What Is This Thing Called The Credentials Committee?

[babylonsister]

What Is This Thing Called The Credentials Committee?
By Greg Sargent - March 31, 2008, 4:23PM


Here it is: The Election Central Idiot's Guide To The Credentials Committee.

The other day Hillary said in an interview that if the Florida and Michigan voting standoffs don't get resolved by the campaigns, this will be resolved one way or another at the Democratic National Convention in August -- by the credentials committee.

Her comments caused a big stir, and since then there's been a great deal of confusion out there over how the process will work, with some of you readers wondering whether Hillary could amass a majority on the committee and swing the decision her way.

So, after talking to the Democratic National Committee about this, here's the deal on how the credentials committee works.

There are a total of 186 members on the credentials committee. Twenty five of them are appointed by DNC chair Howard Dean, and the remainder are alloted by state, in numbers based on each state's population and Democratic performance.

The process that determines how those credential committee members are split between the candidates is a convoluted one. But the gist of it is that each state's delegation to the credentials committee is allocated between the candidates in a number that's proportional to the number of pledged delegates he or she has won in that state.

more...

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/lowdown_on_credentials_committ.php

[gateley]

1. Interesting -

thanks for this. Even though my head is swimming.... :crazy:

[aquart]

2. Do we have any processes that are NOT convoluted?

[Bucky]

4. Yes, it's called a dictatorship.

No rules, just right.

[Bucky]

3. I've served on a credentials committee (at the district level)

When I served on the credentials committee at my district convention several years ago, I found that most partisans of the different camps were determined to be fair and play by the rules. This bodes ill for Mrs Clinton's campaign. The only reasons to seat the Michigan & Florida delegations involve a willingness to ignore the basic rules of the party--to say, in effect, that none of the party's rules really matter if you can vote them down.

There might be a few hardcase Clinton supporters willing to say the principle of inclusion is more important than the rules holding the party together. But I'm willing to bet that a clear majority of them will say that the rules matter, that you must adhere to the letter of the law in admitting delegates to the floor.