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Democrats voted Saturday to drastically scale back the controversial superdelegate system that gives elected officials and party insiders an outsize say in the party’s presidential nominating process, delivering a significant victory for Bernie Sanders and his supporters ahead of 2020.

Momentum is growing within the Democratic National Committee for a significant reform to the party’s presidential nominating process, but the proposed change has caused a leading California Democrat to question whether Russian meddling is behind the effort. **SNIP** Mulholland, a DNC member and longtime key player in California Democratic politics, sent an email Friday to other DNC members from the Golden State that implied Russian President Vladimir Putin might be behind the reform effort. The basis for his claim? An activist from West Virginia promoting the changes, who he had seen at two national party gatherings, admitted to him that...

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), a Hillary Clinton superdelegate, was convicted on Tuesday on corruption charges stemming from a racketeering conspiracy in which the congressman and four associates misappropriated thousands of dollars from federal, campaign, and charitable sources. Fattah and four associates were indicted in July 2015 on 29 corruption charges including racketeering, bribery, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, and falsification of records, among other charges. The Department of Justice said Fattah took an illegal $1 million loan from his failed Philadelphia mayoral bid in 2007 and disguised it as a loan to his consulting company. At...

The Democratic presidential primary process may be ending next Tuesday, but the fight among Bernie Sanders supporters to rid the party of superdelegates and install new leadership at the Democratic National Committee is not. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard encouraged her followers on Saturday to sign a petition ending the Democratic Party’s use of superdelegates. “Whether you are a Bernie Sanders supporter or a Hillary Clinton supporter, we should all agree that unelected party officials and lobbyists should not have a say in who the presidential nominee of our party is,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “That should be left...

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is reported to have used a static noise machine on Thursday to block reporters outside of a fundraiser in Denver from hearing her remarks. Stan Bush, a reporter for Denver’s CBS-4, who was stationed outside of the event, reported that the machine was held outdoors at the home of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a superdelegate who has endorsed Clinton. Clinton, who was holding a fundraiser Thursday evening in Colorado, was speaking outside at a private residence. Just when she started to speak, campaign staffers directed a speaker spewing out static noise at reporters hanging out across the...

Bernie Sanders won the caucus states of Kansas and Nebraska on Saturday, but with a big win in the Louisiana primary, Hillary Clinton took home more delegates. ABC News: With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Sanders won 68 percent of the vote compared to 32 percent for Clinton. Delegates are allocated proportionally and there is a 15% threshold so both candidates will get delegates. "The biggest states are yet to come. New York State, California, Oregon, Washington State. States that we think we can do very well in. Every state is important," Sanders said at a campaign event in Michigan...

Matt Strawn, the Iowa GOP chairman who has been embroiled in controversy since the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus results, is resigning, he announced Tuesday. “It is only because the Iowa GOP has returned as a strong and relevant voice in Iowa politics that I am now able to evaluate all the competing priorities in my personal, business and political life. The party is strong and has the resources in place for victory in November,” Strawn said in a statement. “Now is the time to transition to new leadership.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/72214.html#ixzz1l4EjaGAF

Obama: "I want to, first of all, acknowledge your great mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. Who has been on the front lines doing an outstanding job of gathering together the leadership at every level in Detroit to bring about the kind of renaissance that all of us anticipate for this great city. He is a leader, not just here in Detroit, not just in Michigan, but all across the country people look to him. We know that he is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come. I'm grateful to call him a friend and a colleague and I'm...

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty to felony charges in Wayne County Circuit Court. He will be forced to resign immediately.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase. Police said they don't know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released. However, they said moments after the shooting, he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager "I lost my job," said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official. Chairman Bill Gwatney died four hour...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The seriousness Bill Gwatney brought to his political maneuvering was absent as he advertised his three car dealerships. He sometimes hoisted a giant inflatable dragon atop a showroom and dubbed it "Gwatzilla." The name followed him to the state Senate, where he built a reputation for being tough and outspoken, but also detailed and fiscally astute. "I'm abrupt," Gwatney once told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "I have a zero threshold for insignificant facts. I will cut people off if they don't answer my question." Gwatney, who served stints as an Arkansas state senator and chairman of the...

DETROIT (AP) — Barack Obama doesn't want Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his legal troubles to be a distraction at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and he got his wish Thursday when a judge ordered the city executive to stay home. A Michigan spokesman for Obama, Brent Colburn, said in an e-mail Thursday that the focus of the convention in Denver this month should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual," a reference to Kilpatrick and the two criminal cases he's facing. Kilpatrick, who would have gone to the convention as a superdelegate,...

Hours after being told to remove his electronic tether by one judge Thursday, embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was ordered by another judge to put it back on, a game of legal pingpong between his two separate criminal cases. Kilpatrick also gained, then quickly lost, a break in travel restrictions that could have allowed him to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver this month. The point might have been moot anyway: The mayor is a superdelegate, but a spokesman for presumptive nominee Barack Obama said Kilpatrick isn't wanted there. The day began when a judge overseeing Kilpatrick's arraignment on perjury...

DETROIT – A judge ruled Thursday that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will no longer have to wear an electronic tether ordered as part of his bond in his perjury case and may travel to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where he is a superdelegate.

Well-meaning, often first-time voters gush that it has been exciting that at last they could choose either a black or a woman... race and gender have emerged as credentials of their own... The undemocratic processes of the Democratic party, normally confined to urban political machines like Chicago's, have been enhanced this year by the party's manipulations in Florida and Michigan, and in the cynical system of superdelegates... The Democratic nominee has stated that the Iraq war already has been lost. Despite this falsehood, Mr. Obama declares that it is the president who has misled our country. Although he has the...

Rodriquez committed to Clinton on March 10. Two months later, he changed his mind, saying Obama brought a new energy and generation to the democratic process. This week, he announced his support for Clinton again. "I decided to switch because that's my right," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't want to say why I decided. It's not about me ... It's about America and what's best for America." The chairman of the U.S. Virgin Islands' Democratic party offered a different reason. "At this desperate crunch time, anything should be expected, especially when political persuasions, promises and offers...

WASHINGTON - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin endorsed Barack Obama for president today, giving the Illinois Democrat another superdelegate in his battle for the Democratic nomination. "Since the immediate days following the storm, I have been traveling to our nation's capitol to advocate for policies that aid our rebuilding effort," Nagin said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. "I know first hand, we desperately need the leadership of someone committed to changing the system in Washington that can hold us back from moving forward." Obama said he shares Nagin's commitment to "renewing the great city of New Orleans."...

He is Steve Ybarra. He's a superdelegate in California and he, now, says he's willing to take either Clinton or Obama's side but for a big price. -snip For the last eight years, I've been trying to get the Democratic Party to pay attention to the needs of voter registration and education and get out the vote to the Mexican-American community. And guess what? We managed to lose two elections because of it. So, we're coming up on an election where the Mexican-American voter will be the person who makes the decision in this upcoming election. HEMMER: How did you...

Democrat Steve Ybarra deserves condign promotion. Super Delegate isn’t a fitting title for him. He’s a Super-Duper Delegate. He’s the most honest Democrat currently riding dirty on DC and he’s a voice that Ho Chi Dean does not want you to hear broadcast nationwide. Steve Ybarra reveals the liberalism, compassion and equality of the so-called Democratic Party for what they really are: state-sponsored brigandage! When asked whether he supported Hillary or Barack for President, he gave an answer that revealed the true agenda of all liberal political leaders. “What’s in it for me?” Ybarra remains undecided. His conscious can’t seem...

WASHINGTON (CNN) –- Former President Bill Clinton will attend Sunday church services with North Carolina Congressman and uncommitted Democratic superdelegate Heath Shuler in his district, CNN has learned.