Most election years the Democratic National Convention is a ritual of pomp and circumstance. While it does serve a tangible purpose in that certain protocol are followed in order to formally nominate a presidential candidate, it has a deeper symbolic meaning. It is intended to be a moment for the party to coalesce around a candidate, pull together, and pledge party-wide support. For the candidate, it is a moment for he or she to officially launch a national campaign in the national spotlight.

However, with each passing Democratic caucus and primary it looks more and more like this year's Democratic National Convention will be a contentious, back-room battle for superdelegates. With primary season drawing to a close, neither Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton will capture the 2024 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. This means the nomination will be decided by the superdelegates, approximately 800 party leaders who also cast delegate votes at the convention.

The superdelegates may find themselves in a unique position in August. On the one hand, the superdelegates have Hilary Clinton. Senator Clinton has been involved in politics for several decades now. Over those years she has worked with and befriended a wide number of important party members. These individuals include other senators, representatives, governors, mayors, and party organizers. In other words: superdelegates. Clearly Clinton is more of an insider when it comes to the superdelegates. In fact, she held a wide lead in superdelegate support even before the primaries began. But, if they choose to nominate her, there's a good chance they will be choosing to overturn the popular vote, a move that would be highly controversial.

On the other hand, the superdelegates must consider Barack Obama. He is a fresh face for a party. His rousing speeches get young people excited about the political process and active in the Democratic party. The party as a whole must consider the future when casting their superdelegate votes. Plus, many of these elected officials realize that support from Barack Obama for their own election campaigns down the road might mean reaching a whole new voting audience. He seems to be the candidate who is energizing more voters. This is clear by his dominance in election caucuses. While primary voting is relatively painless for voters, caucusing can take hours of people's time and requires a deeper voter commitment.

It's likely that the 2008 Democratic National Convention will be filled with drama. The many superdelegates will be forced to make a choice: support their friend or support the popular vote winner. And an evening that usually consists of formalities, speeches, and party hoopla, could quickly descend into bitter in-fighting and party division. But for the sake of the November election, Democrats are hoping that won't happen.

Learn more about this author, Sean Curtis.
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