Rachel Maddow: It's wasn't a tie — not yet.

Editor's Note: "How can voters elect someone to change a rigged economy if the election itself is rigged?"

On the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC last night she discusses the comparison of Obama's rise in 2008 to Bernie Sanders in 2016; and discusses fundraising and other variables that can impact the 2016 Democratic nomination process.

During that segment she reported that during the New Hampshire primary, Bernie Sanders got 15 delegates and Hillary Clinton got 9 delegates; but that Hillary also got an additional 6 super-delegates — and had declared that the New Hampshire primary between Sanders and Clinton was actually a "tie" — with each getting 15 delegates (with 2 outstanding delegates).

Hold on Rachel . . . not so fast. In 2008, many super-delegates who were going to vote for Clinton, switched to Obama when they saw the groundswell of support he had. Super-delegates don't vote until the convention, so it is a little misleading to count them in the final tally for Clinton at this point. 

Is Rachel Maddow and MSNBC (and Comcast) trying to dampen the enthusiasm that Bernie's supporters have? (Is Rachel Maddow reporting this in this way because she doesn't want to be fired by MSNBC like Ed Schultz was fired for reporting on Hillary Clinton's support for the TPP trade agreement?)

It takes 2,382 delegates from a total of 4,763 to win the Democratic nomination for president at the Democratic Nation Convention this July in Philadelphia Pa.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president at the Republican National Convention this July in Cleveland Ohio.

In the New Hampshire primary (for Democrats) 24 pledged delegates were up for grabs. Bernie got 15 and Hillary got 9 based on the number of votes each received*.
In the New Hampshire primary (for Republicans) 23 delegates were up for grabs. Trump got 10 and Kasich got 3.

* Only the Democratic party uses super-delegates, which are party appointed officials that can vote any way they wish — and aren't beholden to the popular vote. They can publicly endorse a candidate at any time before a State holds their primary/caucus — and/or at any time before the party's national convention; but they can also change their vote at any time, and vote any way they wish during the Democratic Nation Convention. Does Rachel Maddow emphasize that point?

The graphic further below shows how Hillary Clinton has the "endorsement" of most of the political establishment's super-delegates. Here is a list at Wiki for the 712 Democratic establishment super-delegates for 2016. Last year the Clinton campaign claimed they already had the "commitment" of over 500 supers-delegates. It could well be that Bernie Sanders ends up with a clear majority of (ordinary) delegates that he won by the popular vote, but he can still fail to win the Democratic nomination based on the political establishment's super-delegates within the Democratic party. The question should be asked: "How can voters elect someone to change a rigged economy if the election itself is rigged?"

The Hill reports:

As it stands, the superdelegate support gives Clinton a total of 15 New Hampshire delegates. Mark Paustenbach, the Democratic National Committee's national press secretary, on Wednesday emphasized that Sanders' win secured him the majority of the state's pledged delegates and that the superdelegate totals are unrelated to that victory. "Let's be clear, the only delegates at stake on Tuesday in New Hampshire's First in the Nation primaries were 24 pledged delegates."

Two of New Hampshire’s eight superdelegates are uncommitted: state party chairman Ray Buckley and state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark. Buckley was barred from picking a side until after the primary, and Fuller Clark told The Hill that she remains uncommitted: “I wanted to ensure that we had a very open and fair process in New Hampshire, and I don't believe as an elected officer of the party that I should be choosing between two very fine Democrats who are running for office. For the time being, I continue to hold that position and will wait until closer to the convention to decide.”

Clinton's superdelegate supporters includes Gov. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen [she's a Bernie hater!] and Rep. Annie Kuster. She's also backed by Democratic National Committee members Joanne Dodwell, Billy Shaheen and Kathy Sullivan [All establishment political hacks and corporate shills.]

With 100% of results reported for New Hampshire primary (Delegates)
Candidate	Number of votes	Percent of the votes	Pledged delegates allocated by the number of votes.	Super-delegates who have endorsed, but aren't committed until the convention in July.	* The undeclared super-delegates who haven't endorsed, and aren't committed until the convention in July.
Bernie Sanders	151,584 votes	60.4% of the Democrats	15	0	(2)
Donald Trump	100,406 votes	35.3% of the Republicans	10	-	-
Hillary Clinton	95,252 votes	38.0% of the Democrats	9	6	-
John Kasich	44,909 votes	15.8% of the Republicans	3	-	-

Below is a 4½ video of the part of Rachel Maddow's show where she discusses delegates. The full segment is here at the MSNBC website.

The image below is from a Google search for "2016 primary delegates". They are the total delegates to date from all the primaries and caucuses (the dark blue for Democrats are the super-delegates that can change their mind at any time.)