By Edward Epstein, CQ Staff

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , who will chair the Democratic National Convention in August, said Thursday she thinks the party should slash the number of so-called superdelegates for the 2012 presidential race.

Although Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois currently leads Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, neither candidate appears likely to amass enough pledged delegates chosen by voters in primaries and caucuses to secure the nomination. The choice will fall to the unpledged superdelegates.

They are the 796 ex officio delegates chosen from select ranks — members of Congress, governors and other elected officials and state party leaders. They include Pelosi’s daughter, Christine, who is a superdelegate from California, and Pelosi herself.

The unprecedented prominent role of superdelegates in this year’s election has led to charges that their very existence is undemocratic, taking the presidential choice out of the hands of voters.

“I think 800 is far too many,” Pelosi, D‑Calif., said at a news conference.

Pelosi said she opposed the idea of superdelegates when they were created, some three decades ago. She also ran a losing campaign for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship two decades ago, in which abolishing superdelegates was part of her platform.

“There should be some way to have some ex officio delegates, some elected leaders of the state parties and the rest,” she said Thursday. “They do the work of the party between conventions, but it shouldn’t be 700, 800 people. It should be some representation of the leadership of the party and of the congressional, gubernatorial and other manifestations of the party.”

As Pelosi spoke, the latest Associated Press count showed Obama needs just 61 delegates, super or otherwise, to clinch the nomination. Including committed superdelegates, he has 1,965 delegates to Clinton’s 1,780, with 2,026 required to win.

“On June 3 the math will become clear,” Pelosi said, referring to the final day of state primaries and caucuses. “And we’ll have a nominee.”