Joe Pyrah

As the left's political donnybrook continues in the presidential ring, the right's own battle here at home is heating up before the county's April 26 GOP convention.

The weapon of choice for incumbents of either party, say critics, is the so-called superdelegate or automatic delegate. While traditional delegates are usually chosen by popular vote in a caucus, automatic delegates are typically people already in positions of power.

The argument goes that the powerful, though sometimes small, circle finds it in each other's best interests to help one another stay elected or in positions of authority and thus vote accordingly at party conventions.

Take, for example, the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama race. Obama has a nearly insurmountable lead in regular delegates, but Clinton leads in superdelegates because of her long-cultivated ties to political insiders. If they chose to ignore the regular delegate trends, they could hand her the race.

"Sometimes the hurdles placed by parties in the path of rank-and-file citizens can be significant," said Kelly Patterson, director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

Deep impact?

The fear is the same in Utah County, say some Republican challengers.

Here they're tagged ex officio in party bylaws. (That's Latin for "by virtue or because of an office.") While some party members rankle at the terms "super" or "automatic" delegates, others even in favor of the system use the terms interchangeably. Those delegates make up 10 percent of the total in Utah County -- about 120 of 1,200 -- and are filled by elected officials and party hierarchs.

Lowell Nelson, who has been elected as a delegate for 14 years, has battled the idea of automatic delegates nearly every time a convention rolls around. Giving away delegate seats dilutes the power of grassroots, he says, "which is where I think it belongs." If elected officials want to be delegates, they can always get themselves elected in a caucus, he contends.

What kind of impact can 10 percent really have? First, the ground rules: If any candidate at the GOP convention gets more than 60 percent of the delegate vote, the primary is averted and the candidate goes straight to the general election. (It should be noted that since a Republican hasn't lost in Utah County in more than a decade, that 60 percent of delegates has meant an automatic seat in office.)

If indeed the ex-officio group votes in bloc, an incumbent would only need 50 percent of the other delegates to skip the primary. The ex-officios can also provide enough support to keep incumbents alive through the convention and get them into a primary where name recognition is to their benefit.

In some races, the number of automatic delegates are even higher because of concentrations of where they live. Sen. Curt Bramble's District 16 is made up of about 15 percent ex-officio delegates, a point sorely made by his opponent, Jacqueline DeGaston.

But getting them to vote together isn't as easy as it sounds

"It makes a good intellectual argument, but in practice I've never seen it," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who has no opponent this year in his party or otherwise and has been either an elected or ex-officio delegate since the 1970s.

"In my discussions with the ex officios, they do vary significantly."

Yeah, so?

Patterson says it's important to remember that a political party isn't the same thing as the political system in which it plays a part. The party's rules and bylaws don't have to follow what one might consider a democratic process. In fact, those rules are often in place to protect the ideals that the party espouses.

"If a party becomes too democratized, does it become, in a sense, watered down?" he said.

Proponents claim giving delegate votes to elected and party officials helps to keep them involved and is a reward for their work.

"How would you get someone like me to do this job if I weren't a delegate?" asked county chairwoman Marian Monnahan. "Obviously there are a lot of us that put in a lot of hours."

Valentine agrees, saying the ex officio allowance lets those running the convention to actually "be at the table, be in the room and making some of the decisions" when it comes to voting. He also disputes the idea of a power grab, saying elected and party officials had to be voted into their positions by the rank-and-file.

"It's not just something that's happening by birthright. It's with the understanding that they're going to be a delegate," he said.

Groundhog Day

Opponents disagree with that logic and make it an issue every few years. In Salt Lake County, a Republican party member recently failed in an attempt to use the courts to stop the county party from using automatic delegates.

"We are simply following the rules of the party as stated in the documents," said state party chairman Stan Lockhart. "These complaints are really just without merit."

Party members like Nelson agree that the issue is perennial and perhaps not likely to change anytime soon, but he insists from a "purist's perspective" that it's important enough to keep bringing back.

Even Valentine concedes that while it's an old issue, the fact that it keeps coming back means it remains a viable issue.

"There are pros and cons," he said, "and I'm the first to admit it."