Changing the Goal Line

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As the Democratic presidential nomination fight moves into April, the only thing certain is that superdelegates will ultimately pick the party's nominee. Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton are now engaged in a fight of picking the appropriate metric for how the superdelegates should vote at the convention.

Some say they should vote the same way their constituents did. Some say they should vote for whoever wins the most pledged delegates. Some say they should vote for whoever leads in the popular vote. Some say they should just vote their conscience.

The confusion is made worse by a nomination race that awards delegates differently in nearly every state. Some states have primaries. Some states have caucuses. Some states even have both.

To further confuse matters, some states let only Democrats vote. But others let Democrats and independents vote. And some states even let Republicans vote in the Democratic primary.

The idea that the Democratic nominee will be chosen democratically is fiction. There is little that's democratic about this selection process. In fact, two of the largest states -- Michigan and Florida -- will probably have no say at the convention since they broke party rules in scheduling their primaries.

Considering many Democrats feel Al Gore lost the presidency in 2000 in an un-democratic way, it's surprising the party would tolerate such a mess in choosing their nominee.

    Comments

  1. Frankly, I don't care about their consciences, only mine, and that's whose preference they should vote. The much-malinged Howard Dean has, in my view, tried to bring some order to the Party, but he must feel like he is trying to round up 5 year olds at recess. All this discussion about super-delegates surely makes the electorate feel impotent.

    Posted by: colleen Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 10:02 AM

  2. The simple fact of the matter is everyone thinks the SDs should vote in a manner that puts their preferred candidate over the top. Ultimately all we can do is hope that whatever they do they will do with what is best for the party and the country.

    I do have to say in regard to FL & MI I'm getting a little tired of hearing this mess dumped on the head of Howard Dean. The responsibility for this mess lays with the two states, not the party. I have no problem with the states being seated in a manner that doesn't effect the outcome but under no circumstance should their votes be counted as they now stand. To allow FL and MI to get away with what they did will only cause chaos further down the road. If FL and MI go unpunished what's to prevent other states from deciding they want to hold their primaries even earlier in 2012.

    Posted by: Brian Hussein In NYC Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 10:46 AM

  3. More Clinton Hypocrisy & Distortion -- Goes to Heart of Credibility! Hillary in Tuzla: The Tale of Bosnian Sniper Fire (TRAILER)-by JedReport ,Sun Mar 23, 2008,

    It's an unbelievable tale of heroism. The Baltimore Sun calls it a "whopper." - "Four Pinocchios!" says the Washington Post. "Requires enormous suspension of disbelief" raves the Huffington Post.


    Here's the URL:
    http://www.youtube.com/...
    ::

    Camp Clinton's current strategy is to try make Barack "unelectable" and will "say and do" anything to make themselves look "electable", like the above outrageous distortion. This is wrong. However, Main Stream Media, are acting like this is ok. It is not ok for our politicians to lie to us so eggreciously. How can we believe anything Camp Clinton says? That is why we do not have faith in our politicians and we should. Too, what the main stream media are not telling you is that this Race would have been over, but certain Republicans, edged on by Rush Limbaugh, pushed Hillary over the top by 100,000.00 votes, if were not for that, Barack would have won. The Republicans also voted for him in Ohio and gave her a substantial margin. If you think this video makes the point, please spread the word, send it to friends, family, even superdelegates. Let's just get it out there. Let's seal the deal.

    Posted by: bacaangel Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 10:49 AM

  4. The most "American" way to figure out what to do with those superdelegates would be to devise some sort of reality television show with an island, lie detectors, Simon Cowell, and a confession booth. I'll let you know when I work out all the details.

    (I'm kidding, in case it wasn't completely obvious.)

    Posted by: Mary Kitt-Neel Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 3:19 PM

  5. I don't get the title reference, though. What goal line is being changed?

    You're 100% right that there's all sorts of different measures by which superdelegates will vote. I think they should vote their conscience and not necessarily whatever plum job Barack or

    Posted by: AntonX2 Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 3:45 PM

  6. I don't get the title reference, though. What goal line is being changed?

    You're 100% right that there's all sorts of different measures by which superdelegates will vote. I think they should vote their conscience and not necessarily whatever plum job Barack or Hillary offer them.

    John Edwards for AG!

    Posted by: AntonX2 Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 3:46 PM

  7. You know, What IS going to happen is this.

    (1) The Democratic Party will vote their conscience and only a small minority will actually pay attention to the tabloid press.

    (2) The superdelegates will vote what is best for the country and fair for the candidates. {{Period}}

    Because when the dust settles, most of us are more concerned about out country and will do anything it takes to suceed. Suceeding is fair and integral voting practices and a high minded Convention.

    The face of the DEM party is changing and it really looks like the establishedment of the party don't like it.

    Growth Hurts.

    Posted by: Sheila Stone Author Profile Page | March 24, 2008 3:54 PM

  8. I guess I am not too smart because I do not understand why you say the goal line keeps changing. The republicans ever since Iowa have been keeping the same goal line in perspective, nominate Obama, We can beat him, money & imported votes into Iowa won for obama John Edwards should have won there, then clinton won new hampshire, After the media did a hatchet job on Bill Clinton in south carolina the republicans have not lost sight of the goal line, just the DNC for letting it happen.

    Posted by: jrs6776 Author Profile Page | March 25, 2008 10:12 AM

  9. Really, this has become absurd. The goaline is being moved by Clinton on a daily basis (with media support). First it was "Super Tuesday." Then it was "mini Tuesday." Then it was PA. Then it was NC. Now it is IN. She and the campiagn have made it quite clear that they will create any argument imaginable to stay in.

    I credit Dean for his 50 state solution that has help make the party viable nationwide. He does not get nearly enough credit for the party's rebirth in the Mountain states. I also think it is great that they have simply said "no" to FL and MI. There are rules, they knew what they were, they broke them.

    If FL wanted to show leadership, they would have placed the blame at the feet of the Republican dominated legislature and Executive branch that engineered this mess. They could have reinforced that they were causing the disenfranchisement of Dem voters, yet again.

    Instead, Nelson et al blamed Dean and whined about it.

    It is time once and for all to tell Clinton that it is game over. That requires Dean and all in power broker position to collectively tell them this and to let them know that they need to move on.

    Dean can't do it alone, Clinton won't listen to him.

    Posted by: JacksonianDem Author Profile Page | March 26, 2008 4:38 PM

  10. Hillary's OTHER Fabrication -- Chelsy's Jog on 911!

    Writers, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann, disclose an even more outrageous Fabrication Hillary' has told the American public that has not been disclosed, until now. Here is an excerpt: "After Sept. 11, Hillary had a problem. New Yorkers were desperately focused on their own need for protection and they were saddled with a senator who was not one of them — an Arkansan, or was it a Chicagoan? Interviewed on the “Today Show” one week after Sept. 11, she spun an elaborate yarn. The kindest thing we could say was that it was a fantasy. Or a fabrication.

    She said that Chelsea was jogging around the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and happened to duck into a coffee shop when the airplanes hit. She said that this move saved Chelsea’s life. But Chelsea told Talk magazine that she was in a friend’s apartment four miles from ground zero when the first plane hit. Her friend called her, waking her up, and told her to turn on the TV. On television, she saw the second plane hit, disproving Hillary’s claim that “she heard the plane hit. She heard it. She did.”

    So why did Hillary make up the story about Chelsea? Most likely to was because her co-senator (and implicit rival for the voters’ affection), a real New Yorker, Charles Schumer (D), spoke of his daughter, who attended Stuyvesant High School, located next to the Trade Center, being at real risk on Sept. 11. Hillary needed to make herself part of the scene.

    She invented the entire story on national television, the “Today Show,” and didn’t blink an eye. Her fabrication on the “Today Show” was no unique foray. It is her standard M.O. It gives us pause in evaluating all of her stories and calls into question her entire credibility." (From the Hill Blog, Mar. 27, 08)

    It seems Hillary will do anything to win. This week, Hillary, a consumate Actress & Mistress of Spin, (=s Phony) sat down with her arch enemey, Richard Mellon Scaife the Pittsburgh Gazette, the very one who during her White House years accused her of the murder of Vince Foster and said that Bill and she had committed 60 murders to hide their crimes, in an ill-advised and ill-timed manner to re-introduce the Rev. Wright issue -- by the way, the very Rev. Wright that they Invited to the White House. Then they sent out Sen. McGovern to re-introduce the Gender Fight, so now we have a racial and gender fight to instigate more division while trying to Divert attention from her Big Gaf, the Bosnia Tale of Sniper Fire, which we all know now is a complete Fabrication told THREE times, which is a betrayal of the public trust and goes right to the Heart of character. They somtimes even Stage their audiences. They have been telling these Tall Tales for years and this time got caught. However, the American People do Demand that thier Politicians be trustworthy and truthful! And, if it was not for Rush Limbaugh, and Bill's visit to Rush during the Texas Primarys, Barack would have won Texas but for the 100,000 Republican votes casted for Hillary which put her slightly over the top. However, the Republicans who vote for Barack, genuinely like him unlike the Republicans who vote for Hillary, as a way to "bloody" Barack up, as stated by Rush Limbaugh! As for her Tonya Harding, Tonya was sent packing in disgrace! As for Hillary's scheme to make Barack look "unelectable", I say "Chickens Coming Home to Roost"! I say No More "Do and Say Anything" Politicians!

    Posted by: bacaangel Author Profile Page | March 27, 2008 8:47 AM

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