Let's begin with one paramount fact: The superdelegates will determine the Democratic nomination. Neither candidate will capture enough pledged delegates to win without them. The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be settled by purely democratic means. The common misconception is that superdelegates are basically like jurors: They listen to each side's case and then apply a specific set of instructions and a strict legal framework to make their evaluation. But superdelegates don't work that way. They're more like the College of Cardinals: They decide by feeling their way through moral and political, not legal, claims....