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May 6, 2008 9:33 am US/Eastern

Dem. Leaders Wrangle Over Seating Fla. Delegates

MIAMI (CBS4) ― In the Democratic presidential race, neither Sens. Clinton nor Obama can secure the nomination without the support of the roughly 800 superdelegates, over 100 have not yet committed to either candidate. But for a Florida superdelegate to be counted, he or she must be seated at the Democratic convention this summer, and Florida's delegates are working on trying to do just that.

Florida delegates first have to be seated before they can make their voices heard, and there are hopes that issue can be resolved later this month. No one can say for certain what will happen, but CBS4 Michael Williams spoke to two superdelegates, one of whom is Raul Martinez, a former Hialeah mayor and now a Democratic congressional candidate, and the other, Florida House Minority Leader Dan Gelber.

The superdelegates act as free agents - they are people who get to be a delegate at the convention without being pledged to vote for a particular candidate. Their votes don't count anymore than the regular delegates, but because they aren't pledged, they can vote for either candidate, regardless of their state's popular vote. The superdelegates make up about one-fifth of the total delegates.

"We have a job and that is to pick a winner for November," Martinez said.

Neither man ever would have believed they could witness history making a choice of supporting the first African-American candidate, or selecting the first woman to the White House.

"I am trying to figure out who gives us the best chance in November," said Gelber. "She has tremendous confidence and experience, and every time I hear Obama, I am more inspired."

Florida has 25 powerful superdelegates to offer Obama or Clinton if Democratic party leaders agree to recognize them at a meeting in late May.

"I have always said Florida is going to be seated and delegates are going to be counted," added Martinez.

And so the superdelegates will watch the political theatre Tuesday as primaries are held in North Carolina and Indiana.

"Look. Let me be very candid. The superdelegate system is crazy and whoever came up with it should be retired," said Gelber.

For now, Martinez said he backs Sen. Clinton. He said, "I feel confident she would win Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan."

Dan Gelber remains undecided, "This cannot go past early June."

For the party, it may all come down to a scenario that if Sen. Clinton doesn't look like she can overtake Sen. Obama in pledged delegates, then superdelegates will find it hard to ignore that simple, compelling math. However, many of them find it hard to ignore the argument among political pundits that Sen. Clinton has success in critical battleground states needed to win the White House.

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