What happens to delegates when their candidate drops out?

[Joe the Revelator]

Lets say, for sake of argument, Obama drops out with 500 delegates, leaving Edwards and Hillary still in the race, going into the convention. Obama decides to endorse Edwards. Do his degagates automatically vote for Edwards on the first ballot, or if they are released, can they vote any way they want to?

[iamjoy]

1. Good Question!

I want to know also. I think they are released. So, any endorsement would merely be request or suggestion, and not binding. But I am not sure.

[Joe the Revelator]

2. kick

:kick:

[Tulkas]

3. I may be wrong but...

It was my understanding that they must vote for the candidate who earned them on the first ballot. After that they can change their vote on as many other ballots as are necessary to complete the process.

Candidates who drop out can endorse but can't force their delegates to go to the person they choose.


This does not apply to super delegates, they can do whatever the F___ they want.

[Hobarticus]

4. Good question...it's different from state-to-state, I believe

But I think the gist of it is, if delegates are "released" by their candidate, I believe they are still valid delegates, just currently "uncommitted", and still can attend their county/district/state convention for the candidate of their own choosing.

UPDATED: Googling around, it's definitely a state-to-state thing. Some states allow the candidate to grant their delegates to whoever they choose, others divide them up according to the percentage of popular vote, and others allow the delegates to go their own way.

[BooScout]

5. The rules.......

at the 2008 Convention there will be 3253 pledged delgates and about 796 superdelgates. A superdelagate is defined as a Democratic governor, member of congress, DNC members and other VIPs from the party.

If you want to see how the superdelegates and delegates are shaping up here's a good link: http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

Here's a link to the selection rule (it's pdf): http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/3e5b3bfa1c1718d07f_6rm6bhyc4.pdf