Nomination is headed for CONVENTION -- Super Delegates will decide

[Sensitivity]

Does not look like either Clinton of Obama will be able to make the required votes without counting the super delegates. And remember, super delegates are not voted for -- they are the smoke-filled back rooom of the old days.

Seem like Clinton delegates would revolt if Obama is given the nom by the supers and visa versa.
It is a realistic option for the super delegates to promote a compromise candidate rather than vote Clinton or Obama on the top of the ticket.

What do you think the Convention should do if there is a deadlock?

[harun]

1. Dennis Kucinich perhaps (n/t)

[Sensitivity]

2. I think the requirement would be a favorable McCain head-to-head number

[MadHound]

3. The party machinery is going to twist arms,

And hand this election over to Hillary. That has been the plan from the start, it is why the primaries were front loaded, to benefit the initially much larger warchest that Hillary had.

If they do this though, it will be putting a stake through their chances in the fall, but I doubt that they will think of that. For the Democratic bosses, it is all about Hillary.

[Sensitivity]

4. What about Kennedy faction?

[MadHound]

7. They'll fall in line,

They may not like it, but the party has bailed out their asses more than once so they have to give in their chits if the party calls them in.

Chappaquidik is still a club over the head of Teddy, Maria is neutralized by her marriage to Ahnuld, and Caroline is balanced out by RFK Jr. The Kennedys are still a major force in the party, but mostly in name only and the party can and will bring them to heel if need be.

[Benhurst]

14. I don't know. Kennedy faction? Their not being able to even come

close delivering Massachusetts made me wonder if there is any Kennedy faction left. :shrug: After all the grandstanding, what were any of them able to deliver to Obama?

[meow2u3]

5. John Edwards

He'll be the man who will take back America from the corporate masters.

[Sensitivity]

6. Dare we say DRAFT GORE???

[droidamus2]

12. Only choice

I think they would have to go with somebody like Gore if they wanted to draft a candidate though I think this would be a bad idea. Though I like Gore and wouldn't have minded if he had run again I think the ultimate nominee needs to be either Clinton or Obama. It can't be Edwards or one of the other candidates that dropped out as they have already shown they are not the choice of the Democratic voters. We have a lot of enthusiasm built up over this election if the Democrats get to the end and say 'by the way all that primary voting stuff was just a sham we are going to put up who we want to' I think we will lose a lot of that energy especially among the younger voters. I think the best thing the superdelegates could do is to bring about an agreement between Clinton and Obama about how to go forward and then use the convention to show that the team is going forward together. If that is a Clinton/Obama ticket great. If it was Obama/Clinton great even though I don't think that is the best choice because letting the older candidate be president first puts them in a position for a possible 8 year Clinton 8 year Obama run. If it is just that the candidate with fewer pledged delegates gets some promises about programs to be proposed or people to be nominated to the cabinet or supreme court then do it. The Republicans always seem to get out ahead of the Democrats when it comes to the general election. We need to be united and sooner rather than later. Vote Democrat no matter who the ultimate nominee is!!!

[Tarc]

22. Why on earth would anyone want to do this?

It has nothing to do with Gore personally but this is insane, to suggest that we chuck the entire primary process out the window and nominate someone who did not even run.

Man, that Super Bowl was pretty neck-and-neck going into the final two minutes. Maybe we should've just given the trophy to the Indianapolis Colts instead.

[Sensitivity]

39. It is call a compromise candidate that all can agree could win v McCain

[calmblueocean]

8. Superdelegates should pledge to give their votes to the candidate with the most state delegates.

Nothing else is fair.

[Benhurst]

16. No. If we are going to go that route, it ought to be the candidate with the highest popular vote.

I haven't worked through the figures on it, but I think our strength as a party resides in the highly populous states. Remember the old Dubya tee shirts after the 2000 election with the red vs. blue states? The map was mostly red, but the blue areas were where the people were. Do we want to award our nomination according to which candidate won the most cows?

[ficus1]

35. How do you accurately count caucus states then?

I've tried to find actual numbers for some of these states, but no luck so far. Some of these states don't release popular vote totals, and I'm not even sure some keep track of them.

[Benhurst]

36. Yeah. The whole system sucks. One ever happened to one man (person),

one vote?

As if the Electoral College isn't undemocratic enough, the party adds another whole layer by buffering our choice of candidate from the will of the people.

And I'm sick and tired of the campaign groupies trumpeting "victories" which are nothing more than reflections of the non-representative tallying of the popular vote.

[Sensitivity]

40. Who do you think they would have chosen just based on backroom negotiations without

a primary.

[Benhurst]

41. We may find out this summer.

[joshcryer]

9. Superdelegates will detract from both Obama *and* Hillary. It will be epic.

Al Gore may well be the next President.

[Sparkly]

10. A shared ticket. nt

[Sensitivity]

11. Three headed ticket does not feel right -- Hill Bill Obama

[Sparkly]

13. Oh, I forgot the little woman can't control her man.

:eyes:

[Coexist]

15. why do you think that Clinton delegates would revolt if Obama

and Obama delegates wouldn't do the same thing happened with Clinton?

[mrmx9]

17. Not having a candidate until almost September could be a disaster

Surely Hillary would have the decency to realise Obama is more likely to beat McCain and withdraw before the convention!

[Benhurst]

19. Congratulations on the anniversary of your first thirty days on DU!

:hi:

[Sensitivity]

18. They would feel the same way and revolt "visa versa"

[OzarkDem]

20. Ohio and Texas will help decide

There are still a few states left with large numbers of delegates.

[blogslut]

21. Really?

I guess my state and our winner-take-all 228 delegates can just go sit in a corner.

[Tarc]

23. Texas is winner take all?

I thought that was something only the Republican Party did?

[joshcryer]

26. It is, OP is confused. All Democratic races are proportional.

[blogslut]

27. You may be right

I know for GE, it's winner-take-all. I could be wrong on the delegates. Regardless, 228 delegates ain't nothing to sniff at.

[ShortnFiery]

24. If so, OUR party will *splinter* and collapse for a time. I'll NOT condone ROYALTY (super delegates)

to be the deciding factor in selecting OUR PARTY'S NOMINEE. :grr:

Haven't we, as "democrats" grown DISGUSTED enough allowing Bill Clinton and his DLC cronies selecting every DAMN Democratic Presidential Nominee since 1992?

It's time to kick "the royalty" out of our party. Damn the concept of "super delegates!"

That SURE AS SHIT is anything BUT "Democratic!?!"

[BootinUp]

25. I don't see any compromise candidate being picked over

the Goddess of Peace or the Rock Star. Not going to happen. :)

[Sensitivity]

28. Do you think Hillary will toss it to Obama if he is ahead in the PLEDGED delegates but she

is ahead including the recruited super delegate support?

[BootinUp]

29. Only if he does it after some compromise is reached

on seating FL and MI. Don't ask me how that compromise should be structured. There was an interesting blog post at openleft you might want to look at.

[Sensitivity]

32. I think there is an ethic problem with counting delegates from banned states

especially since they were uncontested by agreement.

[BootinUp]

34. My take on the delegate ban

is that the process to select delegates from those two states was invalid, that does not mean the states should not be able to still select delegates for this convention, they just need to decide how to do it and whether the primary votes should be considered in that process in any way.

In other words the DNC never intended to completely block FL and MI. They intended to block the primary result from pledging delegates without some later process.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

30. Toss a coin?

it would seem reasonable that the primaries were conducted without delegates being involved at all ie. the popular vote?

[Sensitivity]

33. A two headed coin?

[Sulawesi]

31. Internal Power...people line up behind the powerful...

early on the super delegates lined up with the Clintons because they assumed they would be the power structure in the party. Now the super delegates themselves can decide that fate. This means it is for the first time in THEIR hands to decide what the power structure is going to be, rather than line up behind it.

If the supers can crown a nominee, and Obama is seen as the best shot, they will drop the Clinton's like a cold stone, and of course vice versa.

[Sensitivity]

37. Andrea Mitchel pundit discussion: Super delegates will be DECISIVE this time.

[TeamJordan23]

38. Superdelegates will have pressure to support candidate with most pledged delegates. nm