As the Clinton and Obama campaigns hit the homestretch in their neck-and-neck race for the Democratic nomination, it’s becoming increasingly likely that, barring compromise, the party’s superdelegatesâ??elected officials and party leaders who aren’t bound by the choices of primary votersâ??will decide the winner. Not surprisingly, this has caused an epidemic of hand-wringing among political experts, who worry that this state of affairs is dangerously similar to 1968, when a furious battle within the Democratic Party over two popular candidates, Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey, spilled from the Democratic National Convention onto the streets of Chicago.
Quoted: Jeremi Suri, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin.