Greg Sargent at the legendary TPMpire (in this case the Muckraker) gets word from a source inside the Clinton campaign:
...Harold Ickes told assorted Hillary supporters on a private conference call yesterday that the campaign wants them to start referring to super-delegates as "automatic delegates."
A person I spoke to who was on the call paraphrases Ickes, who is spearheading Hillary's super-delegate hunt, this way: "We're no longer using the phrase super delegates. It creates a wrong impression. They're called automatic delegates. Because that's what they are."
The worry appears to be that the phrase "super-delegates" implies that "they have super-powers or super influence when they don't," the source says, describing Ickes' thinking. In other words, the phrase suggests that they have greater than average clout and that they have the power to overrule the democratic process, giving it the taint of back-room power politics.
The new term "automatic delegates" appears to be ostensibly a reference to the fact that these folks are super-delegates automatically, by virtue of their office or position.
(Emphasis mine...)
Yes because what we really need is more spin and re-defining of what words really mean. Much like the Republicans, for example, it's not a "luxury tax" it's a "death tax."
Now Greg points out that he has yet to see a Hillary surrogate (Hill-ogate?) use this new term and I haven't either. If you have, please pass word along. I'd like to know.
But in the meantime, let's help the Hillary's campaign by redefining other campaign and election terms and phrases:
Supporters = Donors
Caucus = I'm sorry, a what? I don't win them, no need to have a definition for them!
Voters = Non-Primary Go-ers
Texas and Ohio = The Rudy Strategy 2.0
Campaign Manager = Campaign Advisor
Please to feel free and add other suggestions, because let's face it Hillary could use a message of her own!