http://demconwatch.blogspot
I just learned how the whole process works (and if I've got something wrong, let me know!!)-
There are 4,049 delegates - so a candidate needs 2,025 to win. There are 3,253 delegates who are assigned based on the results of the primaries and then there are 796 super delegates, which includes every Democrat in the Senate, House, former presidents, former Speakers of the House and Senate Majority Leaders and other DNC officials, etc. They get to vote for whoever they want, and make up about 20% of the vote. This was an effort by the Democratic Party years back to give the Party itself a bit more control over the nominating process - raises the prospects for smoke-filled back-room dealing, but nevertheless, that's how they do it.
Some of these superdelegates have already announced who they've endorsed, and many others remain unpledged, and people have different philosophies about how they should vote - should they simply represent the view of their state and vote for who their state wanted, or go for the national leader, or vote their own conscience? The site above is tracking those endorsements as well. Hillary's winning the superdelegate endorsements 223-126, so another 450 or so remain uncommitted by choice.
Not surprisingly, Obama and Hillary are now pretty aggressively courting these superdelegates - the Clintons pull out Bill (a superdelegate himself) to call some of the big shots!
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