If there is one thing I will carry away from this year's state primaries to select a candidate for the general election, it is that the ideal of a democracy--one person, one secret vote---does not hold sway within the Democratic Party.
. The caucus system has been gamed, and in many cases it cannot be deemed a fair representation of the will of a majority of the democratic party's voters in the state;
. the apportioning of delegates has been weighted so that losers can carry away as many delegates as winners, and in some cases carry away more;
. the leadership of the national committee can behave in arbitrary and capricious ways with no apparent checks and balances;
. there is no means by which the will of the people who support the party can influence decisions;
. high level financial backers have a determining influence;
. functionaries will adjust decisions so that some states are disproportionately punished compared to others when rules are "violated."
. And finally, like the cherry on top of the cake, a high level Democratic Party official who has great sway over the nomination process regularly appears on television as a Pundit.
Who could dream this up?
It is as if the Democratic Party never heard of a conflict of interest. Does not in fact care about democracy. And will be damned if it will be seen as caring about the will of the majority of its party members. One might also term this as a return of Father [Dean] Knows Best, but I didn't believe the original so why should I take this remake at face value.
So how can we be surprised when one of the candidates for the Party's Nomination ignores the results of two state primaries-- the last one in West Virginia where he was swamped by 40 points losing every single county in the state, and then last night in Kentucky where he was trounced by 35 points--to give a speech in Iowa ??? Yes, you read that right, Iowa.
The capitol is Des Moines,and since 1972 it has gone Republican 5 times, the last time being for George Bush in 2004. But hey, what's history. So it is there in Republican Iowa that the Democratic nominee proclaims himself the apparent victor of tfhe Democratic nominating process by announcing he has a majority of delegates needed to nominate.
Only in our Brave New World can Losing be Winning.
George W. Bush set the playbook for how to game the electoral process and we now have a Democratic candidate running the same campaign with the active collusion of the Democratic Party leadership against the will of at least half the Democratic Party rank and file.
Reality check. 2029 delegates are needed to win the nomination. [This excludes Michigan and Florida because the DNC is mad at them and so is pretending they are not there on the map, 2 million plus voters don't count and their delegates are like Casper's ghost or maybe invisible ink--which only becomes apparent to those who know how to look.] By the way, anyone who may be reading this and who is from outside the country, I am not making this up. Everything I am saying can be documented. Please look elsewhere if you want help with instituting your own democratic process.
So now we are down to the wire; and at this point, with only two weeks and three states left in the primary process, with 2026 delegates needed to win the nomination Obama has won 1653 pledged delegates. Clinton has won 1499 pledged delegates. That is a difference of 154 pledged delegates. DING DING DING Super Delegate do not count at this time. They only come into play unless the magic number of delegates has not been reached. And although many have declared their choice at this time, they do not represent the will of the people, and are therefore not truly applicable to the pledged delegate state-by -state nominating process.
Conclusion. Help me out here. We have a deadlocked nomination. Neither candidate has won a majority of the pledged delegates. It is that simple. Spin it anyway you want. Go to Iowa. Run a victory banner up the flagpole. Scream yourself hoarse, it doesn't effect the bottom line. Hillary Clinton is right. This fight is not over. We have a nomination that for all intents and purposes is virtually tied up. And now here is the kicker. Al Sharpton et al threatened riots in Denver if their guy is denied the nomination by Super Delegates. Yoohoo. Guys. Anything you can do, we can do better. So fasten your seat belt. This Thing is Still Up For Grabs.
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