Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns are turning their attention to the superdelegates, but Hillary Clinton’s people are arguing that the superdelegates “should make their decision based on who they thought would be “the stronger candidate and president” — by which they mean Hillary, who already has an advantage with these so-called ’superdelegates,’ since many are elected officials with ties to the Clintons. In contrast, Barack Obama and his supporters are calling on the superdelegates to respect the will of the people, as expressed in — well, elections, such as primaries and caucuses.

The irony of the Clinton campaign’s argument is that it is actually an argument in favor of Obama, who is running more strongly against McCain than Clinton herself: “In general election match-ups, Obama leads John McCain 46-42% while McCain leads Clinton 48-41%,” according to Rasmussen Reports.

In any case, it strikes me as a sign of desperation that the Clinton operatives would try to subvert the will of the people by trying to get the superdelegates to hand the nomination to Hillary even if Obama wins the most delegates. That would be what in football is called the ‘Hail, Mary pass.’

In response, MoveOn.org has launched a petition drive.

“You’ve probably heard about the ’superdelegates’ who could end up deciding the Democratic nominee,” MoveOn says on its website. “The superdelegates are under lots of pressure right now to come out for one candidate or the other,” adds MoveOn. “We urgently need to encourage them to let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama — and then to support the will of the people.” The text of the MoveOn.org petition reads as follows:

“The Democratic Party must be democratic. The superdelegates should let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama, then support the people’s choice.”

MoveOn.org has endorsed Obama, but asked by Sarah Wheaton of The Caucus (the politics blog of the New York Times) if MoveOn would be organizing this petition drive even if the situation was reversed — i.e., if Clinton led in pledged delegates but was behind in superdelegates — MoveOn spokesperson Ilyse Hogue responded, “I think we would. Our members have been on the front lines of voter integrity issues for a long time.”

Democracy for America has also launched a petition drive on its website. Inspired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, DFA describes itself as “a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government — from school board to the presidency.” Noting that “after every Democrat has voted and the last allocated delegates are assigned, super-delegates have the power to overturn the popular vote and crown a different winner,” DFA declares, “We can’t let that happen. Our nominee must be chosen by Democratic voters not by back room deals of the party elite.”

Or, as MoveOn puts it very simply, “Let the voters decide~!”