There's an interesting discussion going on right now at Newsvine concerning the possible lack of mathematical support for the media's depiction of the Democratic presidential race as a deadlock. The author of the initial post on the topic asserts that Sen. Barack Obama needs only to win a little more than 43% of the remaining delegates to secure the party's nomination and that he's already favored to win in most of the remaining states. It follows, then, that Sen. Obama is all but certain to be the nominee.

In the comments, however, there is some debate as to whether this calculation accurately reflects the party's superdelegates and the impact they could have in swinging the vote in Sen. Hillary Clinton's favor at the convention. In recent weeks there have been reports of superdelegates defecting from Clinton to Obama, though much of this occurred before Clinton's much-hyped primary victories on Ohio and Texas. In short, the consensus of the Newsvine commenters is that while Obama seems likely to have more regular delegates, the superdelegates will determine the race's outcome.

So what happens if the superdelegates give Clinton the victory? I would expect the party to receive a lot of criticism from voters and the media for allowing high ranking party officials to hijack the primary from ordinary citizens. This kind of pressure could result in the party opting to do away with its superdelegate system by the time the 2012 election cycle rolls around.

Perhaps the best way for the party to preserve its current system is to make sure the superdelegates vote accurately reflects popular opinion, asking them to vote for the candidate who wins the most regular delegates. If that ends up being the case, however, it pretty much renders superdelgates powerless and negates any purpose the system is alleged to serve.

This analysis, however, requires the belief that if a candidate ever won the popular vote but lost the election itself based upon an arcane system of delegates, then America would be forced to change its electoral system due to overwhelming pressure from the people.

Ask Al Gore if he believes that.