I reported last month at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch and again here at MyDD that there were still several states without any blogger credential applications for the convention.

A little more than a month later there are still 11 states with no applications.

Alabama
Alaska
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Maine
Maryland
Nevada
South Dakota
Texas
West Virginia

If you're a blogger and you want to get into the convention in August this may be your best chance for a ticket. And if your state isn't mentioned in the list above don't worry. Most states only have a couple applications that have been entered.

2008 DemConvention State Blogger Corps (PDF)
    Recognizing the growth of more localized blogs, this pool is designed for those covering state and local politics. To qualify as a state blogger, the applicant's blog must have been in existence six months prior to requesting credentials and have at least 120 politically related blog posts. Bloggers must submit their daily audience and list their authority based on Technorati stats. Bloggers may also provide examples of posts that make their blog stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change.
    Once the state bloggers have been identified for the DemConvention State Blogger Corps, the applications of those not selected for this program will all be transferred for consideration for the general blogger pool.

If you've been planning on entering your blog but figured you'd wait, your time is running out. The deadline for applications is April 15th and bloggers will be notified in May if they will be getting credentials.

I reported last month at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch that there were still several states without any blogger credential applications for the convention.

A little more than a month later there are still 11 states with no applications.

Alabama
Alaska
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Maine
Maryland
Nevada
South Dakota
Texas
West Virginia

If you're a blogger and you want to get into the convention in August this may be your best chance for a ticket. And if your state isn't mentioned in the list above don't worry. Most states only have a couple applications that have been entered.

Over the last two months we have looked at the dark and mysterious world of the superdelegates. Some people have called their power  tyrannical and others think their very existence is undemocratic. Last week I entered this dark world and spoke to one of these "undemocratic tyrants".

Jenny Greenleaf is one of us. She's not a demon bent on the end of our democracy. She has no intention of denying American citizens of their right to choose their preferred candidate.

And as one of Oregon's 13 superdelegates, Greenleaf will be able to choose who she wants to be nominated as the next President of the United States.

After seeing the following comment on MyDD, I had to talk to her:

I'm a DNC committeeperson from Oregon, which makes me a superdelegate.

I get a call from two or three media organizations every week. I politely explain that I am not endorsing any of our great candidates  yet. They then ask if I am leaning toward anyone, and I say no. (Because I'm an officer of the state party, and we don't want the state party to be seen as providing more or better services to one candidate or another, I plan to stay neutral until Oregon's late primary in May.

So, ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS/New York Times call the superdelegates constantly. I suspect that when the reporters count up the superdelegates, they are using slightly different ways of deciding if someone is a supporter or not. It depends on whether they count the leaners. And how many people they managed to reach for that particular poll.

Greenleaf isn't a life-long party member. Like many people she became politically active in 2002. After being laid off from a tech job she wanted to work on something that would make a difference. Her goal was to make the Democratic Party less mysterious and more efficient.

She started out doing fundraisers and moved on to help the Dean and Kerry campaigns in 2004.  Jenny was selected as a delegate and attended the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. At the time she was a regular blogger on American Street. She told me that the delegates were really just extras on the convention floor and that she spent a lot of time hanging out in the nose-bleed seats with the other bloggers. Greenleaf won her DNC seat in Dec. '04, and thus became a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The media calls her at least once a week asking for her preference. The Oregon Democratic Party has decided not to make endorsements yet, so she remains Uncommitted. The Clinton, Edwards and Obama campaigns call to ask for an endorsement about every other week. Greenleaf mentioned that the Clinton campaign has made the most calls.

We will continue to follow our Oregon superdelegate through the convention and bring you more proof that superdelegates are people too.

Last week at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch I wrote that there were 23 states that had no applications filed to become a credentialed blogger at the convention.  One blog from each state will get press credentials to attend the convention in Denver.

According to the DNCC there are still 20 states remaining that haven't had any applications submitted yet. States that have no applications are Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Guam is the only territory/district with an application leaving Democrats Abroad, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Washington DC and the Virgin Islands.

I know of some great blogs from these states. What are you guys waiting for?

For anyone interested you can get more information from the DNCC

2008 DemConvention State Blogger Corps
Recognizing the growth of more localized blogs, this pool is designed for those covering state and local politics. To qualify as a state blogger, the applicant's blog must have been in existence six months prior to requesting credentials and have at least 120 politically related blog posts. Bloggers must submit their daily audience and list their authority based on Technorati stats. Bloggers may also provide examples of posts that make their blog stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change.

Once the state bloggers have been identified for the DemConvention State Blogger Corps, the applications of those not selected for this program will all be transferred for consideration for the general blogger pool.

And just because a state has had an application entered already it doesn't mean you're out of luck. You can still apply.

Before I start writing about my new obsession of superdelegates I want to introduce my blog 2008 Democratic Convention Watch. DemConWatch was started in 2005 by Matt on the day Howard Dean announced that the 2008 convention would be held in late August.

From that point on he built the blog into the place to go for information on the convention. Living in Denver I was an avid reader before joining as a contributer last month.

Matt and I would like to thank Jerome for inviting us and look forward to following the race to the convention with everybody here.

If you had asked me about superdelegates a couple months ago I probably would have looked at you with a blank stare. After a solid month of living with my 796 best new friends I feel like I should have some kind of degree in superdelegatology.

A superdelegate has the ability to vote for any candidate whereas regular delegates are selected in support of a candidate. There are 796 superdelegates in this cycle (Michigan and Florida not included).

Superdelegates as of late haven't been much of a factor in deciding the nominee. With the primary season we're seeing this might change. If we're still looking at a close race after Super Tuesday the importance of superdelegate endorsements will increase dramatically.

As of today superdelegates are made up of the following people:
DNC members, all Democratic members of Congress, all Democratic Governors, all former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee. The official list won't be finalized until March 1st. - Democratic Convention Website

Now for our bread and butter. Matt and I thought it would be good to know exactly who the superdelegates are and have a list of their endorsements. After searching for a couple hours I was only able to find a list of congressional endorsements on The Hill.

We created our Superdelegate Endorsement List and shortly followed up with our list of Superdelegates who haven't made an endorsement.

Unlike the "major media" we don't just throw out numbers without backing them up. We will only show an endorsement if we can find a press release or news article that backs it up.

Even with this rule in place we are still managing to stay close and even exceed some of the big media. We are tracking how our superdelegate endorsements compare as well as having two delegate trackers (which aren't nearly as nice looking as the ones here). The first shows delegate and superdelegate tallies without including Florida and Michigan. Our second tracker includes Florida and Michigan. This gives the reader the choice whether to count Michigan and Florida or not. You know, "We Report, You Decide"? Except in this case, we mean it.

We'll be posting updates and more information on how the delegates and superdelegates work in the coming weeks.