[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by digamma

Jim,
The superdelegate story you are telling about the 2008 race isn't quite right. Obama amassed a ton of regular pledged delegates throughout the primary and caucus process. He didn't pass Clinton in superdelegate commitments until May of 2008 when most primaries and caucuses were over and he had a substantial delegate lead.

The superdelegates began switching at that point realizing the optics of a pledged delegate winner being defeated overall by superdelegate votes wasn't a great narrative for the convention.

Obama was better at overall "delegate math." His team focused on caucus states and states where they could win big and amass big delegate totals.

The drop out scenario with Clinton getting whatever deal she could was more a fait accompli.

This. Clinton and her campaign team played a lousy game and got beat.