MyDD :: The Third Way; or, The Rebellion of the SuperDelegates

The Third Way; or, The Rebellion of the SuperDelegates

by stan81747, Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:29:52 PM EST

Just suppose, purely as a set of hypotheses, that:

Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton garner a majority of delegates going into the convention;

Controversies about Obama continue to fester and perhaps new ones arise, rendering him unelectable in the minds of many Democrats; and

Delegates, super or not, continue to find Clinton some combination of Bloody Mary, The Wicked Witch of the West, Mata Hari, and the Ugly Stepmother.

Is there a way out of this mess to give Democrats a fighting chance against John McCain in November?

What if the swing SuperDelegates, say about a couple of hundred of them, band together to block the nominations of both Obama and Clinton, and instead turn to a third person to save the day? What kind of person would they look for?

They should look for someone who has already been vetted. They should look for someone who combines the best attributes of Obama and Clinton - Obama's vision, ability to inspire, freshness, intelligence, and message of hope and change, along with Clinton's experience, practical nature, work ethic, compassion, and thorough understanding and knowledge of the ins and outs of the issues. I might add, at the risk of being labeled as both a racist and sexist, that perhaps the person should be a white male. (Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see a black or female President, or even both in the same person. But not now. Not in this election. Not at this critical "juncture." Maybe one of them should be VP to allow the country to get used to the idea.)

Is there anyone out there who fits the bill? Al Gore? What if he couldn't be less interested?

Joe Biden? He's kind of a retread and doesn't fit the "freshness" bill. He also has some baggage to carry around.

Bill Richardson? He was a terrible campaigner while his campaign was active.

John Edwards? In many minds, he comes pretty close to the fitting the criteria outlined above. His weakness is experience.

Chris Dodd? He was very good in the debates, but I have friends with Connecticut roots who really detest the guy.

Wes Clark? He may be too tied to Hillary at this point. Maybe he could put a little distance between her and him, by saying that while she was the best of the lot, he didn't always agree with her, especially on the authorization for the war. Some would say also that he was a bad candidate befpre, but those don't realize that in the first nine states in 2004, Clark finished ahead of Edwards five times (NH, OK, AZ, NM, and ND). Clark is also a much better campaigner than he was then.

To paraphrase an old Sara Lee ad, "Nobody doesn't like Wes Clark."

Okay, I've said it. I've been thinking about this improbable, maybe even impossible, scenario ever since "The Speech." But I can see that there might be a Perfect Storm brewing on the horizon for some kind of revolution in the Party to kill two campaigns in the interest of the greater and longer term good.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO

Tags: Superdelegates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Wes Clark (all tags)

Permalink :: 13 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: The Third Way; or, The Rebellion of (none / 0)

Only one other Democrat could win the nomination in that scenario and it is Al Gore. I'm thinking the odds of that, though, are still infinitesimal. But not zero.

99% perspiration

by DaveOinSF on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:39:45 PM EST

Re: The Third Way; or, The Rebellion of (none / 0)

I agree. Infinitessimal, but not zero.

Stan

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO

by stan81747 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:46:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Third Way; or, (none / 0)

I second Al Gore, especially because he won in 2000; if the SDs can't figure it all out, I say put Al in the top spot and Obama (based on his pledged delegate lead) in the VP slot. But this is ONLY if things cannot get unstuck.

I also like Edwards, but he didn't do well enough in this cycle to justify it. I also liked Kerry and think he'd match up well against McCain, but I'll probably get flamed for saying that. No one else comes to mind. Definitely not Wes Clark.

by PittsburghPete on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:48:23 PM EST

Obama might actually do that (none / 0)

I don't think Obama is going to accept a VP slot even if Hillary pulls it out somehow. But he might accept a Gore offer. He's also the only one with a profile significant enough to merit trying this.

by mattw on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 10:15:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

How about Jimmy Carter? (none / 0)

He only served one term.
Just joking - half joking.

by nascardem on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 09:08:56 PM EST

Gore/Edwards '08 (none / 0)

but what about the "will of the popular vote," or "this is a delegate race." Doesn't this smack of voter disenfranchisement?

truthseeker2

by truthseeker2 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 09:10:17 PM EST

Re: The will of the people (none / 0)

This can only happen if the will of the people goes along with the scenario, with the delegates representing the will of the people. The delegates would, in their judgment, have to come to the conclusion that neither candidate can win in November and would recognize, for the good of the party and the country, that they needed to find someone who CAN win.

Stan

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO

by stan81747 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:51:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Couldn't Get Past This Line... (none / 0)

Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton garner a majority of delegates going into the convention...

That's (near enough) mathematically impossible, assuming we're talking about pledged delegates. There are only two candidates remaining, and there are only two ways mathematically you could get such a result:

1. If one candidate is ahead of the other by less than the number of (shrinking) Edwards delegates;

2. If the two candidates end up exactly tied.

The chances of either outcome are vanishingly small. So I wouldn't worry about it.

by BBCWatcher on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 09:40:30 PM EST

The Arithmetic (none / 0)

That's not really true. If two or three hundred of the some 800-900 SuperDelegates stay on the sidelines, neither candidate might get the needed majority. One would get the majority of the pledged delegates, but might not reach the "magic number" out of total delegates.

Stan

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO

by stan81747 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:48:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

And That Matters? (none / 0)

It doesn't. Superdelegates are fluid, but they also pile onto pledged delegate winners at the end. I can think of no semi-plausible reason why they wouldn't.

Now, if this were a 3-way race with rough parity among the candidates, different story. But it isn't.

by BBCWatcher on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 08:36:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Third Way (none / 0)

Why would Gen Clark want to stab his friend Hillary in the back?

Gore was a terrible campaigner in my memory.

The revolt of the superdelegates would soon be followed by the revolt of the voters.

by DaleA on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 09:48:19 PM EST

Nutty question (none / 0)

The SDs are going to vote for Hillary and she'll be our nominee. The Wrighting is on the wall. Get used to it.

by Nobama on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 10:09:03 PM EST

Re: The Third Way; or, The Rebellion of the SuperD (none / 0)

Stan, you're a dreamer. That's one of the things I love about you! :D

by jen on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 09:38:44 PM EST

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