.

"We don't want to tear the party apart," Binah said. "We want to be united enough to win the general election."

Like state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, another superdelegate with a North Coast connection, Binah thinks the nominee may be obvious by the time 4,049 Democratic delegates convene in Denver at the end of August.

"A lot of us don't want to leap ahead with hypotheticals," said Migden, whose district includes Marin and part of Sonoma County.

The superdelegates, including 71 of California's 441-member Democratic delegation, still hold a mathematical hammer. Their 796 votes are 40 percent of the 2,025 needed for the nomination.

And that is an increasing concern for those who fear the nomination could be determined by a few party faithful susceptible to backroom lobbying.

"My vote isn't as powerful as I thought it was," said Joan Samuelson of Healdsburg, part of a groundswell of dissatisfaction over the superdelegates. "Whatever horse trading they do I have no control over."

Samuelson, a Democratic voter since 1972, said the Clinton-Obama race has energized many young voters who could be disillusioned if party insiders ultimately seal the deal.

Democracy for America, the political action committee founded by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean after his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2004, is fanning the superdelegate controversy. Dean is now Democratic National Committee chairman; his brother Jim Dean runs Democracy for America.

"Superdelegates have the power to overturn the popular vote and crown a different winner," Charles Chamberlain, political director, says on the group's Web site. "We can't let that happen."

In its first 48 hours, DFA's online petition -- calling on superdelegates to "let the voters decide our Democratic nominee" -- collected more than 38,000 signatures.

The concern is justified, SSU's McCuan said. He noted that superdelegates could play "an inordinately powerful role" in selecting a Democratic nominee.

The Republicans have no such dilemma, with Arizona Sen. John McCain holding a virtual lock on the nomination, with 600 more delegates than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The GOP uses a winner-take-all formula for awarding delegates, while the Democrats' system is proportional.

Superdelegates were created by the Democrats after 1980, when then-President Jimmy Carter nearly lost the nomination to Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. The superdelegates are "designed to protect the established candidate, the perceived frontrunner," McCuan said.

Until 2008, the superdelegates remained largely invisible, he said. Clinton began the current campaign as the obvious front-runner, but now "the worm has turned," McCuan said, and the Democrats have "two viable front-runners."

But superdelegates still may not matter.

"It's too early to tell," said Bob Mulholland, California Democratic Party campaign adviser and one of 33 California superdelegates who are Democratic National Committee members.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and 30 members of Congress, including Reps. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma and Mike Thompson of St. Helena, also are superdelegates.

Superdelegates will "vote their conscience," Mulholland said. "I don't even know why it's an issue."

Binah, who has publicly endorsed Clinton, said that won't determine her vote at the convention. "I take this responsibility very seriously. I want to do it right," she said.

Migden, who has made no endorsement, said the superdelegates will be vigilant. "You've got to live the moment and watch the campaigns," she said.

Ultimately, the superdelegates will do what's needed to achieve an unruffled, albeit boring, national convention, McCuan said.

"They are cold, calculating, smart individuals," he said. "They'll do what they think is best for the party."

You can reach Staff Writer

Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.