Joanna Klonsky, “The Role of Delegates in the U.S. Presidential Nominating Process”. Council on Foreign Relations. February 6, 2008 – “The Democratic nomination process was altered to include superdelegates in 1984. That year, former Vice President Walter Mondale won the Democratic nomination with strong support from party stalwarts. Some experts say Democratic candidate George McGovern s landslide 1972 loss to Richard Nixon influenced the party s introduction of superdelegates. There was a view that the Democratic party had allowed the grass roots to become too empowered and that in too many instances, people whose job it was to get Democrats elected were being shut out of the process, says McGehee.”
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