Far from being Hillary Clinton's coronation, the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary have shown the strength of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' progressive brand of politics among the Democrat Party's faithful.
Losing Iowa by only a handful of precincts and winning New Hampshire by a twenty-two point margin, Sanders has succeeded in not only putting his vision for America on the map, but in forcing a fight for the party's nomination.
However, when you take a look at the two candidate's delegate counts, Hillary Clinton is cruising to a comfortable 394-44 lead over her opponent despite barely winning one state and being crushed in the other.
Why is this?
The primary process is a race for delegates and - on the Democratic side - superdelegates. Of the 2,382 delegates needed to win the nomination, most are obtained in the primary voting or caucus process. But 712 of the delegates are superdelegates, and they are from the party establishment. They consist of governors, senators, members of the House, members of the Democratic National Committee and former presidents. They can choose whichever candidate they like.
Aside from the 32 delegates she won in Iowa and New Hampshire (4 less than Sanders), Clinton has received the support of over half of all super delegates nationwide, while the Vermont Independent has drawn only eight super delegates to his cause.
Perhaps more disturbing, with 3,975 non-super delegates up for grabs in the remaining contests, Mrs. Clinton only has to win 51% of them to secure the nomination. Meanwhile, Mr. Sanders has a more difficult road ahead, as he would have to claim almost 59% of that same total to become the Democrat nominee.
The worst part about this process? The remaining 342 unpledged super delegates have the complete, unchecked power to make either candidate's road to Philadelphia that much easier.
For instance, for every two dozen super delegates that Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Sanders were to add to their total delegate count would result in them needing approximately 1.5% less of the allocated delegates awarded by the remaining caucuses and primaries to win the race.
Or, in other words, for every super delegate either candidate receives, the fewer votes they need to obtain from the electorate.
Talk about taking the word "democratic" out of the Democratic Party.
