Dem Party Structure
One of the more interesting things about the until recently tight race among Obama and Hillary was the innards of the Democrat primary process. I don’t know if the Republicans have a similar process or not because that’s not newsworthy apparently. But, if I understand it correctly, all these elections and such that you, the taxpayer, are funding don’t really amount to much if the Super Delegates get behind someone else. I could be wrong.
Any way, I think this shows that we need to get the .gov out of the primary process. Let the parties pick their candidates. Maybe then, if partisanship wasn’t so ingrained in the process, people would get sick enough of the party system and vote outside of it.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
But, if I understand it correctly, all these elections and such that you, the taxpayer, are funding don’t really amount to much if the Super Delegates get behind someone else. I could be wrong.
That’s not quite true. The superdelegates only come into play in a close race. They make up a little less than a quarter of the total delegates, with the other three quarters coming from the primaries and the caucuses.
Now, hypothetically, if the election were close, and all or most of the superdelegates coalesced behind the candidate who was behind, they could override the will of the people.
Currently, more than half of the superdelegates have already committed to a candidate; among these, there’s a 62-38 split for Hillary. Despite this, Obama still leads the overall delegate count. So if things stay this tight, the remaining superdelegates could indeed swing the nomination. But it has to be a close race for that to happen.
(Admittedly, a close race is much more likely on the Democratic side, because they apportion their delegates, whereas the GOP makes each state’s delegates an all-or-nothing prize.)
February 13th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I read somewhere that the DNC created the ‘super delegates’ so that “we don’t lose control of the party.” I don’t recall the source of the quote, but those are the words that stuck in my head.
And yes, the RNC is very different – winner take all via all day poll. The odd part is that in some states, you don’t have to be a repub to vote in the repub primary (e.g. Michigan).
Dems are weird in some areas that it is a ‘caucus’ and you only have a few hours to show up and make noise. They are ‘happy’ when they have a 2% turnout of registered Democrats at a caucus. Yeah. 2-f-ing-percent…
February 13th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
_Jon:
Many states have open primaries. It’s not at all unusual, and applies to both parties.
As for caucuses, I don’t see why you’re singling out the Democrats. Republicans have caucuses, too, you know.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
The problem with the Democratic and Republican establishments is that they’re both controlled by globalists and masters. No matter which party is elected, we will still be stuck with the treasonous agenda of open borders, forced appeasement and accommodation of the invaders, more command and control over the populace, destruction of the middle class and currency devaluation through internationalist managed economics and global interventionism paid for by American treasure and blood. This is well-obfuscated by the same group within the media corporations being the gate-keeprs of information and opinion.
Those who dare to point this out are marginalized (ignored, lampooned, or villified) by the latter which is usually then parroted by the subjects of their propaganda.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Ron W:
How’s that manifesto coming along, anyway?
February 13th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
tgirsch,
Manifesto? It’s been in place for a couple of hundred years+.
I would be pleased IF our public SERVANTS adhered to the “manifesto” of their oath of office, you know, the Constitution (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791)–according to the rules of English grammar with which they should have been well familiarized by junior high school.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
To the credit of the Republicans..they do have super delegates but far fewer proportionally than the Democrats. Having said that, the Republicans are winner-take-all in terms of delegates in almost every state (CA being one exception), while the Democrats are proportional representation in each state.
February 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Ron W:
tgirsch:
Q.E.D.