With such a close primary election race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the party’s primary structure itself is receiving a lot of attention. In addition to its proportional assignment of delegates (which is making for a close race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama), the Democratic Party’s nomination system differs from the Republicans’ in its use of “superdelegates,” individuals who, by virtue of holding high elected office or of party selection, get to vote however they please in the nomination of a presidential candidate in August at the Democrats’ convention in Denver.

Blogger Nick De Leeuw at Right Michigan has noticed something funny about Michigan’s 26 superdelegates (other than the fact that their ability to get seated at the convention is in question due to previous party rulings). A huge chunk of them — seven — are union leaders. That’s more than a quarter of the raw total. And it’s even more — close to half — if you take out the ones who are there by virtue of elected office (the Governor, plus Michigan’s two Democratic Senators and six Democratic Congressmen).