In American Presidential politics the assumption is that Republicans choose a Nominee to represent the Republican Party, the Democrats choose a Nominee to represent the Democratic Party and the two Nominees fight it out in the General Election, with the winner frequently (usually) being decided by whichever Candidate attracts more unaffiliated voters.
Maybe not this time. Via Slate comes this breakdown from The Perfect World of Primary results so far...
Over at The Perfect World, Cal Lanier crunches the numbers and finds that Obama, despite being ahead among pledged delegates, has fewer total votes among people who identify themselves as Democrats. (He has 7392809 votes; Clinton has 8229063.) That gives Clinton as lead at 52 percent of Democrats. Lanier also breaks the numbers down by race, and points out that Obama has won white Democrats in only two states: New Mexico and Illinois.
There are a couple of ways to look at this; maybe it's wonderful that Obama is drawing Republican and Independent support early on, even if it means that it's not really Democrats choosing their Nominee, or maybe, just maybe, there are a substantial number of those voters who are "gaming the system" with no intent to vote for him in November.
Yes, those gross numbers include Florida and Michigan, but even without them Clinton still leads among Democrats, and presumably the DNC WILL allow those voters to count in the General.
It helps you understand why the party gives so much power to its 796 superdelegates. If they didn’t, independents and Republicans could essentially hijack their election. It also makes you wonder whether Clinton should start citing this number, if she maintains her lead through the convention in August. Even if Obama leads in the popular vote and among pledged delegates, it might disturb party gray beards to learn that the nominee has essentially been chosen by outsiders.