How did Sharpton win a delegate?

[question everything]

Again, looking at the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/20040127_px_RESULTS/

In DE, Sharpton got less than 6% of the votes, sixth after Kerry, Lieberman, Edwards, Dean and Clark. Yet he got one national delegate. Kerry got 14 and the rest - none.

P.S. I am not against Sharpton and I hope that someone will reply before a moderator will lock this as "inflammatory" for reasons that are beyond me. I just would like to understand this "fuzzy math."

[buckeye1]

1. Check the rules.

It might be a typo. I couldn't care less. Whats your beef? 1 vote is hardly an ER concern.

[King of New Orleans]

2. Delegates

are frequently allocated by voting district within a state. In many states it's by Congressional District. In Delaware I don't know. Al's votes tend to be concentrated heavily in African-American communities. Frequently putting him above a threshold to win delegates.

[stromboli]

3. number of delegates

doesn't delaware have 23 total? that would make it possible to get 1 delegate with about 5% of the votes.. i'm guessing there's just a mistake in not reporting the others. AHH, correction, 8 delegates weren't pledged. It must have been some sort of regional division.

[SadEagle]

4. 2 delegates were allocated in an urban area.

And he picked up 1 of them. See the explanation at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/2/4/15614/61511

Sharpton got 7 more delegates in Michigan today, BTW, 1 more than Edwards, despite Edwards beating Sharpton 13.5% to 6.9%.

[question everything]

7. Thanks. n/t

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MurikanDemocrat]

8. I'd love to see him speak at the convention!

[buckeye1]

9. Me too. n/t

[Webster Green]

10. Why?

He's a great speaker, and tells it like it is.

[Laughing Mirror]

11. what are you afraid of?

free speech?

[rhite5]

6. Could be a super delegate commitment?

"Super Delegates" (who are usually elected officials, including Congressmen) are not restricted by the Primary results in their states. They can make commitments for at least first round voting at the convention. I don't know if anyone has compiled a list of super delegates vs regular delegates for the states that have voted so far.