Hoo dat masked man dehr? He be a sooperdelegate, man! And dehr be 796 a'dem peeples ...

While chatting with my brother Richard from Connecticut this afternoon, we began to touch on that "untouchable" subject, the Democratic Party's superdelegates who are expected to throw the convention and the nomination Hillary's way later in the year--no matter what happened on "super" [sic] Tuesday, or what might happen in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, plus other states and ... oh yes ... Puerto Rico later in the spring and summer.

Is this really a one-person, one-vote process or will the above masked men (maybe a woman or two) really step in and sweep the nomination away from Barack Obama even if he amasses the majority of actual votes and "pledged" delegates?

Hopefully, the superdelegates themselves will step in and insure that the democratic (lower case "d") process will win out sometime before 20% of the delegates at the convention (more than California and New York's combined) step forward as "unpledged" but then go ahead like pompous know-it-alls and decide who the nominee will be after almost a year of primaries and caucuses countrywide.

Mind you, I am a "Hillary delegate" myself here in Washington, having won that distinction in a fair ballot at the local caucus ... but I'll be the first person to cry "FOUL" if the nomination is stolen from Barack or anyone else at the National Convention.

And oh yes, while we're at it, let's do away with this antiquated "superdelegate" status in future primary seasons--and at future conventions.

But, OWOTO super-D's: at least agree to cast your votes unanimously for whoever is the winner of this year's entire primary season not counting the superdelegate numbers.

And while you're at it, all delegates: find an equitable way to seat delegations from Michigan and Florida. Why should Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have a built-in advantage at the starting gate?