Various people have expressed confusion between the different types of delegates, so I thought I’d take a few moments here to make sure that everyone is clear about the different types of delegates. This is based primarily on the Connecticut Delegate Selection Plan for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, as well as on additional sources such as some CNN and blog reports and the Superdelegates.org

Connecticut has sixty delegates at the convention. Thirty-one are pledged district level delegates (Section III A). According to CNN and other sources there are twelve unpledged delegates, commonly referred to as Superdelegates. According to the selection plan, one unpledged delegate will be selected on March 26th, based on candidates for superdelegate filing a statement of candidacy by March 19th. The superdelegates are the congressman, the DNC members, and a few others. You can see a list at Superdelegate Transparency Project or the Superdelegates.org page. It is worth noting that Superdelegates.org lists 12 superdelegates, but the Superdelegate Transparency Project lists 11. I believe that Mona Mohib may be incorrectly identified as a superdelegate on Superdelegates.org, but I haven’t verified this.

The two sites generally agree that of the superdelegates, 7 have endorsed Obama, 1 has endorsed Clinton, and the rest are undeclared at this point.

There are also six pledged party leaders and Elected Officials (PLEO) delegates (Section III C). Matt has taken a look at possible candidates for these positions. People interested in being PLEOs need to file by March 20th. They will also be selected on March 26th. It is worth noting that the PLEOs will be selected after the district delegates and the add on unpledged delegate.

Then, there are the eleven at-large delegates (section III D). You must file by March 17th if you wish to be an at-large delegate and these delegates will also be elected on March 26th.

Those wishing to see Ned Lamont attend the convention as a delegate of one sort or another should encourage him to decide which type of delegate he wishes to attend as and to file with the State Democratic Party. Then, they should attend the post-primary caucuses to be held on March 19th to work to elect district level delegates that will support Ned as a delegate.

Whether or not you are interested in working to get Ned to be a delegate, it is probably a good thing to attend the post-primary caucuses. If things get hairy and there is a brokered convention, it would be good to have the best possible delegates at the convention.