Okay, the more I research this, the less I know. Or maybe not. I don't know. This is giving me a headache. NBC had said Iowa has 30 delegates, but AP says they have 44 on the Democratic side (30 GOP), and Bloomberg says they have 52. The Bloomberg site says the current standings after Iowa are 29 for Clinton and 21 for Sanders. But... Wikipedia says that there will be more than 700 superdelegates at the convention that are not bound to any state (out of just under 4800 total delegates), and they generally vote however the party leadership tells them to vote. AP projects that nearly all of them will go for Clinton. Essentially, that makes Debbie Wasserman Shultz the largest state in America. I'll bet you thought it was California. So... the bottom line seems to be, no matter what the Democratic voters want, Hillary is going to be the nominee, unless the popular vote is an absolute landslide for Bernie. :wall: The cable news stations won't tell you how pointless this process is, because you might stop watching their election coverage so much. I got my first hint from GOP candidates who always talk as if the Democratic convention has already been held, because they understand the rules and don't benefit in any way from boosting MSNBC's ratings. I set out to find out what they knew that I didn't. Fuck.
I am aware of the process but we still need to fight. Who knows what can happen? Nobody thought Obama was going to beat Clinton either.
Clinton has taken millions from the corporate world--600 and some thousand from GOLDMAN-SACHS! For talking. Gee-wonder if that will ---nah---there'll be no special treatment, I'm sure.
Here's another point to remember......the DNC knows very well that it needs to be very careful how this all plays out and how it's perceived. The Republican Party is already in shambles and the Democrats could find themselves on that same road. Sanders took 84% of the under 30 vote. 84%!! And they aren't stupid. Many of them, such as my son, are very well-educated on the issues and they are paying attention. As of this moment, it might be safe to assume that 84% represents the future of the party. It would be very safe to assume that 84% represents winning and losing the next general election. Have Bernie win the popular vote and then still give the nomination to Clinton....watch what happens then.
I got so upset about what I read that I called somebody I know at the Democratic Party campaign office downtown, a paid staffer. I've worked with her in the past, as a volunteer. She's always been straight with me. I asked her why she thinks the AP is making this projection, and we haven't heard anything about similar issues with superdelegates in the past. She says they've always voted along the same lines as the rest of the delegates from their state, but all those candidates were registered Democrats. Since Bernie has always been an Independent / Socialist, the group consensus is that he isn't qualified to receive any superdelegate votes. Only 16 superdelegates have publicly said that they won't obey this directive. If they plan to change this policy, they need to get on top of it right away. This story has the potential to become a public relations meltdown, as you said. Here are the current published Associated Press delegate number projections: Clinton 385 Sanders 29 Also, here's some key dates for primaries: Feb. 9 - New Hampshire Feb. 20 - Nevada (caucus) Feb. 27 - South Carolina Mar. 1 - "Super Tuesday" - Alabama, Samoa (island territory), Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia.
My guess is that they are hoping Hillary can pull off enough wins to make it obvious that she is the nominee before the super delegates come into play. If the party gives it to Hillary without the voter support....even with their justification....it will be nothing short of a blunt "Screw you, younger people. We don't care what you think!" Might as well just save the cost of a general election and call the Republican nominee the winner. My son thinks that having Bernie and Trump both lose their nominations and then running as independents in the general election could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it would kill the two-party system and their stranglehold on this country.
I heard that the Iowa DNC chair has a license plat that reads "HRC2016". Maybe that's a factor in not releasing the Iowa vote count?
Why is Hillary so angry tonight? This debate is a lot hotter than I expected. One time, the crowd booed her for being mean to Bernie for no apparent reason. Experts have been saying she needs to try harder to be likable. Tonight, she's going in the opposite direction. A strong woman is not the same thing as a bitch. A bitch gets pissed off over nothing, and can't get over it. That's what I'm seeing here. A strong woman stands up to people when there is a battle worth fighting. I think she's losing this debate big time. I can't wait to see if the opinion polls agree with me. She handled herself much better last time.
I haven't seen much of the debate footage just yet. But here is an interesting list of names and associations....as long as the story isn't removed or throttled yet. https://www.yahoo.com/politics/hillarys-financial-armada-233033648.html
Bernie has already said he wouldn't run as an independent but if he won the popular vote by a wide enough margin and still lost the nomination I hope that would be enough to motivate him to change his mind. I usually watch the debate the day after on YouTube, we don't have cable, I wasn't really planning on it this time because I already know who I'm voting for and where he stands on all the issues, but now I'm curious. Might be worth it just to see Hillary lose control of her smug emotions.
I've seen all but one of the debates this season, both parties, and I have to say this one was my favorite. Great exchanges on the issues, great entertainment value, great moderation. I don't know how it could have been better. Hillary calmed down a little during the second hour. I'm sure her staff people were telling her during breaks to turn it down a notch. That would surely guarantee a win for the Republicans. He won't risk that.
I was talking to my son about this tonight and told him some of the points brought up in this thread today. These are the words he just said to me...."Well....if they think they can pull this and we won't notice.....they can fuck off. We probably won't be there in that case and they can have Rubio for four years. It would be the same as Clinton in a lot of ways so they should be happy. Then we'll elect Elizabeth Warren as the first female president in four more years. Fuck them!" I'm just conveying the point. But he is definitely my child.
It would only work in the scenario wiz described with Trump also running as an independent. 2 major parties and 2 independents would actually be more on par with what I would like to see in every election. Wiz, how old is your son? I don't disagree with him. If Bernie lost the nomination due to superdelegates but won the popular vote I wouldn't throw my vote towards Hillary. I would probably go hide in the shadow of my disillusionment and feel super pissed off about how rigged the system is.
He's 20....but trust me...he might be the most well-informed 20 year old you may ever meet. I have put considerable effort into ensuring that when I die...someone will carry the flag for me and my family. Someone has to lead the team and I won't be there.
:dizzy2: :bomb: Then there would be no chance of anybody getting over 50% in the Electoral College, most likely putting the whole thing in the hands of the House and Paul Ryan, since we have no Constitutional provision for a runoff election. Panic and chaos. And probably another Republican president, though with less public support than any other in history. Yikes. I don't want to think about it.
I see that the former Mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg is considering an independent run for President.
I'm not sure exactly how that would look in the end but I know that what we have right now doesn't seem to be working for most people. Clinton's problem is that she represents what we have right now and the more she tries to shake that off.....the more phony she looks.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A two party system isn't working either. Plus I can't really think of any presidential candidate in my lifetime who has truly had over 50% support. We're a country who votes against candidates, not for candidates.
