Setting The Record Straight : 

Clinton is NOT Currently

 The Democratic Nominee

by Adam Hall
clinton-sandersThe issue of whether Hillary Clinton has won
the Democratic Presidential nomination yet
or not boils down to a singular misconception.
The Associated Press yesterday released an
official announcement declaring Hillary Clinton
the winner of her hard fought primary battle
with Vermont senator Bernie Sanders
saying, “Hillary Clinton will become the
first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing
commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.”
Explaining their surprise decision to announce Clinton the winner, even before California –
the largest state in the union – had cast their votes, the Associated Press commented,
“The former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady reached the 2,383 delegates
 needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive
 weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates.”
The fact of the matter is, however, that while Hillary Clinton is considerably ahead of
Bernie Sanders in the delegate count, she has not yet reached the required 2,383 delegates
to clinch the nomination. While Bernie Sanders has accumulated 1,525 delegates, Clinton
 is ahead with 1,812. These results are applicable previous to tonight’s primaries
in California, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Jersey and Montana.
Why the difference between the AP’s delegate count and the actual version? Superdelegates.
It appears as though multiple conventional news providers  fundamentally misunderstand the
technicalities of the Democratic nominating process. While pledged delegates are won
through the accumulation of votes in primaries and caucuses (and are bound to the candidate
that they pledge to represent), superdelegates – party officials and elected representatives –
are unbound and don’t vote until the party’s convention on July 25 – 28th.
While 571 superdelegates have theoretically pledged to support Hillary Clinton, they are
 not bound to do so and can change their mind if they see fit. Therefore, they still have
the ability to switch candidates should they feel compelled to do so. Any number of
occurrences could cause a sufficient number of superdelegates to switch away from
Clinton to her opponent, causing Sanders to win the nomination. Such occurrences include
a possible FBI indictment of Clinton, resulting from her use of a private email server during
her tenure as Secretary of State.
In fact, the reasoning for the creation of superdelegates was based on the idea that they
would intervene in exceptional circumstances to sway the nominating process. Similarly,
the process of superdelegates switching from one candidate to another is not unprecedented.
 In fact, during the last Democratic Presidential primary process in 2008 between Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton, while Clinton had previously won the support of the majority
of superdelegates, most of them switched their preferences prior to the actual convention.
An important distinction to make between this current race and the 2008 one however, is
that Obama won in the pledged delegates total and the popular vote, while Sanders is
currently trailing Clinton by approximately 2.5 million votes. With this fact in mind, the
 idea of superdelegates switching to Sanders is far less likely, close to inconceivable.
Additionally, it is worth noting that superdelegates have never previously decided an
election and the majority of them have always sided with the winner of the popular vote.
Yet still, the Associated Press’ statement that Clinton has already secured the nomination
is misleading and disingenuous, because while superdelegates may have expressed their
 support for one candidate or another, they won’t vote until the convention in Philadelphia in July.